If Gracie hadn’t begged them all to go see her Bible school program that morning, Kate would have used the excuse that she had to get some last-minute work done. But she could not stand to think about disappointing Gracie. However, it did make her nervous to step outside her comfort zone and attend a church other than the one she’d been christened in as a baby and had gone to her whole life.
So there she was, standing in front of the mirror in a bright-orange floral sundress she’d bought on a whim when she had been looking at cruise brochures. Her mother would be so speechless that she wouldn’t be able to utter “I told you so” if she could see Kate dressed like that. A lady wore appropriate clothing to church. She had an image to uphold, one that included a tailored suit, panty hose, and high heels. The image did not have time for a casual sundress and sandals.
She ran a brush through her shoulder-length blonde hair one more time, reapplied lipstick, and picked up her purse. She found Jamie and Gracie already in the living room and breathed a sigh of relief. Jamie wore a cute little denim skirt that skimmed her knee and a sleeveless chocolate-brown knit shirt—and cowboy boots. Gracie was in one of her sundresses and white sandals. Her hair was pulled up into a side ponytail with a big white bow at the top, and Kate wanted to pick her up and swirl her around the room until they were both dizzy.
“You got all dressed up,” Jamie said.
“Not really.” Kate smiled. “I was afraid I’d be underdressed. My mother wouldn’t even sit beside me if I wore this to our church.”
“It’s not what you wear on your body but what you have in your heart.” Amanda appeared from the kitchen with a casserole dish in her hands. “Remember, Hattie said if we were staying for the potluck, we should bring something. I made a fruit salad this morning.”
“Are you staying?” Kate asked.
“Of course.” Amanda nodded. “I never turn down a big dinner like that. Since we all live in one house, this covered dish will take care of as many of us as want to stay.”
Gracie clapped her hands and did a wiggling dance in the middle of the floor. “Can we stay, Mama? Lisa says they always stay and now I can play with her more, and Mama, can she go swimming with me someday and maybe even have a picnic on the dock?” She stopped for breath and then went on. “And we could even play Barbies on the deck and . . .”
Jamie laid a finger over Gracie’s lips. “Right now you need to settle down, little girl.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gracie said. “Did you know that Lisa already lost a tooth and the tooth fairy gave her a whole dollar?”
“Well, her tooth fairy may be richer than the one who visits our house, but it will be a while before you lose a tooth,” Jamie said as they left the house and stepped out into the warm morning breeze. “Why don’t we all go in my van? Seems kind of crazy to take three vehicles.”
Amanda headed straight toward the van, her baby bump well defined in a sleeveless bright-blue tunic worn over capri-length leggings. She’d changed her regular flip-flops for a pair of electric-blue ones with multicolored stones. With her red hair twisted up in a messy bun, she looked downright adorable that morning.
Kate hesitated but only for a moment before she fell in behind Amanda, opening the door for her so she didn’t drop the fruit salad. She’d never been to a potluck. Oh, well, it was only half a mile from the church to the cabin, so if things got too awkward, she could excuse herself and walk home. She really did feel like a duck out of water.
“Do you realize what we are doing?” Kate asked.
“Riding together to church and staying afterward to eat every kind of potato salad and chicken casserole imaginable?” Amanda asked right back.
“No, she’s talking about the three of us all arriving at the little country church together.” Jamie giggled. “Well, if Bootleg is anything like most small towns, it will provide fodder for the gossip mill for a whole week. Hey, Amanda, did you and Conrad ever attend this church?”
“No, we were on our honeymoon the one Sunday we were here,” she answered.
“Us neither, not on the honeymoon or any of the weeks we spent here in the summertime.” Jamie glanced across the console and met Kate’s eyes.
“I thought that’s where you and Gracie met Victor and Hattie,” Kate said.
“No,” Gracie piped up from the backseat beside Amanda. “We met them down at the lake. They were walking and we were fishing and they stopped and talked to us. And then we saw them at the festival.”
“That’s the first time she remembers them. She and I actually met them first when she was in a stroller and we went to the festival while Conrad did some business from the cabin,” Jamie explained. “And you? Did you go to church with him?”
Kate lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “I was only here for the honeymoon week. By the time the second summer rolled around after that, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere with him. So I guess this is a first time for all of us.”
“Except me!” Gracie piped up. “But don’t y’all worry. I will show you around and tell everyone who you are. Lisa is going to be so surprised that you came with me.”
According to her grandmother Mama Rita, Jamie was ninety percent bluff and ten percent mean, but the mean was so bad that no one had better call her bluff. That particular Sunday morning, mean was taking a backseat to bluff. It wasn’t that she was afraid to go inside the church, but it would be insanely awkward.
She was lucky to find a parking space not far from the front, where people were still going inside. “Best I can do,” she muttered.
Amanda pushed the button to open the wide back door. “Good enough. I’ll take this to the fellowship hall. Save plenty of room on whatever pew you find.”
“I’m going to find the restroom before I come in, so save me a seat, too,” Kate said.
Gracie put her hand in Kate’s as soon as they were out of the van. “I’ll show Kate where it is. I gotta go, too.”
Jamie intended to slip in the door and sit on the back pew, but evidently every mama, daddy, grandpa, and granny in the whole county had come out to see the Bible school program that morning. She searched both sides of the church for empty seats as she made her way from the back to the front and found absolutely no space except for the front pew. She sure wasn’t going to turn around and take a second look, so she slid into the corner of the long oak pew and picked up the songbook right beside her. Her hands trembled as she turned the pages without seeing the words at all. She could feel the people behind her staring and hear the buzz of whispers. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out what they were saying.
She’d never thought of quietness having a color, but it felt stone-cold gray that morning when everything went silent. She glanced over her shoulder to see Amanda, head high and belly forward, eyes straight ahead and then flashing a smile when she finally located Jamie on the front row.
At the funeral, she’d wanted to slap the shit out of that whining redhead, but right then Jamie was so glad to have someone beside her that she could have hugged Amanda.
“Looks like we should have left twenty minutes earlier,” Amanda whispered as she settled down, leaving enough room for Gracie between them. “No way we’ll sneak on over to the fellowship hall and hide in the shadows like we could have if we’d gotten a backseat.”
The buzz of conversation started as soft as the flutter of butterfly wings, but then it got louder and louder until it sounded more like a swarm of bees. Jamie chanced another glance, and there was tall, beautiful, blonde-haired Kate coming up the aisle holding Gracie’s hand. Now everyone in church would be speculating about which one of them that the little girl belonged to. She looked like the dark-haired woman, but the tall blonde brought her into the church.
“God, Jamie! Is this the best you could do?” Kate sat down beside Amanda.
“Short of sitting in someone’s lap. You are welcome to see if you can find someone willing for that if you want to,” Jamie smarted off.
Amanda giggled.
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“What’s so funny?” Kate asked.
“God, Jamie.”
“I’d rather be Queen Jamie,” Jamie whispered.
“Shh.” Gracie put her finger over her lips. “It’s about to start and I need to think about my verse that I memorized.”
“And what is that?” Jamie asked.
“‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,’” she said. “What does mourn mean, Mama?”
“It means being sad, like you were at your daddy’s funeral, and getting happy again,” Jamie said.
“Kind of like when we were sad at our house and now we are happy in Bootleg? I’m glad God blessed us,” Gracie whispered.
The preacher rose and went to the old oak lectern. Other than a few sounds of folks shifting around to get comfortable, the noise stopped again.
“Today we are having our annual Bible school program instead of a sermon. If all the children and their teachers will come forward and take their seats in the choir chairs behind me, we will begin.”
Gracie stood and went straight to the chair without any supervision or even looking back at her mother. Jamie was amazed. In their huge church in Dallas, Gracie wouldn’t let go of Jamie’s hand from the time they walked inside until they were back in the van on the way home.
Beginning with each child reciting one of the beatitude verses, the service was adorable. The whole group sang two different hymns and did a skit in which Gracie played a little girl from the days when Jesus was on the earth. She said her two lines loud and clear. After Hattie asked the congregation to bow their heads for the benediction, everyone stood and kids scattered every which way to find their parents in the sea of faces.
Kate touched Jamie on the shoulder and smiled. “She did so well up there. Has she been in lots of these little plays? At her age I would have been terrified.”
“This is her first one,” Jamie answered. “I’m shocked. At home she’s very shy and won’t get two feet from my side when we are away from the house.”
“It’s because it’s not a big, overwhelming place,” Amanda said. “This is the kind of church that Aunt Ellie took me to my whole life. I can’t imagine going to one that holds five hundred people.”
Kate laughed. “Try three times that.”
Jamie nodded. “Or four.”
“No wonder she’s intimidated. Anyone would be. You should move to a small town to raise her, Jamie.”
“What about you? Wichita Falls isn’t a rural community,” Jamie said.
Hattie pushed her way through the children to join them before Amanda could answer. “You should all stay here at the end of summer and raise your kids in Bootleg. Follow me and I’ll take you to the fellowship hall so you can meet everyone. We’re so glad you all came this morning. Wasn’t that program just the sweetest thing? And Gracie did so good with her parts. She’s fitting in right well with the children, too.”
At that moment Jamie knew how Moses must’ve felt when the Red Sea parted—the whole crowd separated to let Hattie lead the way to the fellowship hall. Gracie’s hand was tucked in Hattie’s. Jamie filed in behind them with Amanda and then Kate behind her.
When they reached the fellowship hall, Jamie felt as out of place as a chicken at a coyote convention, but she kept her head up and followed Amanda’s lead. Amanda introduced herself to the two women who were already working at taking lids off the dishes and getting them organized. Jamie took her cue and stepped right in behind her to do the same. “I have never been to a potluck, but I’m willing to help any way I can.”
“I’m Kate, and I’ll help, too.” Kate’s tone said that she was every bit as nervous as Jamie.
“Pleased to meet all of you. I’m Ruth, and this is my sister, Hilda. With Hattie we pretty much take care of the kitchen part of the duties, but we’re always glad when you young people step up to help. Oh, there’s Paul and his daughter. I understand y’all gave him a nice bed this past week.”
“Right glad to have you ladies in church. Shame what happened, but then, some men are just born rascals. It ain’t y’all’s fault, though. God will take care of it all.” Hilda nodded toward the tables. “We set out the meat dishes first, then the potatoes and vegetables, salads after that, and then desserts at the far end.”
Hattie bustled into the kitchen and started to work. “And the tables are already set with plastic cutlery. I had to stop and give all my kids a special hug for doing so good, so I’m a little behind.”
Gracie tugged on Jamie’s skirt tail. “Mama, can I go over there and talk to Lisa?”
“Just don’t leave this room.” Jamie caught sight of Paul talking to Lisa and, from his body language, he was telling her the same thing. The little girls met in the middle of the room and hurried over to a corner, where they plopped down on the floor and put their heads together.
Paul zeroed in on Jamie and came toward the tables where she and Amanda were busy arranging desserts.
“I wanted to come over and tell you that I’ve slept better the past couple of nights than I have in ages. Thank you again for giving me the bed.” His brilliant smile lit up the whole fellowship hall.
“You are very welcome. Gracie sure talks a lot about Lisa,” Amanda said.
“Well”—he turned his full attention toward Jamie—“Lisa seems happier than she has in a long time since y’all arrived in Bootleg. She was just getting a little closure with her mom’s passing, and then the fire took everything from us. If Hattie hadn’t shared some pictures of her mother taken at church functions, we wouldn’t even have that.”
Guilt pricked Jamie’s heart. She’d thrown every picture of Conrad into the trash except the one in Gracie’s room. Maybe she should have saved a few more. In later years that one could get torn or misplaced, and then Gracie would have nothing.
Hattie pushed her way in between Amanda and Jamie and set two pies on the table. “I was glad to share what I had with you. And it makes me happy to see Lisa and Gracie helping each other get through these tough times.”
“Where’s Kate?” Amanda glanced around the room.
“Hilda has her marking lids so they know which dishes to put them back on when this is over,” Hattie answered.
“Well, thanks again,” Paul said. “And Jamie, anytime that Gracie wants to come to our house for a playdate, she’s sure welcome. Lisa really likes her, as you can see.” Paul nodded toward the other side of the room, where the girls were whispering to each other.
“I wonder what they’re talking about,” Amanda said.
“Probably what dessert they’ll snag first.” Paul laughed as he walked away.
Jamie fought the urge to fan her warm face with the back of her hand. Dammit! She wasn’t a teenager with a crush on a new boy on the block.
“And there’s that blush again,” Amanda teased.
“Hush!” Jamie hissed. “I get flushed when I’m hungry. Right now I’m thinking about moving to a little church when I go home. I cannot believe how these folks are treating us.”
“He makes you nervous,” Amanda singsonged and then lowered her voice to a whisper. “And in church and so soon after widowhood.”
“I’ve been a widow for months. Ever since you came into the picture,” Jamie said.
“You mean—” Amanda asked.
“Only a few times, and only because I insisted,” Jamie said.
“Well, damn!” Amanda rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Forgive me, Lord! I didn’t mean to cuss in church.”
“Did you think you were the only one he was sleeping with?”
“No, but”—Amanda’s pert nose wrinkled—“don’t it bother you that he . . . well, you know?”
“Not anymore,” Jamie said.
“Let’s think about food and put off this conversation until later. I’m too big to dodge lightning bolts,” Amanda said.
“Why are these people being so nice?” Kate whispered as she carried more desserts out to the tables.
Amanda shrugged. “It’s s
imply the way things are done. Now, if there had been no Iris, things might be different.”
“Then thank you, Jesus, for Iris,” Kate said. “This food all looks scrumptious.”
“And I get to eat for two.” Amanda grinned.
“Lucky girl,” Jamie and Kate said at the same time.
Kate felt privileged to sit beside Gracie, who kept a running conversation going with Lisa on the other side of her. Across the table, Victor had finagled it so that Jamie and Paul were side by side. Of course, Hattie, Victor, and Amanda were all at the same table with them and close enough they could talk about summer, the upcoming festival, and the food.
No one said a word about Conrad, and Kate was glad for that. She had enough to think about with those letters in her suitcase and still no decision about whom to give them to or whether or not to share them with Amanda and Jamie or tell Waylon about them. She had sent the will by registered mail down to the legal department at the oil firm, and she’d gotten word that they had received it. Hopefully by the middle of the week, they’d know how to handle it, since Darcy was deceased.
“So how long have you been at the Bootleg school?” Jamie asked Paul.
“Twelve years. Came here right out of college and stayed. My grandmother lives in Seymour and owns rental property up here and down there, too, so I have family close by. I was raised out around Amarillo, and I got to admit it took a while, but I learned to like the rural way of life pretty quick,” Paul answered.
“And I was raised in this area and wound up in Dallas. Strange how we go looking for something different.” Waylon sat down beside Paul. Kate’s pulse quickened when he glanced her way. “Hello, Kate and everyone else.”
“Glad to see you here,” Paul said.
The Barefoot Summer Page 10