She barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed over hers. She’d been kissed a few times in her life, but mostly she had just wished the experience would be over. This time, when the kiss ended, it seemed as if her whole life had changed. The water in the stream was brighter. The sky was bluer, and she could swear that the clouds had formed into a heart just for her.
Chapter Seven
Anna Grace was already in the kitchen and had the table set for two when Cricket came out of the bedroom the next morning. She took one look at Cricket and a broad smile covered her face.
“You and Bryce had sex last night, didn’t you?” she asked.
“No, but we had kissing and we’re having ice cream tonight, and I hope more kissing,” Cricket answered. “What do you want to learn to make today?”
“Quiche,” Anna Grace said, “but we’ll have to do that another day. From the recipe I read, it will take a while.”
“Not really.” Cricket pulled a readymade piecrust from the freezer and unwrapped it. “I keep these on hand for times when I’m too lazy to make the crust. Get bacon, half-and-half, cheese and eggs from the fridge.”
“Are you serious?” Anna Grace asked. “I was just teasing. Quiche is something that the Belles always serve when they have a brunch meeting, and I love it, but it has to bake, and we need to get to work.”
“We can get ready for work while it cooks and take about half of it with us. Tommy can have the rest when he wakes up,” Cricket said. “Put four pieces of bacon on the bottom of the crust while I beat up the eggs. Then we’ll add the half-and-half, cheese, and other ingredients, and pop it in the oven.”
“Is it really that easy?” Anna Grace asked. “From the way Aunt Sugar talked, I thought it took a long time. The recipe in the book I looked through yesterday looked harder than that.”
“Do you know anything about cheeses?” Cricket asked.
“No, but it said to grate the cheese, and doesn’t that take a long time?” Anna Grace measured the half-and-half for Cricket.
“Not if you buy it already grated,” Cricket answered. “There are some shortcuts. You will have to go shopping with me one evening after work.”
“That would be great,” Anna Grace said, “and now back to the kissing. How did it make you feel?”
“It was totally different from when any other guy kissed me,” she said.
“That’s the way I felt when Tommy kissed me good night on the second date,” Anna Grace sighed. “It was like two soulmates found each other, and he says the same thing.”
“But what if Bryce doesn’t feel the same?” Cricket asked. “He told me that he was lucky to have found me, but what if that’s not real, and when something better comes along, he breaks my heart? I’ve been hurt bad before, and I don’t want that again.”
Anna Grace put all the ingredients back where they belonged. “Just trust your heart. I did mine, and I’m happy for the first time in forever. And, Cricket, the way Bryce looks at you tells me that he’s not going to break your heart. He really does like you a lot.”
Cricket slid the pie in the oven and started for her bedroom. “Thank you for that. Who would have thought I’d be getting romance advice from you?”
“Who would have thought I’d be sharing a house with you and learning to cook and garden?” Anna Grace stopped her long enough to give her a side hug. “This is a whole new world, and I’m loving it.”
Cricket hugged her back and then stepped away. “I don’t think I’d love your world if our situations were reversed. When Jennie Sue’s parents were killed in that car wreck, Rick and I came to the house with her.”
“I remember that night,” Anna Grace said. “You stayed out by the pool most of the evening.”
“Yep, because I let the whole bunch of you intimidate me,” Cricket admitted. “But that’s in the past, and we’re living in the present.”
“And so, looking forward to the future,” Anna Grace grinned.
* * *
Amos, Lettie, and Nadine were all waiting at the front door when Bryce opened the drugstore that morning. The three ordered coffee and honey buns and sat down at one of the tables together.
“Heard you went fishin’ last night,” Amos said. “Catch anything?”
“Nope,” Bryce said. “They weren’t bitin’.”
“Goin’ back tonight?” he asked.
“No,” Bryce answered. “Tonight, Cricket and I are going to Sweetwater after work for ice cream and a drive through the country.”
“So y’all are dating?” Amos asked.
“I hope so,” Bryce said with a grin.
“We’ve got a whole raft of prescriptions coming in,” Tandy yelled from the back of the store. That started a day busier than any he’d had all week. Bryce could hardly believe it when he looked at the clock, and it was ten minutes until five. Ilene was wiping down all the tables, and Tandy was counting out the bills in the cash register.
At exactly five o’clock, Ilene locked the front doors, Tandy put a bag of cash into the safe and locked it, and Bryce hung up his lab coat. “I can’t tell you two how much I appreciate your efficiency. I’m so glad you stayed on to work for me. This could have been a nightmare if you hadn’t.”
“You ever think maybe we’re putting a little more pep in our step because we don’t want you to be late for your date?” Ilene teased as they all three left by the back door.
“Well, thank you for that too.”
Bryce got into his vehicle, drove around to Main Street, and parked in front of the bookstore. He turned off the engine, waited until half a dozen cars went by, and then slung open the door and slid out from behind the wheel.
Anna Grace was sitting on the sofa with a glass of sweet tea in her hands when he went into the store. She looked up and pointed toward Cricket’s desk. “She’s in the bathroom right now, but you can wait on her. How was your day?”
“Fast and furious,” he answered. “I don’t think I stopped counting pills from the time we opened until we closed, but that’s good. That’s what I’m in business to do. How about y’all?”
“The same until about five minutes ago. Cricket says that she sold more books today than she usually does in a month,” Anna Grace answered.
“It’s been crazy,” Cricket said as she crossed the floor. “Are you ready to go get ice cream?”
“Don’t you have to wait until six to close up shop?” he asked.
“Not when I have help. Anna Grace can turn off the lights and lock the doors,” Cricket replied.
“For real?” Anna Grace asked.
Cricket tossed her the store keys. “Didn’t you ever close up shop at the oil company?”
“Yes, but…”
Cricket shook her head and held up a palm. “No buts. When six o’clock gets here, lock it up and…” She dug around in her purse and laid her car keys on the coffee table. “And go home. Tommy said he would make sure anything in the garden that needed picking got picked. There’s food in the pantry and fridge. You’re on your own. If you’re afraid to cook anything else, make sandwiches and take them to the creek for a picnic. Jennie Sue says that you can skinny-dip this time of year.” She sent a broad wink toward Anna Grace. “Nobody will be home for a while to catch you!”
Bryce ushered Cricket out the front door with his hand on the small of her back, opened the vehicle door for her, and waited until she was settled before he closed it. He hurried around the back of the SUV, made sure no cars were coming, and slid into the driver’s seat.
“This is a real treat, getting to leave this early,” he said, “but what do you say we stop by the Bloom Café and have a burger for supper before we drive down to Sweetwater to the ice cream shop?”
“That sounds great.” Cricket smiled. “But you do realize that if you take me there to eat, folks are going to talk.”
“Then we’ll keep the phone lines hot tonight.” He grinned as he drove to the end of the block and snagged a parking place.
* * *
Sparks flew around them, and even though it wasn’t funny, Cricket giggled.
“I hope my kisses aren’t that bad,” he whispered.
“Not at all. They make my knees go weak and my heart race. I can’t stop laughing at all the people’s faces. What they’ve heard about the new pharmacist in town is true. He’s spending time with Cricket Lawson when he could have had any woman in Bloom,” she whispered.
“But I like Cricket,” he chuckled. “She’s my kind of woman.”
Laura Kay, the café owner, came over to their table and asked, “What can I get y’all to drink?”
“Sweet tea for me,” Cricket said, “and I’ll have a double bacon cheeseburger and fries.”
“I’ll have the same, and with an extra order of fries,” Bryce added.
“Have it right out,” Laura Kay said, “and welcome to Bloom. I’ve been meaning to get down to the drugstore and meet you, but it’s been crazy in here all week. I’m Laura Kay Franklin, and I own this café.”
“It was busy at both our places today too,” Bryce said. “and thank you for the warm welcome.”
“Sure thing,” Laura Kay said. “Hope to see you in here often.”
“Maybe not, since Cricket has been cooking for me,” Bryce said.
“Well, I’m sure what you get in here wouldn’t be as good as what she makes,” Laura Kay said and rushed off to pour refills of tea for other customers on her way back to put their order in.
“You do know that she’s telling all the folks where she’s refilling tea glasses what you said, don’t you?” Cricket looked up to find that he was staring at her.
“I hope so,” he said. “You have the most beautiful eyes, and your smile lights up the whole room.”
“Flattery will get you—” she started.
He put a finger over her lips. “That’s not flattery. It’s the pure facts.”
She closed her hand over his finger and kissed it. “With all this to feed the rumor mill, the gossip about Anna Grace will fall by the wayside.”
“I told you we’d give them something to talk about, but it’s not rumors, it’s the truth,” Bryce said.
Laura Kay must have refilled the customers’ tea glasses five times each because no one seemed to be in a hurry to leave the café. The place was buzzing with conversation when Cricket and Bryce finished their burgers and fries, and when he paid for the food, the noise got even louder.
They had barely gotten into his SUV when both their phones rang at the same time. Cricket answered hers, and Bryce stepped out of the vehicle and sat down on the bench in front of the store to talk.
“Hey, I hear that you went to supper with Bryce at the Bloom Café,” Jennie Sue said. “I should leave town more often.”
“Holy smoke! We just walked out of the place,” Cricket laughed. “How did the news get all the way to Florida that quick?”
“You know what they say,” Jennie Sue giggled right along with her. “There’s three ways of fast communication: telegraph, telephone, and tell-a-woman. The latter is the fastest by far. Someone in the café called Lettie and she called me, but she thought y’all were going for ice cream tonight and burgers tomorrow night. She’s not going to be happy when she finds out that someone else jumped the gun on her when it comes to gossip.”
“Tongues were wagging.” Cricket told her what Bryce had said about giving everyone in town something to talk about. “He did an amazing job, but he said it was all real, not just for show.”
“Like I said, I should leave town more often,” Jennie Sue said, “and you should keep me informed a little better. I don’t like getting things secondhand either.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cricket agreed. “Bryce got a call at the same time I did, and he’s on his way back. Talk to you later.”
“I’ll expect details,” Jennie Sue said.
“I know, I know,” Cricket groaned.
* * *
A quarter moon hung in the dark sky with bright stars dancing all around it when Bryce walked Cricket to her door that evening at ten o’clock. They’d had ice cream, talked about anything and everything while they ate it, and then talked some more on the way home. She’d never been so comfortable with a guy in her whole life.
“I told you that the call back at the café was my father, and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask you to meet him and my mother. Is that too forward or too soon for you? Dad and Mama are coming to Bloom on Saturday and staying over until Sunday after church. Since my place is so small, they’ll bring their motor home. I called Lettie right after I talked to them, and she said they could park it in the driveway and hook up to the electricity in the garage. They want to take us out to dinner so they can meet you on Saturday evening. If you’re not comfortable with that, or if you think I’m rushing things…” He hesitated.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Cricket said. “Bring them out to the farm when they get into town and have gotten things hooked up. We’ll grill some pork chops and cook supper at home. We can visit more that way. Tommy and Anna Grace will be there too, so we’ll have a perfect group—three guys and three ladies.”
“Like I’ve said before, you are amazing,” he said. “Will you go to church with us on Sunday morning? They’ll have to leave right afterwards. Maybe we could take another picnic to the creek after we say our goodbyes?”
“I’d love to,” Cricket said, “on all of it.”
Bryce caged her by putting a hand on the door on each side of her, and then he leaned down and kissed her good night. Just like all the other times, he could have sworn the earth moved under his feet.
Cricket rolled up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck for the second kiss. “This has been the most awesome week of my life. I’m still not sure if it’s real or if I’m dreaming.”
“If you’re dreaming, then I am too, and I don’t want to wake up.” Bryce kissed her one more time. and then whistled all the way to his SUV.
Cricket waved at him until she couldn’t see his taillights any longer and then went into the house to find Anna Grace cuddled up beside Tommy on the sofa.
“You look like you’re in love,” Anna Grace teased.
“So do you,” Cricket shot back.
“Guilty as charged, and happy to boot,” Anna Grace said. “Mama called this evening just before I closed up shop and begged me to come home. She said that Daddy would give Tommy a job in the oil company, and I could have my big wedding. She’d already contacted a planner.”
“And?” Cricket stopped in her tracks.
“I told her no,” Anna Grace said. “Tommy likes what he does, and I’ve decided I don’t want a big wedding. I do need three more months to learn more about being independent, though, before we have a small ceremony on the beach on Padre Island. I told her that she and Daddy could come to the wedding, but none of the Belles are invited. Not one of my friends has tried to get in touch with me since I moved out of Mama and Daddy’s house.”
Cricket slumped down in a rocking chair. “As strong as you’ve gotten in just the past few days, you should be able to bench-press an Angus bull by the end of three months.”
Tommy chuckled. “That’s similar to what I told her, and she cooked supper all by herself. We had chicken enchiladas.”
Anna Grace blushed. “It was a simple recipe. I can read; therefore I can cook.”
“Yep,” Cricket said and remembered what Jennie Sue had said. “I should leave you alone more often. Hey, just a heads-up. Bryce’s folks are coming over on Saturday for dinner.”
“I’ll do what I can to help.” Anna Grace nodded.
“And I’ll take the guys fishing so you ladies can talk about us,” Tommy said.
“Thank you both.” Cricket pushed up out of the rocking chair. “I’m glad you’re staying all summer, Anna Grace.”
“Will you and Bryce come to Padre with us, and will you be my bridesmaid?” Anna Grace asked. “I’m only having one, and it will be really simple. We’ve decided on the first weekend in August.”
“I’d be honored,” Cricket said, “as long as the dress isn’t too frou-frou.”
“I can guarantee that,” Anna Grace assured her.
Cricket went to her room, and sent Bryce a text: Will you go with me to a wedding on Padre Island the first weekend in August?
The answer came right back: Yes!
She fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. If someone had told her a few months ago that her life would turn completely around in one short week and that Anna Grace Cramer would ask her to be her only bridesmaid, she would have thought they were drunk or insane.
“But it’s real,” she whispered, and picked up her phone to call Jennie Sue.
Chapter Eight
Cricket, I’d like you to meet my parents,” Bryce said. “This is my mother, Darlene, and my father, Tim.”
“I’m pleased to meet both of you.” Cricket shook hands with them. “And this is my friend and roommate, Anna Grace, and her fiancé, Tommy Bluestone.”
“This is really sweet of you to invite us out here,” Darlene said.
“Yes, it is, and I hear there’s a good fishing hole right here on your property,” Tim said.
“There sure is,” Tommy said. “I caught several catfish yesterday. I thought us guys might grill them along with whatever we catch today. Or we can have a fish fry. Whichever way y’all like them best.”
“Grilled,” Darlene and Tim said at the same time.
Bryce leaned down and whispered in Cricket’s ear. “Do you want us guys to stick around awhile?”
Small Town Charm Page 7