“What do you want?”
Lacy glanced about the immediate vicinity. Was the middle of the salon’s entrance really the place to be having this discussion?
As though taking her cue, Annie stalked off toward a white leather nail chair. Beside it sat a square black ottoman, a pristine white towel draped over one side. A myriad polish bottles lined the work table, shades ranging from the sheerest of pinks to the darkest of plums. Files and clippers were lined neatly to one side, the workspace made all the brighter by a petite but powerful black lamp. Lacy thought her sister had come a long way from the rinky-dink salon in which she started her career as a teenager. From what Lacy could tell, Trendz was top of the line, as nice as any in Atlanta and a surprise find in this backwoods town. When Lacy lived here, the fanciest store they had going was the flower shop, and they only stayed afloat because of weddings and funerals.
Struggling to continue the conversation with something harmless, Lacy decided on a compliment. “This is a nice place you work in.”
“This isn’t a social call.”
“Isn’t it?”
Annie glowered, crossing arms over her chest. “What do you want, Lacy?”
“I’m here to say hello.”
“Goodbye.”
Lacy reached out for her sister but quickly rethought the gesture. Annie looked as if she might bite her arm off. “Annie,” she pleaded, “what about all the letters I wrote you? Why didn’t you write back?”
“Because I had nothing to say to you. Still don’t.”
Crestfallen, Lacy couldn’t believe her ears. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned their reunion. Rocky, maybe. Thorny, possibly. But absolute rejection? Her sister didn’t even want to try? Sliding a hand up her narrow purse strap, Lacy asked, “Can’t we catch up on old times? Get back in touch?”
“The old times I remember are you running off with my boyfriend. Sorry, but it’s not something I care to catch up on.”
“But Jeremiah wasn’t really your—” Lacy scrambled for reason. She’d never thought that Annie and Jeremiah were a serious couple. Jeremiah had been with so many others. Could Annie really be that upset she’d moved to Atlanta with him?
“He was my boyfriend,” Annie declared, “the one you decided to chase to Atlanta. The fact that he wasn’t faithful doesn’t change the truth.”
Lacy breathed easier. So she did know. Then why so mad? “I’m sorry, Annie. I just thought—”
“Thought what? That because he was playing around behind my back, it might as well be you he was playing with?” Disgust rolled through Annie’s expression. “You’re dead to me.”
“Annie Grace!” Lacy cried, punctured by the hateful remark.
“What?” A glimmer of pleasure crept into her sister’s gaze. “You don’t like hearing the truth?”
Lacy smoothed the ruffled layers of her blouse and searched for onlookers. Eavesdroppers in these parts were as common as oxygen and sure as she was breathing, Lacy knew word would get out about her arrival and this dreadful showdown. But Lacy would not be deterred. “Annie, the truth has more sides than one. I’m sorry you’re upset with me about going to Atlanta with Jeremiah, but I thought you two had broken up.”
Annie laughed, the sound biting to Lacy’s ears. “And I’m supposed to stand here for a lecture on the truth from someone who wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and smacked her on the head?”
“Annie.”
“Don’t Annie, me. You fibbed as a child and you fibbed as a teenager. I don’t expect it to change.”
Tears pushed behind her eyes, but Lacy held them in check. She didn’t want to break down in front of her sister, the entire salon. It was bad enough people were staring at her from clear across the room. They didn’t have to witness her losing it completely.
Lacy pushed back her shoulders and said plainly, “I’m sorry, Annie.”
“You’re darn right, you are.”
Staring into Annie’s blue eyes, the black pupils punctuated by white from an overhead drip light, Lacy’s heart fell. “This was a mistake,” she said quietly. She had hoped to make amends. She had hoped to forgive and forget and move forward with the only family she had left. Daddy was dead, Momma was gone. Annie was it.
Lacy turned to go but stopped. Lifting her chin, she said, “I’m truly sorry about Jeremiah. If I had known you believed he was still your boyfriend, I wouldn’t have run off with him. I thought you two were over.”
“Save it for the choir boys, will you? Your pouts don’t impress me.”
Lacy nodded and a heavy tear burst free. “See you around,” she said, and plodded toward the door.
“Why don’t you go back to Atlanta where you belong,” Annie flung at her back.
Because Atlanta isn’t home. Lacy pushed out through the front door, the sun bright, the air a blanket of warmth enveloping her body. She breathed in deeply, but expelled the breath in a rush of despair. Annie hated her. Pure and simple. She hated her sister, her own flesh and blood, and would never forgive her. Tears flowed, but Lacy wiped them away. She wouldn’t give her sister the satisfaction of hurting her. She wouldn’t let Annie know how desperately she had wanted back into her life.
Plodding to a stop, she looked both ways and waited for a slow moving truck to pass. Lacy had been lonely in Atlanta. Not alone, but lonely. Men were always ready and available, but none were interested in her for who she was, what she had to offer as a person. They only wanted what she could do for them, her manager a case in point. He’d chased her, hired her, but the minute she gave in to his advances, he became expectant. Demanding. She had to play by his rules and his rules only. Lacy crossed the street, her calves contracting tightly as she ran across the pavement in heels.
Well, Lacy Owens played by her own rules. She was the boss of her destiny and no man, no how, was going to dictate to her what she was and was not allowed to do—especially when it came to the attention from other men. How would she ever find Mr. Right if she didn’t entertain their flirtations?
She wouldn’t. Besides, she loved men! Men were bold and daring. They were big and strong. Joy sizzled through her veins. Men were smart. Men would help guide her to her destiny, slide over the rainbow with her and share in the treasure of gold waiting at the other end. Pressing the key fob to unlock her car door, she heaved a sigh. Some man would, anyway. Jeremiah had turned out to be a fool, but that didn’t mean all men were. Where Annie didn’t know he was a two-timing cheat, Lacy did, but she hadn’t cared. The day he asked her to join him on his way out of Ladd Springs was the day she’d believed her life would take a turn for the better. They were going to the big city, the land of opportunity.
Unfortunately, opportunity didn’t always look the way a girl wanted it to look. Lacy dried her eyes, got into her car and drove to her Aunt Frannie’s diner. Time to break the news that her “girls” weren’t getting back together.
Ladd Springs (Ladd Springs, Book #1) Page 27