What Matters in Mayhew (The Beanie Bradsher Series Book 1)

by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

  “Noooo,” Tater wailed from the living room. “I don’t wanna go to the…where are we going?”

  B-Kay stuck her head through the dining room door and looked at her little brother. “To the park.”

  Tater popped up from the floor. “Can I take my cars?”

  “Yes,” B-Kay said. “Come on now.”

  B-Kay headed for the door with a child in each hand. Beanie followed.

  “When we get done, I wonder if you’d mind runnin’ me by The Château for a minute. I want to talk to Will about helpin’ me with my Avon a little bit. I ain’t had time to drop any books off and some of my customers is askin’ where they can get ‘em. I’m hopin’ he’ll let me leave a few there in the hallway to pick up.”

  “Do you need me to start delivering some of your books?” B-Kay asked, remembering the times Beanie brought the catalogs into her mother’s shop downtown.

  “Well, that’s a thought,” Beanie said, “but I still want to stop by The Château, if’n you don’t mind. They’s somethin’ I need to ask him about besides the Avon.”

  40

  Unexpected Visitor

  “Why don’t you drop me off at Will’s first,” Beanie said as she and B-Kay approached downtown Mayhew Junction. “I’ll walk on down to the Thriftway when I get done. That way you and the kids’ll have plenty of time at the park.”

  “Ok,” said B-Kay. “But how will I know when to come pick you up?”

  “Good question.” Beanie thought about that for a moment.

  “You need a cell phone, Miss Beanie,” B-Kay said.

  “You’re prolly right about that, but I just don’t trust myself with one of them things. I got it! I’ll just walk over to the park when I’m done. It ain’t even two blocks away.”

  “With the grocery cart?”

  “Yeah, it ain’t no problem. Mr. Cunningham won’t mind. I’ll walk it back when we’re done and you can pick me up.”

  “Sounds complicated to me.” B-Kay glanced into the rearview mirror at the kids behind her. “Tater, don’t eat your boogers.”

  Bitty laughed. “Boogers.”

  B-Kay pulled up in front of The Château and Beanie gathered her purse, a stack of Avon catalogs, and the folds of her crinoline skirt and exited the car.

  “See you in an hour or so.” Beanie waved and turned toward the front porch. She took a deep breath, climbed the porch stairs and paused at the door, wondering if she should knock or just go on in like most folks did. She hadn’t yet decided when the front door opened and a woman Beanie had never seen exited with Will close on her heels.

  All three exclaimed “Oh” in unison and took a single step back, though Will was a bit slower, and Gabe stepped on his toes.

  “Sorry!” Three voices again, which made them all laugh.

  “Beanie!” Will said, smiling from ear to ear, despite his throbbing toes.

  “Hey, Will!” Beanie beamed over Gabe’s shoulder.

  “Have you met Gabe Warren yet, Bean? She just moved to town and is going to be staying here for a while. I just showed her the two upstairs rooms. She’s taking the one next to yours…” Will stopped, embarrassed. “I mean, your old one.”

  “Well, welcome to Mayhew Junction!” Beanie’s Avon training kicked into auto-drive, out of nerves, perhaps, or just years of forcing herself to greet people in a friendly manner despite being a natural introvert.

  “So you’re Beanie! Will was just talking about you.” Gabe smiled and reached to shake Beanie’s hand. “Great name, by the way.”

  Beanie, still processing what Gabe had just said, stared at her outstretched hand for an awkward second, then thrust a booklet into it. “I was just stopping by to drop off my new catalogs. Have you seen Avon’s new jewelry line? They’s some real pretty stuff in there, and we just got a-whole-nother range of foundations, just right for your own skin color. You got a gorgeous complexion, by the way. What do you use for moisturizin’?”

  “Sunscreen,” Gabe said.

  Beanie wasn’t sure if Gabe was joking, but she laughed just in case.

  “No, really. I’m out in the sun most days. Sunscreen is the only moisturizer I’ve ever used. I’m not much for makeup, to be honest.”

  “Gabe’s a pro-golfer, Bean,” said Will. “LPGA.”

  “Oh,” said Beanie. “Ooooohhh…I get it. Sorry, I thought you was just makin’ fun of me or something.”

  Gabe laughed then. “No, I wouldn’t do that. Not intentionally anyway.” She turned to Will and shook his hand.

  “Thanks for showing me around. I’ll start moving first thing in the morning, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Works for me. Let me know if I can help. There’s a trailer out back you can borrow if you need it.”

  Beanie stepped back out of the way and let Gabe pass. “Nice to meetcha, Ms. Warren.”

  “Call me Gabe. Hope to see you again, and uh, thanks for the catalog. See you tomorrow, Will.”

  Will and Beanie watched until Gabe rounded the corner of the porch to the parking area, then they stood awkwardly staring at nothing at all until Will finally spoke.

  “It’s good to see you, Bean. How’s it going?”

  “It’s going great!” Beanie lied. “Everything’s great. The kids are fine. They’s missin’ their mama, but they’re great kids…just great.”

  He could see her fighting back tears, so he just sat quietly and waited for her to go on.

  “Sweet’s back in the hospital, though. I don’t think I’m doing so great a job taking care of her, ‘cause her wound got infected, but Bubba John tuck her over to the hospital again and he says she’s gonna be fine. I don’t know, though…” She paused and swiped at her nose with the back of one hand.

  “How’s Suvi?” Will couldn’t help himself.

  “He’s fine, I reckon,” Beanie hung her head and stared at the Avon catalogs still clutched in her hand.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Will asked.

  Beanie looked up at Will’s sweet face, concern written all over it and something else. Something Beanie wasn’t sure about, having not had much experience with people who cared about other people. But in that moment, Beanie saw something safe and open and welcoming, like he was glad she was there and she could tell him anything. And so she did.

  “I’m not sure at all, Will,” Beanie said, shaking her head back and forth so hard, her hat threatened to fall.

  “What is it?” Will asked.

  “It’s just awful is what it is. Sweet’s real sick and I think she might die and if she dies it’s all my fault because I didn’t pack her wound right, ‘cause she thinks I’m sleepin’ with Bubba John and she wadn’t talkin’ to me at all. And the kids is just sick with worry, but Bubba John don’t even see it most times, he’s so busy tryin’ to fix up his daddy’s old house for Sweet Lee, and why he wants it to be a surprise is beyond me. And Suvi ain’t called once’t since the cake incident, which is fine by me, if’n he’s gonna be so jealous and suspicious. I ain’t done nothin’ wrong to nobody and ever’body’s still thinkin’ the worst.”

  Will took Beanie by the arm and led her inside, with her talking the whole way, and sat her down at the kitchen table.

  “I just don’t know how much longer I can stand it, though I don’t really know why I’m complainin’ cause the kids really are great, but I don’t like bein’ way out there and not bein’ able to go by and see all my people downtown, and take ‘em my Avon books and all. And I was wonderin’ if it would be all right, not right now, but if Sweet gets better, I was wonderin’ if it would be okay if I came back here to stay, because I miss my room and I miss bein’ close to town and ridin’ my bicycle ever’where, and I miss goin’ to Walmart with you every Friday and helpin’ you cook breakfast and wash dishes and, I miss laughin’ at ever’thing and nothing at all, and I miss bein’ appreciated, not just needed, and, and…I miss you, Will, I really do, and I wanna come home.”

  Will said nothing, just reached over and covered Beanie’s
hand with his own.

  Sweet Lee Atwater

  I hate what’s happening to me. I’ve lost control of everything. And most of the people in my life will tell you I kind of prefer being in control whenever possible. I keep asking God to show me what it is He wants me to learn, so I can just learn it already and move the heck on.

  When my mother and father split up, I was eight years old and had no idea anything was even wrong. Oh, they always fought like cats and dogs, but I had no frame of reference. I thought that was just how families were. So my first eight years were spent with parents who hated each other and adored me, and my next eight were spent in what I like to call a nuclear family; it just exploded all over the place. My daddy married a woman with two girls and a boy, and my mama married twice more, having one more kid with each husband. I stayed with my daddy on weekends and with my mama the rest of the time. And I floated around in the chaos of a disjointed, unstable home.

  Even still, I knew I wanted a big family. I wanted to fill a table for eight and always, always sit down to eat together. I wanted my children to have a daddy who was irrepressibly there. That’s what I thought I had. Bubba John and I have been a unit from the time we first kissed. I’ve never had reason to question where he was or what he was doing. He was almost always on his way home to me. He searches for me in the house, stops by the shop just to visit, hopes I haven’t packed a lunch so we can eat together. He sits beside me on the couch, holds my hand in the kitchen, touches my face for no reason at all. He is always happy to have the kids with him, though not too many at once. He is not a man who looks at women passing by; he has always made me feel like I am the only one in the world he cares to rest his eyes upon.

  And he's right…I am not the only one this has happened to, but I am the only one left alone for hours on end. I am the one left with an empty womb and a thousand doubts that are eating me up inside. Literally. I just want my family back. Even if it takes being the biggest fool in the world.

  41

  What’s Going On Here?

  Monday morning Gabriella Warren decided to stop by the Mayhew Café for a takeout order of a ham biscuit and cheese grits. She paid at the register and sat down to wait for her food at the table nearest the door, which had not yet filled with the round table crowd.

  “You need a menu, Ma’am?” Sissy asked Gabe.

  “No, thanks, I’m waiting for a to-go order,” Gabe smiled.

  “How about a cup of coffee while you wait?” Sissy asked. “On the house.”

  “That would be lovely,” Gabe said, just as Randy Kerner walked through the door of the restaurant. “Mr. Kerner, how are you?”

  “Ms. Warren,” Randy nodded and took the seat on the opposite side of her table. “What brings you out so early?”

  “Oh, this is not so early for me. I’m up at the crack of dawn pretty much every day.”

  “Well, welcome, welcome. Glad you’re joining us. How’d it go with Suvi the other day? Is he selling his house or something?”

  Here we go, Gabe thought. It was always tricky deciding what was okay to discuss with people she didn’t know. She couldn’t remember if Suvi mentioned his mission in front of Randy and Mac, and had no idea if he would want them to know about his business.

  “No offense, Mr. Kerner, but I make it a point never to mix business with pleasure,” Gabe offered a teasing tone so as not to appear rude. “I got a chance to play over on the Live Oak course yesterday. I understand that’s where the high school team plays. I was pleasantly surprised.”

  “Oh, I hope you weren’t expecting too much. They do a good job over there, but it’s nothing like what you’re used to,” Randy nodded at Sissy as she brought two cups over and poured one for each of them. “Speak of the devil.”

  Gabe turned in time to see Suvi Jones enter with his Gainesville Sun newspaper tucked underneath one arm. She couldn’t be certain, but he appeared surprised, and maybe not in a good way, to see her sitting there.

  “Morning, Mr. Jones,” Gabe said.

  “Ms. Warren,” Suvi said, then hesitated in a way that could only be described as awkward. He started to bypass the table completely, but thought better of it and leaned back to the left as if to move toward Gabe. He did this several times, his indecision glaringly apparent.

  Randy, seeing the vacillation, pulled out the chair next to Gabe and said, “Well, don’t just stand there, Suvi, sit down why don’tcha?”

  “Well, I usually sit over…”

  “Well, don’t sit here on my account,” Gabe snapped, by now offended. She didn’t know what she had done to upset him, but she could see that Suvi clearly did not want to sit with her.

  Suvi sat. Sissy took it in stride, or at least with only one double-take from across the room.

  “Whatcha’ havin’, Suve,” she asked from four steps out.

  “Ham and cheese omelet,” Suvi said.

  “Well, that’s new,” Sissy said, clearing the fog from her brain with a swift shake of the head. “Comin’ right up…you want it there or at your regular table?”

  “Here?” Suvi said, thoroughly unsure of his answer.

  “I’ll bring it to you wherever you are,” Sissy said without flinching, then turned to Gabe. “Your order’s comin’ out in a minute. You sure you don’t want to eat it here?”

  “No, I’m fine, thanks,” Gabe said. The quicker that food arrived, the quicker she could get out the door.

  There was a moment of awkward silence during which Randy and Gabe sipped their coffee, before the bell on the front door rang again and all heads turned to see LouWanda Crump struggling to get through the door on crutches. She was so focused on maneuvering past two couples at the cash register without assaulting anyone’s feet that she didn’t raise her head until she was nearly upon the round table.

  “What in the world did you do, Lou?” Randy asked.

  “I busted my big toe tryin’ to get to the bathroom in the dark. And, for heaven’s sake, Randall, don’t call me Lou,” she said, finally looking up to see Suvi and Gabe. “What in the…what are you doin’ at this table?”

  Gabe looked bewildered. Suvi cleared his throat and took a sip of coffee. Randy Kerner slid his chair back and stood. “Let me get that chair for you, LouWanda. I assume you have not met our new resident, Gabriella Warren.”

  Randy quickly skirted the back side of the table and pulled the chair out so LouWanda could sit.

  “I’ll take your crutches, too,” Randy said, grabbing both in one hand as he helped LouWanda scoot her chair closer to the table. He leaned down then and put his mouth close to her ear. “Be nice!”

  “I am nice,” LouWanda snarled and swatted Randy away. “Whatcha settin’ over here for, Suvi? Don’t you usually set over there by yourself?”

  “Whoa,” said Gabe, under her breath.

  “I believe that’s what you’d call a rhetorical question.” Suvi leaned toward Gabe and turned his head away from the table so only she could hear.

  “Do tell,” Gabe said, choking back a laugh.

  “What’s so danged funny?” LouWanda demanded. “All’s I did was ask a simple question. Don’t you usually set over there by yourself?”

  With Gabe as both witness and support, Suvi took a more patronizing tone than usual. “I do, Miss LouWanda, but today I’m sitting here with Randy and Gabe. That’s okay with you, isn’t it?”

  “Well, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be,” LouWanda snapped. “I was just askin’, that’s all. And who the heck is Gabe?”

  “Gabe Warren! For crying out loud, LouWanda, I just introduced her,” Randy said.

  “You said Ga-bri-el-la,” LouWanda enunciated. “Gabe’s a man’s name. How in the Sam Hill was I supposed to know?”

  With customary timing, Sissy appeared with Gabe’s order in a paper sack.

  “Edwina says you already paid,” Sissy said, setting the bag down in front of her. “You want another refill before you go?”

  Gabe grinned up at Sissy. “No, thanks. I ha
ve apparently already overstayed my welcome, such as it was.”

  Suvi tried to disguise his snort of laughter as a cough, but failed miserably, and Randy shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  “All right, LouWanda, what’d you say now?” Sissy glared down at her with fists on her hips.

  “I didn’t say nothin’,” LouWanda glared back. “I asked. And I been here a full five minutes and still ain’t got no coffee.”

  “You’ve been here two at most, and you may not get any at all if you don’t behave. Honestly, LouWanda, you’re too danged much sometimes.”

  Sissy didn’t have time to deal with nonsense this morning. Too many other customers. She spun on her heel and ducked back behind the counter to deliver the next order, and she did not bring coffee for LouWanda until she made another round for refills.

  Gabe stood and patted Suvi on the back. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your table.”

  Randy wiped one hand over his face, then cupped his chin and frowned. “Mind if I join you, Suvi?”

  Suvi stood and offered one massive hand in Randy’s direction. “Thanks, Randy, but I think I’d just like to read my paper a while.”

  Randy shook Suvi’s hand. “No problem, Suvi, maybe next time.”

  Suvi threw his paper down on a nearby table and turned to Gabe. “Can I walk you out?”

  “Nah, I think the waitress is coming with your breakfast. I’ll catch you later.”

  “They’re not all like that,” Suvi said, his voice lowered to a near whisper.

  “Yeah, right,” Gabe replied. “Keep on telling yourself that, old son. Just keep on…”

  And with that, she was out the door, passing Dottie Brentwood coming in.

  Suvi caught her eye and nodded to her and was about to sit when Randy Kerner spoke up.

  “Hey, Suve, you forgot your coffee.”

  Suvi spun on his heel and made his way back to the table and picked up his cup. He’d almost made his getaway when Randy spoke up.

  “Hey, I was just wondering if you’re planning on selling your house?”