Small Town Rumors

by Carolyn Brown

  “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  “No need for you to apologize. You did nothing wrong.” She opened the door. “Let’s—” she started.

  “Let’s not let my sister spoil what we have,” he finished for her. “I really like spending time with you.”

  “I would never knowingly cause trouble between y’all,” she said.

  He rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know that. You’ve got a good heart, Jennie Sue. I’ll call you this evening.”

  She nodded and was gone before he could say anything else.

  He slapped the steering wheel of the old truck. “Dammit! Why did we have to be born on opposite sides of the tracks? If she’d been in the same social class as me, this wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

  He backed the produce truck out of the driveway and sat for a full minute at the stop sign before turning onto Main Street. There wasn’t a single car in sight, but he couldn’t make himself turn north toward the farm and his sister.

  Finally, he turned south toward Sweetwater, glad that he’d loaded the truck the night before. It would do Cricket good to stew in her own anger for the whole day. He’d have to do double duty at the market, keeping the display on the table and taking money both, but it would be worth it.

  By the time he arrived at the market, Cricket had called three times and sent four text messages. He waited until he got his display set up and had waited on two customers before he returned her call.

  “Where in the hell are you?” she asked.

  “I’m at the market,” he answered.

  “Did you take Jennie Sue with you?”

  “I did not.”

  “Then you are punishing me, right?”

  He thought about her question for a few seconds before he answered. “No, I’m not. I just don’t want to be around you today. Not after that fit you threw. I think it’s best if we spend the day away from each other.”

  “I knew I was right not to trust her. She’s causing problems in our family now.” Cricket’s tone was icy.

  “Back up, sister, and do some serious thinkin’ today. It’s not Jennie Sue causing the problems between me and you.” He hit the “End” button.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jennie Sue had just gotten out of the shower and was drying her hair when someone knocked on her door. She quickly grabbed a robe, belted it around her waist, and peeked out the peephole before she threw open the door and motioned for Lettie to come inside.

  “Sit down. Good grief! You are pale. Why did you climb the stairs?” Jennie Sue asked. “You should’ve called. I’d have come down to see what you needed.”

  “Just need a glass of water and I’ll be fine. Not as young as I thought I was,” Lettie panted.

  Jennie Sue rushed to her tiny kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. She handed it to Lettie and led her to the sofa. “Is something wrong with Nadine?”

  “No, she’s fine. She could probably climb those stairs two at a time, even now.” Lettie’s color returned after a couple of sips. “News is that you spent the night at Rick and Cricket’s place.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I did. After we harvested the crops for the market today, I gave Cricket a mani-pedi. I thought it might help her feel better, and then Rick and I fell asleep with me on the sofa and him in a recliner,” Jennie Sue explained, “with all our clothing on. We did not have sex or even have a kiss.”

  “Well, that’s a damn shame,” Lettie laughed. “Did Cricket pass gold bricks when she found out?”

  “Almost. I won’t be going back out there. No sense in upsetting her like that again,” Jennie Sue answered.

  Lettie sipped at the water again. “So what are you doin’ today? Evidently you aren’t going to the market with Rick.”

  “I’m going to see Mama,” she said with a long sigh. “You are right. It’s time to have a visit with her and make things as right as possible.”

  “Mabel’s been fussin’ all week that she hasn’t seen you in a while. Take my truck and keep it as long as you want. I don’t need it today,” Lettie said.

  “Thanks for believing in me.”

  Lettie set her mouth in a firm line. “You’ve been nothing but honest with us, child. Nadine and I just dare anyone to say a bad word about you. We’ll put them straight in a hurry. Right now, I’m going to go get the truck keys for you.”

  “No, you sit right here until I get dressed, and I’ll help you down those stairs. If you were to fall, Nadine would never let you live it down after the fit we both threw over her tumble.” Jennie Sue rushed into the bathroom and dressed in her best skinny jeans and a sleeveless, light-blue button-up shirt.

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Lettie agreed. “If you get back in time from your mama’s, I’d be willin’ to pay you same as I pay the nail salon to do my nails this evenin’.”

  “I’ll make it a point to be back in time. Tell Nadine that I’ll pick her up on the way, and we’ll make it a girls’ evenin’. I didn’t bring any polish with me when I packed to come home. Should I stop by the dollar store and pick some up on my way back?” Jennie Sue asked.

  “Might ought to. I like bright red and Nadine likes a pale pink,” Lettie answered. “I got clippers and files and such, but whatever polish I’ve got is probably a chunk of concrete in the bottle. I’ll make brownies, and we’ll pop the cork on a bottle of wine.”

  “I’m nervous about goin’ home, Lettie. Mama is so critical. How do I look?” Jennie Sue twirled around twice.

  “Beautiful, but then you’d look good in a burlap bag tied up at the waist with a length of balin’ twine,” Lettie said. “Only thing is that you need to have your toenails and fingernails done, too.”

  “I don’t believe that for a minute. And I’ll do my nails after we get y’all’s all finished. Just don’t let me drink too much wine,” Jennie Sue said.

  “It’s a deal. Now help this old woman down the stairs, and don’t ever tell Nadine that I got winded gettin’ up here,” she said.

  “My lips are sealed.” Jennie Sue held on to her arm, and together they slowly made their way down the steps.

  Once Lettie was inside the house, Jennie Sue got into the truck, fired up the engine, and backed out into the street. She hadn’t even made it to the stop sign at the corner of the street when she began to have doubts. Maybe she should let Charlotte be the one to reach out to her. If she showed up unannounced, it could put her mother on the defensive again, whereas if she gave it a little more time . . . Her palms moistened against the steering wheel.

  Sure, she’d stood her ground with Cricket. Yet she’d feel like she’d really accomplished something if just once Charlotte would be proud of her. Even on her wedding day, the woman had been more interested in being beautiful when one of the ushers walked her down the aisle than she was in Jennie Sue.

  When the photographer snapped Charlotte putting the veil on Jennie Sue, she’d told him to take several shots so that she could choose the best one for the album. And then as she left the room, she’d looked over her shoulder and sighed. “I liked the other dress better, but then it’s your wedding. I wish the Wilshire blood would have come out more in you,” she’d said.

  When Charlotte was upset with her, she’d always made a remark about either the lack of Wilshire blood or her grandmother Vera Baker, and it was never a good thing. So on her wedding day, Jennie Sue had felt like an ugly duckling the entire ceremony, much like she felt right then. She drove on, slowly, and lingered at every stop sign or corner.

  At the city-limits sign, she stopped and pulled over to the side, laid her head on the steering wheel, and literally prayed for a sign to tell her whether to turn around and go back to her apartment or to go out to the house. When she opened her eyes, a big black bird sat on the side mirror of the truck and fussed at her.

  “I don’t know if it’s a sign, but I think he’s tellin’ me not to look back.” She took a long breath and pulled back out onto the highway. The bird stayed with her for a few hu
ndred yards and then flew off. “And there’s my second sign,” she said when she saw her mother’s vehicle in the multicar garage. She pulled the truck into one of the empty places and parked.

  Frank grabbed her in a bear hug when she got out of the truck, and Mabel rushed out of the kitchen door into the garage to make it a group hug.

  “Would you look at her, Mabel?” Frank grinned as he released them. “She’s got some color in her skin. I bet that comes from workin’ outside.”

  “She always did love the garden when we had one here. And I just love knowin’ that she might’ve picked the tomatoes or the beans that I get from Rick. Makes them extra special. Come on in the house, darlin’ girl, and tell me all the news.” Mabel pulled her away from Frank.

  Frank pretended to pout. “No fair. You always get to spend more time with her than I do.”

  “I’ll remember every word she says for you,” Mabel promised. “Now tell me about this argument you had with Cricket because you fell asleep in the same room with Rick last night.”

  “That didn’t take long to make it all over town, did it?” Jennie Sue grinned. “But sleep was all we did, honest. I was on the sofa and he was in a recliner. It’s not like we were in the bedroom or even together on the sofa.”

  “Honey, if we had to vote on the best juicy bits of the past decade, these past few weeks would win the contest, hands down. You should buy stock in whatever company is offerin’ the most data on those cell phones, because folks are sure usin’ up a lot of it since you got into town. Now sit down at the table, and I’ll make you some breakfast. What do you want? You look thin. Have you been workin’ too hard and not eatin’ enough?” Mabel fussed.

  “You do look like you’ve lost a few pounds,” Charlotte said as she breezed into the kitchen, leaving the scent of expensive perfume in her wake. As usual, her makeup was perfect and every hair was in place, prompting the ugly-duckling feeling to wash over Jennie Sue again.

  “Good mornin’, Mama.” If she was going to act like nothing had happened, then Jennie Sue would follow her lead.

  “I don’t suppose a fattening breakfast would hurt you this one time.” Everybody in Bloom had better bend over, grab their ankles firmly, and kiss their ass goodbye, because the apocalypse was about to be a reality. Either that or one of Lettie and Nadine’s aliens had entered her mother’s body.

  “Thank you. Want me to make enough for both of us?” Jennie Sue asked.

  “Nothin’ doin’!” Mabel said. “I’ll make the breakfast this mornin’, and you two can eat on the porch. It’s still cool enough that you won’t break a sweat. Just go on out there and get comfortable.”

  “Thank you, Mabel.” Charlotte motioned toward the door. “I’ll have an egg-white omelet with mushrooms and tomatoes and low-fat cheese, dry toast, and a cup of lemon tea.”

  “Yes, ma’am, and you, Jennie Sue?” Mabel asked.

  “A whole-egg omelet with bacon, mushrooms, and tomatoes and double cheese, two pieces of buttered toast, a glass of milk, and one of those blueberry muffins you’ve got hidin’ under the glass dome,” Jennie Sue answered.

  She expected at least a sigh from Charlotte, but she got nothing, which was downright scary. Much more of this and she’d believe in the aliens instead of teasing about them, but, like a dutiful daughter, she followed her mother to the screened porch.

  “Don’t look at my toenails. Garden work is tough on them, but I’m going to give myself a pedicure tonight,” she said before her mother could make a nasty comment about them.

  Charlotte waved the comment away with the flick of a wrist, but she did wince slightly when she glanced at her daughter’s feet. “When you lived in New York, even when you were pregnant, you took better care of yourself. Since you came back to Bloom, you’ve become—” Charlotte struggled with the words.

  “What, Mama? What have I become?” Jennie Sue was almost glad to be back on argumentative ground, despite her mission of peace.

  “White trash,” Charlotte spit out.

  “And what makes me white trash?” Jennie Sue asked. What would come out of Charlotte Baker’s mouth now?

  “Runnin’ with those low-class farmers and cleaning houses,” Charlotte answered without a moment’s hesitation.

  “People like James?” Jennie Sue asked.

  “Where did you hear that name? No, don’t answer. Those wicked Clifford women have been spreading gossip.” Charlotte laid the back of her hand over her forehead in a dramatic gesture as she stretched out on the lounge.

  “Who cares who told me what? You should have told me rather than letting me hate Daddy all these years for his affairs. You were both doing the same thing,” Jennie Sue said. It didn’t look like a truce was going to happen today. If she didn’t eat the breakfast Mabel was fixing, it would hurt her feelings.

  “Sure thing,” Charlotte hissed. “I could tell my five-year-old daughter that I was in love with another man, and I couldn’t leave her father, because if I did, then I’d sully my mama and grandmama’s names. There was never a divorce in the Wilshire family until you got one, so that dirty mess is on you.”

  “I’m not feelin’ guilty about it or any of my other decisions. Can we leave the past alone and move on to the future? I should’ve already been putting out résumés, but I keep hoping you and Daddy will change your minds and let me work for the family company. If I’m going to inherit it someday, it stands to reason I should be busy getting to know it from the ground up,” she said.

  Charlotte dropped her hand and sat up straight. “It will not happen.”

  “Why?”

  Charlotte sighed. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll tell Dill to give you a job if you move back home, go to the Belles meetings and parties with me, never speak to those Clifford women again, and break it off with Rick Lawson. And also his sister, Cricket. I never did like that girl. She’s nothing but a gossip.”

  “No, thank you.” Jennie Sue shook her head.

  “I’m willing to compromise. You can keep Rick if he’s that good in bed, but only on the sly. I don’t want him in this house except to deliver vegetables to Mabel,” Charlotte said.

  “No, thank you,” Jennie Sue repeated. “I can get a job somewhere else. Mama, I don’t know if Rick is anything but a very good friend. I’m not sayin’ that there are no possibilities with him. He’s a good man and I do like him a lot, and he could turn out to be ‘the one.’” She made air quotes around the last two words. “But let’s get something straight—I don’t give a damn about the Wilshire name. I’ll never marry another man that you can pay to marry me.” She stopped for a breath. “Don’t look at me like that. I know what you did. Any man that can be bought ain’t worth havin’.”

  “Isn’t,” Charlotte corrected. “You’ve been hangin’ around the lower classes too much. You’re beginnin’ to sound like them.”

  “Thank you,” Jennie Sue said. “I consider that a compliment.”

  “I admire you,” Charlotte said.

  “Would you repeat that?” Jennie Sue shook her head. Surely she’d heard her mother wrong. Charlotte fussed at her, tried to control her, wanted to fit her into a mold, but she’d never given out compliments.

  “I wish I’d had the courage to tell my mother to go to hell, that I was going to marry James and go off to wherever the military stationed us,” she said wistfully. “But I didn’t.”

  “Why didn’t you get a divorce and marry him when he came home?” Jennie Sue asked.

  “Wilshires didn’t do that. Besides, I had a child by then, and it was my duty to make sure you had a proper home.”

  “A Wilshire home?” Maybe if she’d been raised a military brat, her mother would have at least made her feel loved.

  “Okay, I’ll admit it. James couldn’t give me the living I was used to, and my mama had to give me the same talkin’-to I’m givin’ you today,” Charlotte told her. “Why didn’t you ever ask me why I wanted to keep your baby a secret?”

  Mabel brought out f
ood on a tray and left it on the table between them. “Y’all need anything else?”

  Charlotte waved her away with a flick of her wrist. “We’re fine. Thank you, Mabel.”

  Jennie Sue sat in stunned silence for several minutes. “So my grandmother knew about James?” she finally asked.

  “Of course. The whole town knew. You can’t hide anything in Bloom, Texas.” Charlotte’s laughter was brittle. “Rumors will run rampant, darlin’. According to talk, I’m sure that you are pregnant with Rick’s baby already. But a lady simply holds her head up and pretends that she’s done nothing.”

  Jennie Sue downed part of a glass of water to keep from choking on a bite of omelet. “I didn’t sleep with him in the biblical sense of the word. And I want to hear about why you were so insistent about keeping Emily Grace a big secret. Why isn’t there a tombstone on her grave?”

  “I was looking out for you. I knew the day would arrive when you’d come home and start a new life with someone local. I wanted you to be able to do that without all the drama and genetic issues getting in the way over losing a baby.”

  “A local man?” Jennie Sue asked.

  “There are some really nice guys in the company that I will introduce you to. Dill is grooming at least three of them to step up into the CEO position in a few years,” Charlotte said.

  “No, thank you,” Jennie Sue told her with a shake of the head.

  “You’ll change your mind. And speakin’ of being the wife of the future CEO, we really do need to shop for you when you get enough of diggin’ in the garden with that scarred-up soldier and come home where you belong.” Charlotte toyed with her food, taking only a few small bites.

  “Did Daddy’s affairs begin before or after James?” Jennie Sue asked bluntly.

  “Bless your heart, honey, you shouldn’t listen to gossip or worry your pretty little head about things like that.”

  Jennie Sue recognized that fake smile on her mother’s face. It meant that they should move on to another subject, but she wasn’t going to let it go.