“We’ll talk about this later, Evangeline.” Lizzie took another step to the door, which now opened with Lisa Leann screeching like a parrot.
“What in the world are you doing just standing around out here? Hurry up and let’s get this meeting called to order.”
Oh yes. Let’s.
Lisa Leann nearly had a heart attack when she realized that Vonnie was the only one of us intelligent enough to bring her catering club binder to the meeting. “Ladies, you must bring the binders to every meeting,” she said, sighing like a stiff wind through the pines. “Honestly. How can you possibly take notes if you don’t have your binders?”
We’d all taken off our coats and gotten seated in the parlor, as we’d done in our previous meeting.
“Can you just fill us in on what today’s problem is?” Donna asked from her usual place. “I’m tired, I need a nap, and I have to work tonight so somebody”—she cut her eyes at me—“also known as my father, can take a day off to play with somebody else.”
I beamed. “She’s talking about me,” I said, as though they didn’t know.
“Ladies,” Lisa Leann continued. “We have a problem. A very big problem. I received a call from Beverly Jackson. She invited me to lunch in Breck.” For a moment Lisa Leann’s face seemed to flush, I wasn’t sure for what reason. Then she looked at Lizzie. “Over at Mountain Bell Tower Resort, where your children work, I might add.”
Lizzie smiled and Lisa Leann continued.
“Ladies, we have a problem,” she said, leaving me to think, We know this already. “The shower given by the bank employees has been moved from the church to the resort.”
“How is that a problem?” Vonnie asked. Until now, she’d been as silent as a corpse.
“I will tell you,” Lisa Leann said with a sigh, “if you just won’t interrupt me every two seconds.”
Vonnie bustled in her seat, muttering, “Sorry.”
“That’s perfectly all right.” Another deep breath and another sigh. “The problem is that the bank employees have hired an independent bartending service to provide a cash bar at the shower.” She all but glared at Lizzie. “Like you said before, Lizzie, the bank employees are known to drink. And, they want the shower moved to the resort.”
“Oh, dear,” Vonnie said. “I just don’t know if I can go along with this.”
“Come on now, Von,” Donna said, crossing one short leg over the other. “This is no reflection on you. So they want to have a cash bar. So what’s the big deal?”
“When you say ‘to the resort,’” Lizzie began, “do you mean to Mountain Bell Tower Resort where Michelle and Adam and Tim work?”
Lisa Leann blushed again. “Them and one more,” she said, though I have no idea what she meant, nor did I have time to ask because she stomped her little foot and said, “If you will let me finish, I’ll tell you why this is such a problem.” Another deep breath and another sigh. Her shoulders sagged as though under some heavy weight, and she looked dead on at Donna. “Donna,” she began. “Your mother and half sister have started their own independent bartending service.”
We all shifted our eyes to Donna, who paled. “Say that again.”
We shifted again to Lisa Leann, who was now holding up a lavender-colored flyer with “Bar-None” as bold as could be across the top. I reached for it, snatching it from Lisa Leann’s finger grip, and began to read it out loud. “Our service is the best Bar-None,” I read. “We provide a full-service cash bar, open bar, tiki bar . . . oh my . . . blah blah blah . . . Call for a free estimate . . . ask for Velvet or Dee Dee.” I slapped the flyer onto my knee. “How dare they?”
“Give me that.” Donna crossed over to me. I handed her the flyer and watched as she stood over me, reading. Her jaw flexed as her eyes darted back and forth, back and forth. Then she looked at Lisa Leann. “What does this mean? They’re bartending the party?”
“According to Beverly—” Lisa Leann began, but was quickly interrupted as Donna continued.
“I’m going to have to be in the same room with those two?” She looked over at Lizzie. “Michelle’s party is just the beginning.” She walked over to the window overlooking Main Street and Higher Grounds across the street. Her hands rested lightly on her hips, and she bobbed up and down a bit on her heels. “You know why, don’t you?” she finally said, breaking the silence no one else dared break. She turned then and looked at us, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s because of me. They’re trying to get to me.”
“Oh, Donna,” Vonnie said. “You’re crying.”
Donna wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, then raised her hand almost in protest. “No. These aren’t hurt tears, Von. These are tears of anger. Those two make me madder than . . . first the wedding shower . . . then David . . . now this.”
“David?” Vonnie repeated so quietly that if anyone else had been talking we’d not have heard her.
Donna jerked a bit, looking first at Vonnie, then at me, then back to Vonnie. “Everybody wants to know how I feel about David and Velvet.” She pointed to Lisa Leann. “And don’t go reading anything into this either. But of all the women he could get involved with, he’s got to go and choose that one. And for what? Well, we all know for what. He’s trying to get under my skin.”
“Looks to me like he’s succeeding,” Lisa Leann said.
Donna turned such a hot shade of red I thought she was going to explode. “Oh, why don’t you go bake something, Lisa Leann?” she asked, then stomped over to the coat tree, grabbed her leather jacket, and stormed out the door without even putting it on. We all scampered to the front window and watched as she descended the stairs, all the while shoving her arms into the jacket’s sleeves, then shrugging before sprinting across the street to Higher Grounds.
“She’s looking for Clay,” Vonnie said from beside me.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
Vonnie stared straight ahead. “I just know,” she said. “Call it maternal instinct, if you want, but I just know. A cup of coffee, some of Sally’s bread pudding, and a chat with Clay and she’ll be all right.” Then she turned to me. “Don’t worry, Evie. She’ll be all right.”
I drove my car toward the tavern, all the while forgetting my promise to be home by two. I didn’t even bother to call Vernon, a choice I knew I’d regret later, but I was too angry to think about that at the time. Vernon would understand when I told him everything, I decided. Especially the part about Donna crying.
When I arrived at the tavern I was relieved to see Dee Dee’s beat-up old car parked near the rear. I parked, stomped out of my car, and slammed the door, then proceeded to the bar’s front door, yanking it open with such force I nearly jerked my arm out of the socket.
The room looked like I knew it would. A few ne’er-do-wells sitting at various tables, sipping on glasses and bottles of whatever and whatnot. The large-screen TV blared a basketball game as a haze of cigarette smoke assaulted my nostrils.
As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light (or lack thereof ) I scanned the room for Dee Dee, also known as Doreen, my childhood rival. She was behind the bar, washing out a few glasses, best I could tell. I strolled over to the bar, and without looking up she said, “What’ll you have?”
“A word, if you don’t mind.”
She looked up with a frown. “For the love of Pete. What is it this time?”
The “this time” was in no doubt due to the “last time” I had come to the tavern. Worried that Doreen would cause problems for Donna around my wedding, I’d been brazen enough to fly in here and demand to know whether or not Vernon was Velvet’s father.
“We need to talk. We can do it out here or in your office. Makes no difference to me.”
Doreen rolled her eyes. “I thought you and I had buried the hatchet a few months ago.” She had a point. Still, she’d made Donna cry. When I didn’t answer, Dee Dee called toward the back, “Hey! One of you boys come out here for a minute, will ya? I need to take a break.” She reached into her shirt
pocket and brought out a pack of cigarettes. “You don’t mind if I take a cigarette break while you chew me out, do you? It’ll make it set easier.”
“I have no intention of chewing you out,” I said. The very thought was beneath me.
A lanky young man with shaggy hair came bopping from the kitchen to where Doreen stood. “I’ll man the bar for you,” he said.
Doreen smiled her crooked smile at him and said, “Thanks, Shelton. I’ll be back in a few.” Then she headed around to the front of the bar, where I stood staring at the young man.
“Shelton? Are you Shelton Brodock? Treena and Travis Brodock’s son?”
He peered at me through the light hair that covered over his eyes. “Yeah.”
“Don’t let her bother you, Shel,” Doreen said from beside me. “She just thinks she’s God’s gift to Summit View because of who her daddy was and who she’s married to now.” Then she leaned over the bar and exaggerated a whisper, “But let me tell you, I was married to him first, and he isn’t anything to get so uppity about.” The two of them laughed as though they shared some dark secret about my Vernon. Then Shelton looked at me. “Yeah, I’m Treena and Travis’s son. I’ll be sure to tell them I saw you here,” he said, then looked at Doreen again. The two of them shared another laugh at my expense before I turned away and began making my way to the front door.
Doreen was on my heels. “You asked for it.” Another congested laugh barked out of her lungs.
“I am not speaking to you further until we reach the dead of winter outside these doors,” I said.
We exited the tavern. I now followed Doreen to the side of the building and then to where her car was parked. She propped her backside against its trunk, then bent forward slightly to light her cigarette. I stood in front of her, wrapping my arms around myself, hugging my winter coat as close to my body as I could. This conversation had better be a short one or I’ll freeze to death in the process.
Doreen blew a combination of cigarette smoke and winter air toward me. “So, what can I do you for?” She sounded like a dumb girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Of course I knew better. Doreen had grown up not too far from my house. She and I had even been something close to friends at one time. That is, before she stole Vernon away from me at the age of twelve. From that moment on, she was my sworn enemy.
Before I could answer her question, she went on to another one. “And how’s my ex-husband doing these days? You making him happy?” The emphasis on happy was a clear one, and I blushed.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Well, just why are you here?”
“I want you to cancel out of the Prattle bridal shower over in Breckenridge.”
Doreen drew on her cigarette. “Now, why’d I want to go and do that?” she asked, blowing billows of smoke as she spoke.
“Because.”
Doreen laughed again. “Oh, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
In all honesty, I was a little unsure as to how to answer. But with not a lot of time to wrestle with it, I finally decided that honesty was the best policy. “Look, Doreen.”
“Dee Dee.”
“Whatever. Donna knows you’re going to bartend this little party, and she’s very upset. I’m asking you to do this for Donna . . . for your daughter. She is your daughter, after all, and I’d think you’d be interested in how this might affect her.”
Doreen (or Dee Dee or whatever she wanted to be called these days) threw the remainder of her cigarette to the ground below, then stamped it out under the toe of her scuffed boot. “Of course she’s my daughter,” she said. “And of course I’m interested.” She looked up at me with fire in her eyes. “Don’t you even think about insinuating that I don’t care about her none. Because I do. She’s my baby girl, and I love her.”
“Then show it.”
Dee Dee took a quick step toward me then, and I took another quick step back. “Now you listen here, Evangeline Vesey. Don’t you dare come out here to my place of business and start this show, you hear me? My little girl has a problem with me working an extra job and helping her own sister start a good business in town, then she can come to me and tell me so. She knows how to speak out of her own mouth. I ought to know, I was there when she spoke her first words while your darling husband was out working all the blessed day and night.”
The sound of a vehicle crunching across the front parking lot caught my attention before I could answer the jab. We both turned in time to see Donna’s Bronco come to a stop. She stared at us for a minute, then spun the car in reverse and sped out of the parking lot as fast as I would assume she dared.
I looked back at Dee Dee and saw the same tear-filled eyes as I’d seen earlier on Donna’s pretty face.
“Now look what you’ve done,” she said through clenched teeth, then jogged to the front and then around the tavern, leaving me alone in the cold of the day.
Donna
15
Takeout
I sat in my Bronco in the parking lot of the Gold Rush Tavern. There before me stood my new stepmother, Evangeline Benson Vesey, screaming at Dee Dee McGurk, my birth mother. I was too stunned to speak. How could Evie think it was her place to fight my battles?
This is the limit.
I pulled out of the parking lot, crossing Main to the side street that ran behind the gas station. I did a U-turn and pulled to the side of the building.
From there, I watched as Evie hopped in her tan Camry and drove through the parking lot. She stopped, waiting to turn left onto Main Street, while I speed-dialed her number.
“Evie, meet me behind the gas station,” I said just before clicking out of the call.
She snapped her head in my direction and gave me a wave, obviously proud that I’d caught her doing “mission work” on my behalf.
I didn’t wave back.
When she arrived, I got out of my car and slid into her passenger seat.
“That woman . . .” Evie started.
I kept my voice low. “Evie?”
She patted my arm as if she thought I was a cat. “All she does is hurt you, Donna.”
I took a deep breath and lifted my chin as I turned to face my stepmother. “That woman is my mother.”
Evie snorted. “For what that’s worth.”
“Dee Dee and I are related by blood.”
“But that doesn’t mean—”
“You and I are only related by marriage.”
I watched as Evie’s jaw dropped. “What are you saying?”
I crossed my arms as the leather in my jacket crackled. “I’m saying this is something I need to handle myself.”
Evangeline shrugged and extended her palms in an upward thrust. “But why? Your father told me all about her; the hard living, the men, the . . .”
I rubbed my temples. “I know. But I’ve been sitting over here thinking. Why is Dee Dee intruding on my life now? What does she want?”
Evie’s face contorted. “I can tell you. Dee Dee’s sneaky and—”
My head started to pound, and I held up one hand to stop her flow of words. “I understand how you feel, but after I left the meeting at the bridal shop I began to think, what if Dee Dee’s trying to reach out to me and . . .”
“You mean like how she embarrassed you at our Christmas party?”
I nodded quietly. “Yeah. She does lack tact.”
Evie snorted. “Just let me handle her.”
I sighed deeply, realizing Evie wasn’t about to let go. “Don’t make me take this up with my father, Evangeline. I don’t want to, but I will. It’s time you backed off.”
She sat up ramrod straight. “I’m not the one who deserves a reprimand.”
“I appreciate your help, I do. But, really, it’s time you minded your own business.”
Evie’s face darkened, and I got out of her car and shut the door before she could spew a response.
I slipped back into my Bronco and watched as Evie spun out of the parking lot. Seconds later, I
pulled out behind her, watching as she talked on her cell phone, to my dad, no doubt. She was probably telling him what an ungrateful little daughter I was.
Minutes later, Dad rang my cell phone. “Donna, what is going on out there?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“Did you really pull Evie over?”
“No. I had her meet me at the gas station parking lot.”
“But I thought Evie was at one of your Potluck Catering Club meetings at the bridal shop, right?”
“She was. But afterward she stopped at Gold Rush Tavern to have a screaming match with my mother. I felt that called for a little chat.”
The silence hung on the other end of the line. “Oh, good night!”
“Listen, I’m sure Evie will tell you about it when she gets home, and then we can talk later. I’ve gotta get back to my house so I can catch a few z’s before my shift tonight. Okay?”
“All right. But you may have started a war with my new wife, one I may not be able to save you from. You realize that, don’t you?”
I scrunched my forehead. “Sorry.”
“Well, I’m the one who’s going to be stuck in the middle of this.”
I hung up and watched Evie turn off Main, pushing a heavy foot over the speed limit. I narrowed my eyes, tempted to hand out one of my famous speeding tickets.
I was heading home for a nap because I could already tell this day was going to come with a very long night. As it turned out, it was a night shift that started a bit too early for my liking. Just before my alarm could hum me into a wakeful state, my cell phone rang.
Without opening my eyes, I grabbed it off my nightstand, flipped it open, and held it to my ear. “Hello.”
“Well, if it isn’t Deputy Donna.”
I sat up, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes. “Who’s this?”
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