The Perfect Dress(70)

“I think they’re from further out than that.” Jody filled her plate and took it to the table.

Fanny Lou opened the back door and stuck her head inside. “Where’s Mitzi?”

“Upstairs.” Paula pointed.

Fanny Lou set a covered dish on the table. “That’s seven-layer dip. I took it to my Sunday school committee meeting this evening. We had too much food, so it was barely touched.” She pulled up a chair and shook out half the bag of chips into a bowl. “I’m glad we’re here by ourselves. I’m worried about Mitzi.”

“Graham?” Paula asked.

Fanny Lou got three spoons from the drawer. “It’s better if you dip to the bottom and put it on the chip. And yes, about Graham. She’s so damned happy that I’m afraid when they have an argument—well, you know her. Things are black or white in her world. There is no gray.”

“It’s either rainbows and unicorn farts, or nothing,” Jody said. “She came from a pretty nice family, so she doesn’t know how to argue and then make up.”

“Exactly,” Fanny Lou said. “I guess she’s about to learn if this gets any more serious, because reality is being able to run the obstacle course that life throws at you and make it to the end without killing the person you’re in the relationship with.”

“I remember the first fight me and Lyle had after we moved in together. It was all over this old tomcat that came up to the back door. Lyle hated cats, but I couldn’t bear to see it hungry, so I fed it without telling him. Of course it kept showing up and meowing every night. He threatened to shoot it, and I said I’d shoot him if he did. It took us a week to reach a compromise. I could feed the cat, but it couldn’t come inside the house,” Jody grumbled.

“And the makeup sex?” Fanny Lou winked.

“I’d like to say it was horrible but it wasn’t. We were good together in the bedroom and I still get a stomachache when I think of him with the other woman,” Jody fumed.

Fanny Lou sat down at the table with the girls. “I don’t think my granddaughter has ever had makeup sex. She loves with her whole heart, but if someone breaks it, she’s done with them. It’s finished. There’s no talking and she never looks back.”

“I wish to hell I could do that.” Jody’s voice was still cold as ice.

Paula spooned a big mound of dip onto a chip. “We can hope this time will be different. She’s perfect for those girls, and they love her.”

Fanny Lou got up, went to the refrigerator, and brought out two beers and a root beer. “I need something to cool down my tongue.” She popped the tab from a beer and handed the second one to Jody. “Root beer for you, darlin’. When I was pregnant with Mitzi’s mama, it wasn’t against the rules to drink a beer or even have a glass of wine, but times have changed. Mitzi may be perfect for the girls, but, honey, she needs to be perfect for Graham, and him for her, if this is going to work at all. He’s the main dish. Those twins are just the dessert.”

“Hey, hey, what’s all this?” Mitzi said as she entered the kitchen. “Is that your seven-layer dip, Granny? Step back and let me roll up my sleeves, because I’m about to get all up in some of that.”

“You don’t have on long sleeves,” Fanny Lou told her. “And where have you been?”

“I was doing a little inventory on the flowers left in the bins. I should make a run into Walmart and buy some more in case the girls want to do some last-minute stuff for the bridal fair.” She got a beer from the refrigerator and sat down in the remaining chair. “Y’all decided whether you’re going out on the pontoon boat on Sunday?”

“I’m going, but I won’t be swimming. Y’all know how afraid of deep water I am,” Jody said. “Not even Lyle—dammit to hell—why do I even mention his name? But what I was going to say is that even he couldn’t talk me into learning to swim. If it’s above my waist, I begin to panic.”

“And I’m pregnant, so I won’t be swimming, either,” Paula reminded her.

“And I’m too damned old to jump in the lake,” Fanny Lou said. “Have you and Graham been to bed yet?”

“Granny!” Mitzi dropped the chip before it reached her mouth.

“I was bein’ nice. I could have asked outright if y’all had sex yet,” Fanny Lou told her. “You come in here all aglow. Only thing that ever put that kind of look on my face was a trip to the bedroom with your grandpa.” She giggled. “Sometimes I’d start a fight just so we could have makeup sex.”

“Granny!” Mitzi exclaimed for the second time.

“That’s what you do, darlin’. You argue. You go to the bedroom and make up. That don’t mean you take jack crap from the man. No, sir. It just means that once the fight is resolved, then you reap the benefits. Come to think of it, maybe I should start an argument with Elijah and see if he’s still able to do that.”

Mitzi’s cheeks went from cool to red hot in a flash. “Grandmothers aren’t supposed to talk like that.”

“It’s the truth. Wait until you have a big argument with Graham, and you’ll find out,” Fanny Lou said.

Mitzi went to the refrigerator, opened the freezer, and stuck her head inside in an attempt to cool her cheeks. Paula nudged Fanny Lou and mouthed, “Thank you.”