Couch surfing? That was a new term for Lil, but it sounded pleasant enough.
As they descended the stairs together, Charlie said, “I noticed this month’s Guns & Ammo magazine in the bedside table last night. Somehow that doesn’t strike me as your kind of entertainment.”
Lil laughed and took the elbow he offered, steering them both toward the dining room. She’d already set the table with the one small collection of Haviland she hadn’t had the heart to pawn. “No, I’m much more a House Beautiful kind of woman. But a friend of mine normally stays in that room, and she’s what I’d call a gun nut. Then again, what do you expect from a Texan?”
“I hope my visit didn’t put her out.”
“She’s on a little vacation right now, so the timing was perfect. Besides, if she was around, you’d know it. Her personality is probably the reason for the saying that everything is bigger in Texas.” The words tumbled out before Lil could keep her Southern lady behavior in check.
“Sounds like a pistol.”
“She has enough of them.” Lil chuckled at her own joke, then she hurried to the sideboard to fill a plate for her guest. “Do you like butter and syrup with your French toast?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Although it didn’t seem completely proper, at Charlie’s request she sat with him and sipped a cup of coffee while he ate. After he’d tucked away three helpings, he finally wiped his mouth. “Miss Lillian, that was the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten.”
“Surely, Angelina—”
“I think she buys day-old donuts from the grocery store.”
Oh, my. “Well, then, your mother must—”
“Momma’s not much of a breakfast cook. Your French toast outdoes her half-cooked pancakes any day. But she can stir up a good pot of Brunswick stew.”
A better cook than his own momma? Lil glowed from one of the best compliments a woman could hope for. She cleared his plate and freshened his coffee. With a pat on his hand, she said, “You’re a nice young man. Your momma raised you right regardless of her cooking skills.”
As she took the dishes into the kitchen, she had a flash of brilliance.
Perhaps the way to let Summer Haven sustain its own upkeep had been right in front of her all along. Young businessmen like Charlie could stop and stay for a much lower price than the two hundred bucks Angelina was charging, and Lil could still turn a pretty profit.
It was high time she figured out a way to make enough money to keep this place in good running order, since she’d never charge her friends rent. That wouldn’t be right, but this was different. Definitely worth looking into.
Big Martha, her roomie at Walter Stiles, had always talked about how easy it was to set up a business online. Maybe couchsurfing.com was the answer to Lil’s financial constraints. Plus she could meet some nice people. Look how well it worked out with Sera. And now Charlie. And…well, she was still deciding about Abby Ruth.
Being the matriarch of Summer Shoals had long been what made Lil happy. But now that her reputation was tarnished—if only among the few folks who knew where she’d actually been while she claimed to be on vacation—things were different. Time in the big house changed a gal, and not in a good way. If she wanted to make ends meet, she needed to keep her possibilities open.
But the most important thing she’d learned in prison was that she never wanted to go back. She couldn’t sit around and wait for the law to clear her name. Lil needed to find Jessie Wyatt’s darned gauntlets herself.
* * *
Jenny, Teague, and Grayson had spent the better part of Sunday out at the baseball field. Teague coaching, Grayson playing, and Jenny cheering, so she was glad they’d been invited to dinner at Summer Haven tonight.
Not having to cook was always a plus, but Jenny’d had her doubts that Grayson would eat Lil’s chicken mull, because what ten-year-old liked stew? But he surprised her and gulped it down like Popeye with spinach. Guess I’ll be learning to make this white chicken stuff.
“Miss Lillian, I can honestly say I’ve never had better chicken mull.” Teague sat back from the twelve-person fruitwood table in Summer Haven’s formal dining room and patted his flat stomach. He flashed a grin at the others in the room—Maggie, Sera, Sera’s husband, and Grayson—before aiming its full wattage in Jenny’s direction.
Just to needle him, she poked him in the side. “You better watch your waistline. Otherwise your wedding tuxedo won’t fit.” Which was a big bunch of baloney because she’d seen the six-pack he was sporting under his shirt. It would take a lot more than Lil’s delicious dinner to make the man she loved flabby.
“Until our friend Charlie stayed for a visit, I’d honestly forgotten how much I enjoy cooking for a man,” Lil said.
Teague slid a sideways look Jenny’s way. “Sure wish Jenny felt the same.”
“It’s called modern family life, Castro.” This time, she threw a halfhearted punch toward his shoulder, but he caught her fist and pulled her into his lap. “I work, you work. I cook, you cook.”
Grayson piped up from the other end of the table. “I like it best when Teague cooks pizza.”
Jenny laughed. “It’s interesting how he cooks pizza and it always ends up in a Pizza Pie in the Sky box.”
Teague’s arms tightened around her. “I know my limitations.”
Jenny pressed a slow kiss to his cheek, letting him know that in her mind, he had no limitations. Then she started to rise. “Lil, let me help y’all with the dishes.”
“No, you young people enjoy sitting still for a few minutes. Maggie, Sera, and I’ve got it.”
A few minutes later, the three women returned with coffee for the adults and a mug of hot chocolate for Grayson.
“Teague,” Lil said. “Anything new on the Jessie Wyatt case?”
“No,” he said. “Only dead ends so far. It’s like those gem-stoned gauntlets vanished.”
“Please tell me you found out they’re not actually worth anything except for the sentimental value,” Lil said hopefully.
“No. Jessie’s family has confirmed that the gauntlets were actually worth quite a bit. They’d had them appraised.”
“That makes this a lot more serious crime,” Lil said.
“After questioning everyone who was inside during the interment, it seems that the gauntlets had to be taken before the casket was ever rolled into the mausoleum.”
“I feel like they were still on the casket inside.” Lil slowly shook her head. “I wish I could be certain.”
“We’ll get it figured out,” Teague assured her.
Lil turned her attention to Jenny. “Have you heard from your mom? We’re getting worried because she hasn’t called.”
“Not even a text,” Maggie added.
“Y’all know Mom. If God himself told her the ocean was full of fish, she’d figure out a way to argue they were dinosaurs. She’s just flexing her independence muscles. When she was on that around-the-country road trip before she landed here in Summer Shoals, sometimes I wouldn’t hear from her for more than two weeks at a time.”
“Weren’t you concerned?” Lil asked.
“Absolutely not. If I got anxious every time Mom went her own way, I’d need a pharmacy full of Prozac,” she said with a laugh.
Sera shifted in her chair to look directly at her. “For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this vacation of hers. I think we need to get in touch with her.”
“Do you know something we don’t?” Maggie said.
“No, it’s just one of my feelings.”
Jenny wasn’t normally one to put a lot of stock in woo-woo stuff, but when Sera had a feeling, she listened. “What do you mean?”
“Her aura seemed grayish months ago, before I went to California. Maybe she was just tired and needed this holiday as much as she claimed.”
“What color is Mom’s aura normally?”
“You have to ask?” Sera said.
“Turquoise?” Maggie asked.
Teague tapped h
is fingers against his coffee cup. “I bet it’s amber, like a shot of quality whiskey.”
“Oh, no,” Sera said. “She’s fire red all the way.”
Everyone at the table laughed because that was totally Abby Ruth Cady. But Jenny quickly sobered. She and her mother were developing a closer relationship now that they both lived in Summer Shoals. But they were private people and wore shells of self-protection that would do an armadillo proud. So if Sera and the others were concerned, Jenny should be too. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell. “I’ll put her on speaker phone.”
Sera’s quick smile broadcast her appreciation.
With one tap on her favorites, Jenny’s phone was dialing her mom’s number. And with every ring, her stomach tightened more. Why wasn’t voicemail picking up? More importantly, why wasn’t her mom picking up?
Finally, the ringing stopped. “Hello?”
Relief rushed through Jenny even as she realized her mom’s tone of voice sounded different. Distracted. Beat down. “Mom, where are you?”
“Well, hello to you too, Miss Nosy. I could ask you the same thing.”
“I’m at Summer Haven having a family dinner. We missed you tonight.”
“That’s why you sound like you’re at the bottom of the well. You have me on speaker phone, don’t you?”
“Everyone wanted to say hi.”
“Hi, Mimi,” Grayson hollered, grinning through his marshmallow mustache. “What are you gonna bring me from your vacation?”
“Grayson!” Jenny scolded.
“Well, I’m debating between a gun that shoots pieces of potato or a catapult. You have a preference?”
“Both,” he said.
On the other end, she chuckled, but the sound was missing something, some of its edge. “We’ll see.”
“So.” Jenny tried to sound casual. “Where are you now?”
“Do I have to remind you this is a grownup vacation and that not everyone sitting at that table is of age?”
“Things aren’t the same without you around,” Maggie chimed in. “Are you having a good time?”
“If by good time you mean Bill, Bob, and Billy Bob, then yes, I’m having a fine time.”
“Grayson, I think it’s time for you to go play with your Legos,” Jenny said quickly.
Teague was shaking his head in a way that said he wanted to cup his palms over his own ears. “C’mon, Gray. Let’s go make that castle we were talking about earlier.”
“Bye, Mimi,” Grayson yelled. “I can’t wait to see what you buy me!”
“Sorry, Mom,” Jenny said when the two men in her life were in the other room. “Apparently, he’s being raised in a barn.”
“Nothing wrong with a man who wants to expand his arsenal.”
Lil blew on her coffee and took a dainty sip. “You never did tell us exactly where you are, dear.”
“Somewhere between here and there,” Abby Ruth replied.
“Are you worried we’re planning to come crash your date with Billy Bob?” Maggie asked, laughter clear in her voice.
“No. I’m wondering why you feel the need to check up on a grown woman who’s been running her own damn life for a lot of years now.”
Jenny reeled back at the bite in her mom’s words. True, Abby Ruth Cady was not fond of people getting up in her business, but that was uncalled for. “Mom, these are your friends. And in case you’ve forgotten, I’m your daughter. You’re only daughter. We care about you, so please don’t snap off our heads.”
“I didn’t ask any of you to care about me.”
Lord, the chest punches just kept coming. Her mom could be a ring-tailed tooter, but this…this…attack from her felt like the reaction of a Rottweiler put in one too many dog fights. Something had her mom backed into a corner. “If you don’t want to tell us where you are, that’s absolutely your right. Forget we ever called and—”
“Fine, I’m in New Orleans,” she barked.
“Louisiana!” Sera bounced in her seat. “Oh, I love jambalaya. And jazz. And Jackson Square.”
“Have you visited Café du Monde?” Maggie leaned in toward the phone. “I swear I gain five pounds just thinking about all the powdered sugar on those beignets.”
“The Audubon Aquarium is definitely worth a visit,” Lil added.
“I’ll take your suggestions under advisement,” her mom said, but Jenny knew that meant she had no intention of doing anything they’d mentioned. What in the world had put her in this mood?
“Do you know when you’ll be home?” she asked her mom.
“You’ll know that about the time I get there.” And she hung up.
The sudden silence on the other end of Jenny’s phone seemed as dark as her mom’s out-of-whack aura.
Chapter 7
Lil’s heart was hurting for Jenny after the conversation that prompted her to punch at her phone’s end button until they were all certain the call had been disconnected.
From the other end of the table, Marcus cleared his throat. “I feel as if I was privy to something personal, something I shouldn’t have been listening to. If you’ll all excuse me, I’ll head upstairs.”
Sera shot everyone at the table an apologetic smile and followed her husband.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Jenny said. “I don’t know why Mom was so testy.”
“Maybe she simply had a bad day.” Lil tried to infuse her words with surprise, but the truth was Abby Ruth seemed to be moody pretty often. She had a short fuse, that one.
Jenny sighed. “I’d like to say it’s just Mom in one of her moods, but something feels off.”
“Lil?” Maggie tilted her head, as if she were looking at a particularly suspicious crack in a house’s foundation. “You and Abby Ruth didn’t by chance have an argument before she left, did you?”
Everyone fell silent, and Lil’s mouth dropped wide. She set her coffee cup down and folded her arms. “Absolutely not!”
“Well, don’t act like it’s a farfetched an idea. You two have had a scuffle or two.”
Jenny picked up her cup and stared into it. “She did leave in a hurry. Mom’s always been a bit of a tumbleweed, but this trip came out of nowhere. She missed Grayson’s talent show, which she’d been looking forward to.”
“She didn’t leave because of me. I miss her as much as y’all do.” Okay, so maybe she and Abby Ruth didn’t always see eye to eye, but she had not left because of Lil. She raised her right hand, ready to swear on the Summer family Bible. “I promise.”
Maggie gave her a smile. “I’m sorry, but I had to ask. Sometimes you can be a bit bossy. And when you two lock horns, I never know who to put my money on. But since Summer Haven is your home, I knew all along if someone had to leave, it would be Abby Ruth.”
“Well, we didn’t argue. But if that were the case, Abby Ruth Cady would’ve stomped up a good ol’ goodbye storm on her way out the door.”
“You’ve got a point,” Jenny said. “Mom isn’t one to tippy-toe around.”
“Which is why she and Lil are always sparking friction. They’re so much alike in that way.” Maggie got up and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Warm up, Lil?”
“No. I’m good.” It made her blood run cold that her very best friend would think she could be so rude as to run off a houseguest, even if said houseguest had been invited while she’d been away. Water under the bridge. She and Abby Ruth had found a way to peacefully cohabitate.
Maggie sat back down at the table. “Jenny, can you help us bring your mom’s stuff back in from her trailer? No need to tell her that we stored it out there and rented out her room while she was gone. If we think she sounded grumpy before, that ought to make her feel really unwelcome.”
“Sure thing.” Jenny pushed back from the table.
Maggie led the way out of the house toward Abby Ruth’s twenty-four-foot horse trailer. The fancy white gooseneck with a turquoise-and-red flame down the side sat beside the carriage house. The hitch was supported by a big block of
wood to keep it from sinking into the red Georgia clay.
She grabbed the bolt cutters leaning against the old magnolia tree stump in front of the carriage house. “That’s odd. Did one of y’all use these? I could’ve sworn they were hanging inside the door next to the rakes.”
“Pffft.” Lil shrugged. “Those things weigh more than I do. I don’t know how you swing them around like they’re nothing.”
“Shouldn’t leave them out. They won’t work worth a toot once they’re rusty.” Maggie headed to the carriage house and disappeared inside to put them away.
Lil reached under the fender well of the trailer to pluck out the hide-a-key. But as she stepped in front of the rear door, key in hand, the heavy-duty chrome Master lock was hanging open. “Someone forgot to lock this.”
Maggie closed the door to the carriage house behind her and stopped in her tracks. “Oh, no. When I was putting things in the trailer I was sidetracked by the mailman delivering the new set of socket wrenches I ordered. I must’ve forgotten to come back out and lock it up.” The color drained from her face. “I can’t believe I did that.”
Jenny snatched the padlock off the back of the trailer and slid open the door. There was a loud collective sigh as they all stared at the undisturbed boxes inside. “No worries,” Jenny said. “Probably best Mom never hears about this, though.”
“Thanks, y’all. She’d never trust me again.” Maggie raised a foot into the bed of the trailer and pulled herself up inside. “Thank goodness. Everything looks just like we left it.”
It took fifteen minutes to move the few things Abby Ruth kept inside the house back into the Sweet Vidalia Room. The rest of the trailer was filled with boxes neatly marked with their contents. A rolling storage unit.
“Good as new,” Jenny said.
“I’ll lock up the trailer,” Maggie said. “Y’all go on inside.”
But before they made it to Summer Haven’s front door, Maggie yelled from behind them, her voice as high-pitched as a lassoed pig. “Come quick!”
Lil turned. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re not going to believe this.” Maggie shouted from inside Abby Ruth’s trailer. “And someone get Teague!”
Under the Gun Page 6