Small Town Charm

by Carolyn Brown

  “Busted!” she giggled. “Just remember, when you get to be ninety-five, you can do whatever you damn well please.”

  “Nadine Betterton!” Lettie shook her forefinger at her sister as she came into the kitchen. “That’s the third cupcake I’m having to set back.”

  “It’s my birthday, and besides, I’ll have those three for my midnight snack tonight.” Nadine slapped her finger away. “You’ve made too much food anyway.”

  “Where do we put presents?” Cricket asked.

  “We’ve got a table set up in the living room,” Lettie answered. “I’ll take them if you two young’uns will guard this woman and keep her from ruining anything else.”

  Bryce handed over his gift but wasn’t sure how he was going to guard Nadine without hurting her feelings.

  “Are we the last ones here?” Cricket looped her arm in Nadine’s and pulled her toward the archway leading into the living room. “If so, it might be time to cut the cake and start eating. You sure look pretty tonight. Blue is definitely your color. I hope I look as beautiful as you when I’m eighty years old.”

  “Eighty nothing! I’m only thirty in my mind,” Nadine laughed. “And you know very well that my birth certificate says I’m ninety-five, but thank you for the compliment.”

  Cricket was absolutely awesome, Bryce thought, and he couldn’t wait to go fishing with her the next evening. For that matter, he already planned to spend as much time with her as he could in the coming days and weeks.

  “Hey, hey,” Nadine called out, “the gang is all here.”

  “And all ninety-five candles are on the cake. Amos, will you help me light them?” Lettie asked.

  “Be honored to help, but only if you’ve got the fire department on standby,” Amos laughed.

  “Amos and his wife, who passed a few years ago, owned the bookstore before Jennie Sue bought it,” Cricket whispered as everyone watched Lettie and Amos light all the candles.

  Amos reminded Bryce of the late Mickey Rooney. He was short, had a smile that covered his round face, and by golly, Bryce liked the man before he even said a word because he’d worn bibbed overalls to the party.

  When they’d finished, Nadine stepped up behind the table. “Okay, Lettie, now you have to help me blow them out. You could have bought a couple of those candles that are shaped like a nine and a five. You didn’t have to put one for every year.”

  “Oh, no!” Lettie shook her head. “You’re the one who’s lookin’ a hundred smack in the eyeball. You blow them out, and you better hurry because the ones in the middle are about to burn to the bottom. They’ll ruin the icing and that’s your favorite part so don’t take another second to make your wish.”

  “I’ll remember this when you need saving from the aliens.” Nadine took a deep breath, started at one end, and blew out every one of those candles.

  A tall man with just a rim of gray hair around his head started the “Happy Birthday” song in a deep baritone, and everyone else joined in. Bryce paid particular attention to Cricket, who had an alto voice and carried a tune very well. Was there nothing this woman couldn’t do?

  When the song had ended, Amos and the tall guy helped Lettie remove all the candles and then Nadine cut the first piece.

  “I like a corner because it’s got the most icing,” she said with a smile. “I believe in having dessert first because life can be short. Not that I know anything about that business of it being short, but I do like chocolate cake. The rest of you feel free to enjoy all those finger foods that Lettie has worked on for a week, and please eat it all or she’ll make me have it for breakfast, dinner, and supper until it’s gone.”

  “Tables are set up in the backyard,” Lettie announced. “Thank goodness it’s a decent night and not too hot.”

  Cricket wasn’t a bit shy about loading her plate with finger foods, so Bryce did the same.

  “This is some spread,” Bryce said. “I was expecting cake and punch.”

  “Not at this house. Lettie and Nadine love to entertain,” Cricket said. “And they’re offended if you don’t eat hearty.”

  “Well, I sure wouldn’t want to offend anyone, especially my landladies.” He liked these people. They were like the country folks he had grown up around.

  The tall guy who’d led the “Happy Birthday” song fell into line behind Bryce and introduced himself. “I’m Frank Bartell, the pastor at the church that most of the folks here attend. I’ve been meaning to get down to the drugstore and welcome you to Bloom, but this has been a busy week. We’ve already had a funeral, and two members of my congregation are in the hospital in Sweetwater. But welcome, and I’d love to have you join us on Sunday.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Bryce said and then turned to face Cricket. “Is that where you go?”

  “Yep, been going there my whole life. Lettie took care of me in the nursery,” Cricket answered.

  “Can I drive out and pick you up for church on Sunday, and then maybe take you out to dinner?” Bryce asked.

  “That sounds great. I’ll be ready at ten thirty. Church starts at eleven,” she said. “Come on outside and sit by me. I need to tell you about today.”

  “Lettie said she saw Anna Grace go into the bookstore. Is everything all right?” Bryce asked as they made their way outside, where multicolored balloons were tied to the ends of two eight-foot tables. Framed pictures of Nadine in every stage of her life were strewn down the middles. “Now, this is a party,” he said as put his plate on the table and sat down beside Cricket.

  “Everything is fine, or at least I hope it is,” Cricket answered. “I figured someone would have seen her in the bookstore and spread the gossip.” She told him the short version of what had happened that day.

  “That’s pretty sweet of you after the way she’s treated you, but I’ve got to admit, it sure takes a load off my shoulders. I was dreading even filling prescriptions for her and her family,” he said in a low tone.

  Cricket shrugged. “I treated Jennie Sue like crap, and she gave me a second chance, so I should do the same for Anna Grace. Besides”—she leaned over and whispered—“if she was just playing a mean trick, I turned it around on her and took the power away from her.”

  “If she’s not, you have to live with her for three months,” Bryce said.

  “If she’s not serious, she won’t last a week in the garden or the kitchen and she’ll leave for sure on Saturday afternoon when I tell her it’s her turn to scrub the bathroom.” Cricket picked up a stuffed mushroom and popped it in her mouth. “I love food but then that’s evident from the way I look.”

  “I think you are gorgeous,” Bryce said with all sincerity.

  * * *

  Cricket was glad she had food in her mouth and could use that for an excuse not to say a single word. She was even happier that she didn’t have a mouthful of sweet tea or she would have spewed it all over a picture of Nadine when the elderly lady was probably about sixteen.

  “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about breaking me with a big hug,” she finally said, “and the way I like to cook and eat, I never will. But I’ve got to admit, I’m probably the clumsiest woman in the whole state.”

  “I’ll catch you if you fall,” Bryce said.

  Was he flirting with her? Sweet Lord! She had never learned how to bat her eyelashes and flirt like the Belles. While they’d been learning all about fashion and how to make a man fall all over himself to get to kiss their pretty sweet sixteen rings, she had been learning how to cook and plant a garden.

  “If you do, I’ll probably just drag you down with me,” Cricket said.

  “Sounds like fun if it’s in a muddy garden. We could take mud baths together, and then wash up with the garden hose,” Bryce teased, and stole a small tomato off her plate.

  A shiver chased down her spine when his hand brushed against her bare arm. Cricket had started to think that she would grow up to be like Nadine in more ways than just age. She would probably be an old maid who knew all the gossip i
n town and who took care of her two precious nieces. But that little spark she felt gave her hope that Bryce was serious and that there just might be a better future ahead for her.

  Nadine sat down beside her, and Lettie claimed a chair across the table. Cricket loved both of them, but tonight, she wished they had sat at the other table with Amos, Ilene, Tandy, and the other guests.

  “Bryce, has someone introduced you to our preacher?” Nadine asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Bryce nodded. “We met when we started around the food table. By the way, this is an awesome party.”

  “I do my best, even though living with her is like sharing a house with an old bear one day and a teenager the next.” Lettie nodded at Nadine.

  “Hey, if I got up in the same mood every single day, you’d get bored.” Nadine winked. “Don’t worry, sister, when you get to be ninety-five, I won’t smother you with a pillow even if you act like a teenager. Unless I catch you making out on the sofa with some old bald, toothless man.”

  “I could still catch a young guy.” Lettie fluffed up her dyed black hair with the palm of her hand. “I betcha I could even get one who has hair and teeth and doesn’t use a walker.”

  “I’ve got ten bucks that says you can’t,” Nadine said.

  “You’re on, but you can’t fuss at me for getting protection down at the drugstore. I don’t want to be catchin’ one of the STFs at my age, and besides, if the aliens ever do choose me to go up in the sky with them, I wouldn’t want to spread it around to them.” Lettie grinned. “And it could take a while, so let’s say you have to pay up on my ninety-fifth birthday.”

  “It’s not STFs,” Cricket whispered. “It’s STDs.”

  “Close enough,” Lettie said out the side of her mouth.

  Bryce nearly choked on a sip of tea, but Cricket wasn’t a bit shocked at what they were saying. She’d heard them place two-dollar bets on all kinds of things. “That’s why they sit with us rather than with the preacher,” Cricket told him.

  “You got that right,” Lettie said, “but we do try to be nice on Sunday. Which reminds me, you two want to have Sunday dinner with us after church?”

  “We’ve already got plans,” Bryce said. “I’m taking Cricket to church and then out to lunch.”

  “Is it a real date, then?” Nadine asked. “If it is, that’s the best birthday present you could give this old woman.”

  “Old, my stars!” Cricket felt the blush before it started burning her face. “You will never be old, no matter what the numbers say.”

  “Thank you, darlin’, but I just love it that you are going out on a date.” Nadine grinned.

  Thank God Bryce didn’t ask why that was such a great thing, Cricket thought. Then the preacher came over, with a huge square of cake on a Happy Birthday plate, and sat down beside Nadine.

  “Lettie, you outdid yourself on this cake. It’s amazing,” Frank said.

  She put on her sweet little angel expression and cocked her head to one side. “You let me know when your birthday rolls around, and I’ll make you one just like it, but one without ninety-five holes poked in it.”

  “I’ll only need sixty-five, and my birthday is at the end of August,” Frank said. “I plan on retiring in September. The committee will be looking for a new preacher at the end of this month. You ladies going to be up for interviews?”

  “You bet we are,” Lettie assured him.

  Bryce leaned over and whispered, “I guess it’s all right then if we go get cake now?”

  The sensation of his warm breath on her neck sent even more of those delicious little shivers down her spine. She pushed back her chair and stood up. “We’re going for cake. Can I get y’all anything while we’re in there?”

  “No, we’re good for now,” Nadine answered for both sisters.

  “I’m just fine,” Frank said.

  Cricket could hear them talking about new preachers as she and Bryce started into the house. “They’ve been on the hiring committee for probably fifty years or more. What kind of scares me is that Lettie might fight to hire a widower who has hair, his teeth, and walks without a cane just so she can collect on that bet.”

  Bryce chuckled, but the second they were in the house, he couldn’t hold the laughter in anymore, and he guffawed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “They take their bets very serious, and a ten-dollar one is big. They usually only deal in a dollar or two at the most.” Cricket headed for the cake. She handed the knife to Bryce and said, “Don’t be shy. I sure don’t intend to be. I love Lettie’s chocolate cake.”

  “Blackberry cobbler is my favorite dessert, and chocolate cake comes in right behind that.” He cut off a big square, then handed the knife to Cricket.

  When she finished putting her piece on her plate, she turned around to find him grinning down at her. “What?” she asked.

  His eyes glittered when he ran a finger through the chocolate on the top of his cake and then wiped it on her lips. Before she could blink, he leaned down and kissed her. “That’s the way to taste chocolate icing,” he said when the kiss ended.

  Her knees felt weak, and her heart thumped in her ears, but not to be outdone, she set her cake on the table, swiped a finger down the side, and smeared it on his lips. Then she rolled up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and brought his lips to hers for an even longer, more passionate kiss.

  When that kiss ended, she leaned into the hug for another moment, mainly because her knees still felt like they were filled with jelly. “You are so right,” she said between breaths.

  Bryce wrapped his arms around her and drew her even closer. “I’d rather have your kisses as chocolate cake. I’m not real good at the romance stuff, but I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since I saw you in the garden.”

  “Really?” Cricket couldn’t keep the amazement out of her voice.

  The back door opened and they both hurriedly picked up their cake and started back outside. “Hope y’all left me some cake,” Amos said.

  “There’s plenty.” Cricket’s voice sounded a bit high and squeaky in her own ears. “But I happen to know that Lettie made cupcakes in case the cake runs out.”

  Amos passed on by them and headed to the dining room. “That’s good to know. I might beg a couple of those cupcakes to take home for my breakfast tomorrow morning.”

  “I’m sure you won’t have to beg,” Cricket said as she hurried out the door that Bryce was holding open for her. “Me too,” she said as they crossed the yard.

  “If you’re going to take cupcakes home, then I might be brazen enough to ask for some too,” Bryce said.

  “I wasn’t talking about cupcakes,” Cricket told him. “I like kissing you better than chocolate.”

  “That is romantic.” Bryce beamed.

  Chapter Six

  Cricket felt as if her car were floating on air all the way from the party out to the farm. The idea that Anna Grace might be at her house was completely gone from her mind, but it came flooding back when she saw the older-model pickup truck parked in front of her house.

  “She really did it,” Cricket muttered.

  She sat in her car for a few minutes before she finally got the plastic container out of the back seat. Lettie and Nadine had sent home cupcakes and little bits of the leftovers, including the rest of the stuffed mushrooms that she liked so well.

  The door flew open before she even cleared the porch steps, and a tall guy with dark hair said, “Can I help you in any way? I’m Tommy Bluestone, and I want to thank you so much for helping Anna Grace.”

  “I’ve got it all,” Cricket said. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Cricket Lawson. Y’all want a cupcake or some of the party leftovers?”

  Tommy sure didn’t look anything like she had imagined. He might be as tall as Anna Grace, but not if she was wearing her signature Prada shoes. He had golden skin, jet-black hair, a round face, and a tattoo of a dreamcatcher on his arm. He wore black-rimmed glasses, a faded T-shirt, and well-worn jeans. />
  “I’d love a snack,” Tommy said. “When Anna Grace called me to say that she was really moving out, I didn’t even take time to get a bite of supper. It’s a wonder I didn’t wind up with a speeding ticket.”

  “It seemed like hours instead of thirty minutes until he arrived,” Anna Grace said as the two of them entered the house. “I hope it’s all right if I already put my things away.”

  Cricket carried the container of leftovers to the kitchen and took a half-gallon jar of sweet tea from the refrigerator. “Y’all help yourselves, and Tommy, you are welcome here anytime, but be forewarned, if you arrive right after six any day of the week, I might make you help harvest vegetables from our garden.”

  “Not a problem. I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, and I know all about gardening. My granddad is a member of the Chickasaw tribe, and he thinks that all children need to learn about the land and about growing food.” Tommy removed the lid from the container. “Oh, man! This all looks so good. Thanks for bringing stuff home for us. Come on, darlin’, let’s dig in.” He picked up a mushroom and fed it to Anna Grace.

  “My God,” she gasped. “That is amazing, and those cupcakes are homemade, aren’t they?”

  “Yep.” Cricket nodded. “You’ll judge all chocolate cake by them forever after you take the first bite. Y’all make yourselves at home. I’m going to have a shower and go to bed.”

  “Thanks again,” Anna Grace said. “What time do I need to set my alarm for?”

  “Six thirty, but I’m surprised that your folks let you keep your phone?” Cricket asked.

  “I have a clock, and I’ll be getting one of those pay-as-you-go phones at the Dollar Store tomorrow,” Anna Grace answered. “My mother checked my purse and took away all my credit cards, my phone, and wouldn’t even let me bring my hair dryer or curling iron with me. I have one month to change my mind about all this, she says, or they’ll take me out of the will.”

  Tommy gave her a hug and kissed her on the forehead. “You’ll survive. You are strong, and I love you.”

  “Good night.” Cricket left them to encourage each other and headed down the short hallway to the bathroom, which she now had to share with Anna Grace. She turned the water on in the shower, put the toilet lid down, and sat on it. She fetched her phone out of the pocket of her dress and called Jennie Sue.