The Magnolia Inn

by Carolyn Brown

  “Just got to pick up my purse.” She hurried off down the stairs.

  She’d be good for you. Melanie’s voice popped into his head so quick that it shocked him. He waited for a full minute, but she didn’t say anything else, so he went down to the foyer and got his jacket.

  Jolene slipped her arms into an oversize cardigan. “It’s fairly nice out today. No rain in sight. Maybe we’ll have an early spring.”

  Tucker held the door for her. “My grandpa always said not to think spring was here until after Easter, and that’s not until the end of April this year.”

  “The Easter snap.” Jolene nodded. “That’s what Uncle Jasper called it.”

  “Yep, my grandpa said the same thing.”

  The trip to Jefferson took only a few minutes, but Tucker kept thinking about what Melanie had said. Would Jolene be good for him? Here lately, he really had felt a lot less guilty every time he thought about how cute she was with paint smeared on her face or how gorgeous she was when she got all cleaned up for Sunday dinner.

  “The work is coming along faster than I thought possible,” Jolene said when they parked outside the antique shop. “And I love the way it looks. Do you think we’ll have the rest of the upstairs done by the end of February?”

  “Yes, ma’am, and then we’ll have March to work on the downstairs renovations,” he answered. “There’s not as much actual work there, mainly just deciding how on earth to get a little office space and some basic cosmetic help.”

  Her finger shot past his nose. “Look at that, Tucker.”

  A whitetail doe and her fawn stood right inside a barbed-wire fence at the edge of the road. It was one of those Kodak moments, but neither of them had their phones ready, so they didn’t catch the picture.

  “Ah, man, that was postcard pretty,” Jolene said.

  “If we ever see any around the inn, we’ll have to take pictures to go on your website. You are going to keep it updated by seasons, right?”

  She leaned forward, no doubt looking for another deer. “You bet I am. And if we ever have a wedding there, I’ll get permission from the bride to post pictures of that, too.”

  Lucy met them at the door with her arms spread out to hug Jolene. “I’m so glad to see you today. You kids are like a breath of spring after a long winter. What brings you to town?”

  “I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with someone to help with Flossie’s garden.”

  Tucker held up a palm. “Don’t look at me. I’ve got black thumbs instead of green ones. Melanie used to say that if I breathed on a plant, it died.”

  He’d mentioned her name, and no sadness swirled up around it. He glanced down at the wedding band on his left hand. Was he really starting to take steps forward?

  “Me, either. Daddy taught me how to grow flowers, but I wouldn’t know anything about squash or tomatoes,” Jolene said.

  “Maybe Sugar can think of someone who might be interested. Flossie loves that garden.” Lucy sighed.

  “Don’t you worry. I bet there’s someone who’ll love to help Flossie,” Jolene answered.

  Her tone was so honest and caring that Tucker wanted to take her in his arms and hug her. There’d been attraction before, but then, who wouldn’t be drawn to a woman like Jolene? She was strong and independent, and still sweet.

  “That’s right. I don’t know why I fret about things like I do. But enough about us old ladies and our problems. I bet you’re here to see the things I bought for the inn, right? Y’all just follow me to the storage room, and I’ll show you what I’ve bought. Since I talked to you, I found another piece. If you want both, I’ll give them to you for what I paid for them.”

  “We can’t do that. You need to make a profit,” Tucker said.

  “No, I don’t. I’ve got more money than Midas already and no one to leave it to when I’m dead,” Lucy argued as she opened the door into a storage room. “There they are.”

  Two small burled-oak washstands, complete with the towel bars, were side by side. There was no doubt that the hardware was original, and they were in pristine condition. Jolene squealed and went to open all the little drawers and then the small door.

  “They’re both perfect. That’s so sweet of you to give them to us at such a bargain. Thank you, thank you.” She rushed over to hug Lucy.

  Tucker couldn’t help but smile as he pulled out his wallet. “At least let us give you a finder’s fee.”

  “Nope. I paid a hundred apiece for them, and that’s what I’m charging. You can back your truck up around to the back doors and load them up.” Lucy smiled. “I’m glad that I did good.”

  “You did better than good.” Jolene ran her fingers over the top of each piece. “You did fantabulous.”

  Lucy giggled. “Well, thank you.”

  Tucker got into bed that evening and laced his fingers behind his head. Clouds kept shifting across the quarter moon, sending shadows and shapes across the ceiling. He turned his head to catch sight of Melanie’s picture on the nightstand, but she was barely visible in the semidarkness. Then he turned the other way to find that Sassy wasn’t in her usual place on the pillow but had curled up at the foot of the bed.

  He shut his eyes, and sleep came immediately—as did the dreams. He and Melanie were back in the trailer that last night. He argued with her that she shouldn’t go into town, but she laughed at him.

  “It’s okay, darlin’. It’s my time and no one argues with God.” She kissed him on the cheek, picked up her purse, and started out the trailer door.

  “Lucy does,” he said. “Lucy argues with God, and I believe He listens to her.”

  “Who’s Lucy?” Melanie asked.

  “This older lady who’s a friend of Jolene’s. Don’t go, Melanie. I can’t live without you,” he begged.

  “Yes, you can. Life goes on, and I want you to be happy, Tucker. You have to let me go. My soul won’t be at peace until you do.” She took him by the hand and led him outside. “Now walk me to the car, and tell me goodbye.”

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “Be brave, like you are on the force.” She kissed him. “I love you. Give Jolene a chance. I like her. She’ll make you happy.”

  He tried to hold her back, but she slipped away. As she drove off into the fog, he reached out one more time, only to find her wedding ring in his hand.

  He woke up in a cold sweat, his hand clutched so tight that it ached. When he opened it, there was nothing there. Shock filled him to see her picture was gone as well. He switched on the light and found the frame on the floor, the glass shattered into a hundred little pieces.

  Sassy was sitting right beside it with a mouse in her mouth. That explained the picture. She’d probably jumped across the bed and the nightstand to get at it, but Tucker just knew that Melanie had probably caused it.

  “I get it,” he whispered as he cleaned up the glass, threw away the frame, and tucked her picture into the nightstand. “You can go. I’m going to be fine.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jolene stared at the calendar—January 29. There was something special about that day, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Mentally, she ran down the list of family birthdays and got nothing. She flipped the calendar pages and saw where Aunt Sugar had penned in birthdays for her friends and special days that she and Uncle Jasper shared—their first date, their first kiss, and their anniversary. Then there were other days, like when Sugar’s mother, her father, Elaine, and even Jolene’s father had passed away.

  But there was nothing written on January 29, so why did she feel like she was missing something important?

  Tucker looked over her shoulder. “Got something going today?”

  Him standing that close to her created a heat that she didn’t want to think about. A relationship of any kind would be nothing but a rebound thing for him.

  What would it be for you? Aunt Sugar’s voice was in her head.

  Disaster, she thought with honesty.

  Jolene put her
finger on the date. “January 29. Does that mean something to you?”

  “Can’t think of anything, but you did tell me your birthday was on the twenty-ninth, so maybe you’re thinking ahead.” Tucker rubbed a hand over his chin. “Why?”

  If she turned around, her lips would be within a few inches of his ruggedly handsome face. She folded her arms over her chest and took a side step. “Look at it and see if it jogs anything in your memory. I’ve got this nagging feeling that it should mean something, and it’s driving me crazy.”

  With a little distance between them, the tension faded. “How about some chocolate-chip muffins this morning?” she asked.

  “Sounds great.” He flipped through the calendar. “I wonder why Sugar did this when she knew she was leaving.”

  She headed into the kitchen. “It was part of her ritual. In December she always got a new calendar at the grocery store and used the old one to write all the important dates on it.”

  “And she probably didn’t want you to forget, right?”

  Tucker got eggs and milk from the refrigerator and set them on the counter.

  “I wonder why she didn’t take it with her,” Jolene mused. “Maybe she made two. She wouldn’t leave home without something to remind her of important dates. I’m going to use hers and make one of my own next year. I want to remember all those days.”

  “Maybe I could add a few to it,” he said.

  Jolene wasn’t sure how she’d feel about his late wife’s birthday being on the calendar, too, but they were in this venture together. She’d gotten used to putting their laundry together, so this wouldn’t be all that different, would it?

  “Sure, you can,” she said, hoping all the time that she’d never have to look at Melanie’s name on the calendar.

  “Hey, where is everyone?” Dotty’s voice echoed through the house.

  “Back here,” Tucker yelled. “Come on in and join us for breakfast?”

  “What’re you doin’ out this early?” Jolene asked when Dotty appeared in the kitchen doorway. “How did you manage to get through that rain without ruining your hair?”

  “A good umbrella. A fine plastic rain bonnet. And the best hair spray on the market,” Dotty answered. “What are we havin’ this morning?”

  “Muffins and cereal. But I’ll make you an omelet if you want one,” Jolene answered.

  “Let’s have oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar to go with the muffins.” The other woman headed for the pantry. “I’ll make it while you finish stirrin’ those up, chère. Something ain’t right. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I had to come see if you kids were okay.”

  “Must be something in the air. Jolene can’t figure out why today looks strange on the calendar,” Tucker said.

  Dotty filled a small saucepan with water and set it on the stove. “Me, either. That’s where I went first. Sugar always got four calendars at the grocery store and she filled them out for each of us with our birthdays, committee meetin’s at the church, and so on. Then we put in our own doctor visits and personal things. There’s not a thing on today for any of us. I checked with Lucy and Flossie before I left—they got this feelin’, too—so I volunteered to come out here to check on y’all.”

  Jolene felt better knowing it wasn’t just her feeling strange about the day. Maybe it had to do with Aunt Sugar. That was the only explanation.

  “Why didn’t you just call?” Tucker asked. “You could catch pneumonia in this weather.”

  “Oh, chère.” She giggled. “Us Cajuns are a lot stronger than we look. It’d take a little more than rain to get me sick. Must just be this awful weather gettin’ us all antsy.”

  “Or maybe it’s spring fever hittin’ us early,” Jolene said.

  “Could be. I’m tired of this damn weather for sure. I saw a single little daffodil at the old Ennis place as I was driving out here and got more excited about spring than I ever have before.”

  That would certainly explain the vibes when Tucker was close, Jolene thought. It was the same hormones that the birds and the bees get when spring is on the way. Her focus shifted toward him, standing there with bedroom hair, and she almost dropped the pan of muffins that she was carrying to the oven.

  Bedroom hair? Spring fever was taking over for sure.

  Conway, Arkansas

  Sugar did up the breakfast dishes and checked her calendar like she did every morning. She picked up a pen and wrote HOME in the January 29 slot. With good weather and no hiccups, they could be hooked up at the house next to Flossie’s by nightfall.

  “Still happy?” Jasper wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Too much to describe. How about you?”

  “Like you said, there are no words. Do you realize that our grandbabies won’t be off out there in West Texas? I wish Dotty would have hired her when she was twenty-one.”

  “I was selfish back then and didn’t want people to know that she worked in a bar,” Sugar admitted.

  “And she refused to come work for us in the inn,” Jasper remembered.

  “She said she could make her own way.” Sugar nodded. “But, darlin’, I’m not sorry we did this trip. It showed us where we belong, and we’d never have bought the RV just for vacations.”

  Jasper brushed her hair back and kissed her on the neck. “And someday Jolene and her husband might want to borrow it to take the kids to Disney World.”

  She laid her head on his chest. “If only we could have had half a dozen kids of our own.”

  “That would’ve been wonderful, but that wasn’t in the cards for us. Reuben or Jolene’s children can be our grandbabies. I just hope neither of them wait too long to get married. Are you ready to get started on the last leg toward home?”

  She pointed to the wall where the calendar hung. “Yes, I am. See, I wrote it down already because it’s such a special day.”

  She strapped herself into the passenger seat. “What time will we be there?”

  “Six, maybe, but probably more like seven. We can run on generator power tonight if it’s too dark for me to find things.” He kept talking, but Sugar had her phone out and was picking out furniture for her new place.

  At noon, Jasper pulled the RV off into a rest stop in Louisiana and parked it in the truck-only area. Sugar heated up a pan of tomato soup and made grilled cheese sandwiches. Jasper got out potato chips and opened cans of root beer for them.

  She had taken the first bite of soup when her phone rang. She bit back a groan when she saw it was Jolene. She handed the phone to Jasper. “You talk first. I’m afraid I’ll tell her and spoil our surprise.”

  “Is this the Magnolia Inn callin’ me?” Jasper teased as he put it on speaker mode.

  “No, this is your favorite niece.” Jolene giggled. “Are y’all havin’ a good time? Where have you decided to go next?”

  “Where our hearts take us,” Jasper answered.

  “Aunt Sugar, is there anything special about today? You don’t have it on the calendar, but I’m kind of antsy, and something tells me it’s got to do with the day,” Jolene said.

  Sugar glanced over at the calendar and sidestepped the issue. “Maybe it’s got to do with Tucker. Have you thought of that? Or maybe you’re going to win that thing where that company shows up on your porch with a big check.”

  “No . . . wait a minute while I step outside,” Jolene said.

  In a few seconds, Sugar could hear the screech of the old chains on the porch swing. She pushed the “Mute” button and whispered to Jasper, “She suspects.”

  Jasper smiled.

  Sugar hit the button again as Jolene said, “Okay, I can talk now. Is it just spring fever that makes me . . . how do I put this?”

  “Put what? Don’t beat around the bush. Spit it out,” Jasper said.

  “Here lately I’m really attracted to Tucker.” Jolene sighed.

  “Oh, dear,” Sugar squeaked. “Does he feel the same?”

  “I don’t know, but he seems happy. Maybe that’s just me wan
ting to see something. I was guilty of that with Mama a lot of times. And God knows I gave Johnny Ray all those chances to straighten up and he didn’t. I’m afraid of getting disappointed or hurt again.”

  “Did Elaine ever stay sober for ten whole days?” Sugar asked.

  “Not even one time,” Jolene answered.

  “Did the boyfriend?”

  “He made it two days one time,” Jolene said.

  “Then there’s your answer. Don’t judge Tucker by your mama’s or that other man’s half bushel,” Sugar told her.

  “What does that mean? I’ve never heard that expression before,” Jolene said.

  “It means that your mama’s half bushel of problems stay in her basket. Johnny Ray’s stay in his. Don’t pull out any of those and use it to judge anyone else. The way they handled their issues has nothing to do with Tucker, so don’t judge him by your experiences with those two,” Jasper chimed in.

  Jolene laughed. “And never the bunch of them shall meet unless they share a bottle of cheap whiskey. Then I can throw them in a burlap bag together, right?”

  “You got it, darlin’,” Jasper said.

  “Okay, I guess I just needed to hear y’all’s voices. Travel safe today, and I love you both. Where are you now?” Jolene asked again.

  “In a rest stop having lunch, and then we’ll get back on the road,” Jasper answered.

  “Well, be safe.”

  “We will,” Jasper said.

  The call ended without any of them needing to say goodbye.

  “Sounds like you handled that real good,” Jasper said. “And, if I was hearin’ right, we might get them grandbabies sooner rather than later.”

  “We just might at that.” Sugar nodded.

  The windshield wipers had to do double time to keep up with the sheets of rain hitting Tucker’s truck like a sandblaster. The fifteen-minute drive to the lumberyard took half an hour, and he had to sit in the parking lot ten more minutes until the rain slacked up enough that he could jog inside. When he carried the five-gallon bucket out to the truck, there was still a slow drizzle coming down, but at least most of the storm had passed.