Scrapping Plans

by Rebeca Seitz

  “Named Violet.” Kendra slapped Tandy on the back, joining her in the hilarity.

  “This is crazy.” Darin stood with hands on hips.

  “Definitely not something you’d see at Joe’s.”

  Mr. Smithfield came lumbering back to their group. “All righty, now, got me a rope. Let’s get this pig on home.”

  Clay took off across the floor with Edgar. Tandy, Kendra, and Darin watched as they wrestled with the pig, who obviously had no intention of returning to the back of Edgar’s truck.

  “I suppose I should go help them,” Darin said.

  “Probably.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever wrestled a pig. Surely not in cowboy boots.”

  “First time for everything, darling.” Kendra pecked his cheek. “And cowboy boots are the perfect pig-wrestling attire. Go get ’em.” She pushed him down the dance floor.

  Darin, Clay, and Edgar proved a better match for the recalcitrant pig than Clay and Edgar alone. A cheer went up from the audience as they finally tugged Violet across the floor.

  As she passed by Tandy’s feet, the smell of pig mud rose up, bringing a wave of nausea that sent Tandy staggering back a few steps.

  “Whew!” Tandy lay a hand across her stomach and the other across her face “That pig smells awful.”

  Kendra nodded. “I’m not so sure she’ll be an ‘excellent’ pig.”

  “Ugh. I think I’m going to throw up.”

  “Oh, it’s not that bad. Come on, let’s go sit down a minute and you’ll be fine.”

  The girls settled back onto their stools at the corner table. “I never thought I’d see the day Darin Spenser wrestled a pig to the floor.”

  “In Coke, no less. Don’t forget the Coke smearing all over the floor as he got his arms around Violet.” Tandy shook her head. “This is better than cable. I so hope somebody got a picture of that for me to scrapbook.”

  “Aren’t you glad you moved back here?”

  “Thrilled.”

  “I mean, where in Orlando could you be in the middle of a romantic dance and be interrupted by a pig named Violet?”

  “Thanks for all your help, ladies.” Clay arrived back at the table with Darin.

  “Didn’t you see? We were the cheering section.”

  “Yay, guys!” Kendra shook imaginary pom-poms in the air.

  “I love a supportive woman.” Darin laid an arm across the back of Kendra’s chair.

  Clay reached to do the same with Tandy, who drew back and held her nose. “Eww, yuck, you guys smell like pig.”

  “You know what they say,” Clay reminded. “You lie down with pigs—”

  “You get mud and Coke on your clothes,” Tandy finished and shooed him toward the door. “Go on, pig wrestler. Let’s get you home and cleaned up. Ken and I’ve got a scrapping night to get to.”

  Thirty-Two

  Daddy! Zelda!” Tandy walked through the front door and down the hallway.

  “In here, hon!” Zelda’s voice carried down the corridor.

  The credits were rolling on the TV screen when Tandy stepped into the living room. “Hey, you two.” At least she’s not sitting in Momma’s recliner. Daddy and Zelda were nestled together on the big, comfy couch. “How was Casablanca?”

  “Divine, as always.” Zelda stood. “Is scrapping night starting?”

  Tandy held up a bag of products she’d purchased the day before from Emmy’s. “I brought supplies. You’ve done this before, right?”

  “I’m not a complete beginner, but it’s been a few years since I picked up a glue runner.”

  “They’ve added chipboard and a few other things, but the general idea is the same—capture your life’s story.”

  “Good, then I should be fine.” Zelda walked toward the hallway. “How’s about we grab some snacks before heading upstairs?”

  “Sure.” Tandy did a 180 and followed Zelda into the kitchen.

  They met Kendra coming in the front door. “Hey, you two.” Kendra shrugged off her light jacket and hung it on thehook by the entry. “Ready to scrap?”

  “Zelda thought we should fortify first.”

  “I love the way you think, lady. Lead on.” Kendra trailed behind them.

  Zelda opened the pantry door. “How about Oreos?”

  “Got milk?”

  “Just went to the grocery today.”

  “Then Oreos it is.”

  Zelda tossed the bag to Tandy, who caught it and raised an eyebrow at Kendra. Momma would have put the cookies in the cookie jar the second she took them out of the grocery store bag. And that’s only if she hadn’t had time to make some from scratch.

  Kendra rolled her eyes and went to the refrigerator. “I’ll grab the milk. What else, Zelda?”

  “I’ve got those cheese-and-cracker things.”

  “Ooh! With the little red sticks to spread the cheese?”

  “Yep.”

  “I love those!”

  “Your daddy thought I’d lost my mind when I threw them in his cart at Darnell’s, but he’s been eating them up ever since. I told him, at our age you go for convenience.”

  “Good point.”

  Tandy set the Oreos and Handi-snacks on a tray. “Popcorn?”

  “Already on it.” Zelda tore into a plastic bag and tossed it into the microwave. “Be ready in two to three minutes. Y’all go on up. I’ll wait down here for Meg and Joy. They’re coming, right?”

  “There’s no excuse for missing a scrapping night other than death. So yeah, they’ll be here.”

  “Ooh, and I’ll bet Joy’s bringing her pictures from China!”

  “That’ll be fun.” Zelda waved toward the stairs. “See y’all in a few.”

  Tandy and Kendra left the kitchen, Tandy with a tray full of carbs and fat grams, Kendra with another tray of glasses and milk.

  “You know, I think I’m going to like having Zelda around.”

  “Me too. Except one of us is going to have to make the brownies and buckeyes. I don’t think the kitchen is Zelda’s favorite place to spend time.”

  Kendra chuckled as they made their way up the extra flight of stairs to the scrapping studio.

  “Have you finished your wedding album yet?” Kendra set her tray down on the table.

  Tandy put her tray next to Kendra’s. “Almost. I lack about four layouts and it’ll be done.”

  “I can’t wait to see the finished product.”

  “Honestly, neither can I. I’ve been working on it so long I’ve nearly forgotten what the first layouts looked like.”

  “Oh gosh, I wonder if Joy bought paper yet to scrapbook for the baby?”

  “I don’t think so. We’d know, wouldn’t we?”

  “Should we go through her stuff?”

  Both sisters eyed Joy’s spot on the shelf. Neither of them spotted green or yellow paper.

  “I don’t see anything, do you?”

  “No, but it might be in a paper holder or something.”

  Kendra threw up her hands. “We can’t protect her from everything. If there’s something in there, she’ll have to take care of it.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, she seems to be doing a whole lot better these days.”

  “Have you talked to her since she and Scott did the IVF today?”

  “I tried to call, but she didn’t answer her cell or home phone.” Tandy pulled her scrapping supplies from the shelf. “I assumed she was resting or something.”

  “Probably. She’d have called if something went wrong. So is she coming tonight?”

  “Meg said she’d go over there if Joy didn’t answer her phone.”

  “Ah.”

  They began laying out their scrapping supplies when the sound of footsteps on the stairs stilled their hands.

  “All right, ladies. I’ve got popcorn and a couple of Sinclair sisters. Are we ready for scrap night?” Zelda’s red spiky hair appeared above the stair rail, followed closely by blonde and black.

  “Hey, girls!” T
andy went to the stairs to help Zelda with her tray. “Y’all ready for a scrapping night?”

  “You know me—any excuse to scrap.” Meg’s smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  Meg sighed. “I don’t know anymore. These dumb headaches won’t stop no matter how much water I drink or sleep I get.”

  “You’ve got to go see Dr. Brown.”

  “I know, I know. I’ll call on Monday and make an appointment.”

  “Should we be worried?”

  “No.” Meg waved away the concern etched on everyone’s faces. “I’m sure it’s just some vitamin imbalance or hormones run amok or something. Gosh, I love being a woman. It’s such fun.”

  “Don’t get me started.” Joy held a hand to the small of her back. “My back is killing me from lying flat in a bed all day. Scott thinks I’m made of porcelain and will crack if I dare to bend over and put on a sock.”

  “I can’t believe he let you out of the house to scrap.”

  “He didn’t. He was over at Clay’s playing with the Wii by the time Meg got to my house.”

  “And he thinks you’re at home in bed?”

  “We called him on the way over here.” Meg took Joy’s stuff from the shelf and brought it to her. “We promised she wouldn’t overdo and that she’d be better off surrounded by sisters than trying to find something worth watching on TV on a Friday night.”

  “So, Zelda, this scrapping night is yours.” Tandy cropped a picture, then looked up. “Tell us what you need.”

  Zelda took in a deep breath. “It’s hard to know, really. Jack and I have been looking at bridal magazines since we finished at Darnell’s this morning, and I don’t mind saying I’m in way over my head here. The first time I got married, it was pick a flower, pick a color, pick a date. Now there are thousands of dresses and color combinations and music choices and times of day, and my head is just spinning. The only thing we could decide on was the date—July 12.”

  Kendra picked a three-inch flower from its glass jar and laid it on her paper. “I totally understand being overwhelmed by choices. That’s one of the reasons Darin and I decided to just run off to the islands. Takes care of a lot of the details and lets us focus on each other.”

  “I envy you a bit. But with your daddy the preacher of Grace Chapel, I think we’d end up tarred and feathered if we tried to get married anywhere outside that church.”

  “You’re right about that.” Meg measured a piece of striped pink paper. “They’d have you hanging by your toenails before you could so much as say ‘I do.’”

  “Which means, of course, I need my future stepdaughters’ help so I don’t put on the worst wedding those women have ever seen and have it talked about for the rest of my days.”

  “No problem,” Tandy layered ribbon on top of her polka dot paper. “What are your favorite colors?”

  “Turquoise and brown.”

  “We can definitely work with that. Do you prefer white or ivory?”

  “Ivory.”

  “Do you have a favorite flower?” Kendra joined in to the discussion.

  “I love flowers—all kinds. Peonies and roses, pansies and petunias, sunflowers and stargazers, African violets, and daisies.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of flowers.”

  Zelda tilted her head. “I couldn’t begin to narrow it down to one or two right now. They’re all so lovely.”

  Meg punched a brad through her paper. “Okay, skip the flower choice for the moment. Do you own a go-to dress?”

  “A what?”

  “You know,” Joy explained, “a dress you go to when you’re in a hurry and feeling horrible about your body. Every time you put it on you feel like a million bucks even though you didn’t have to spend an hour putting the ensemble together.”

  “Ah, I get it. Yes, I have a go-to dress.”

  “Tell us what it looks like,” Meg commanded.

  “It’s a long jacket with a row of buttons down the front and a V-neck that sort of sits up in the back, kind of like a cape but not that dramatic. The skirt comes to my calves and has a ruffle around the bottom. It’s a suit made for a woman my age, but that collar and kick of fabric at the bottom remind me of being a young woman.”

  “Do you have that suit here in Stars Hill?”

  “I sure do. But it’s dark purple. It won’t work if we’re sticking with turquoise and brown.”

  “No, but we can take it in to Sara’s shop and have her find something like it in ivory. And that will take care of your wedding dress.”

  “Good grief, you girls know how to make short work of a wedding.”

  “It’s easier because you already know what kinds of things you like.” Tandy cut a glance over to Kendra.

  “Hey, I resemble that remark.” Kendra smiled.

  “Okay, let’s see, we’ve got the dress, the colors, holding on the flower choices. What else?” Tandy tapped her chin.

  “Music.” Joy held up two pictures and eyed them. “Do you and Daddy have a favorite piece of music?”

  “I don’t know if it’s our absolute favorite, but for our first date we watched When Harry Met Sally, and we both love the theme song from it, ‘It Had to Be You.’”

  “That’s perfect! You could walk down the aisle to that.”

  “You don’t think the older women would run me out of town?”

  “They might, but then again you might as well communicate to them now that you’re not a woman to mess with.”

  “You girls have been dealing with those women longer than I have, so I’ll take your word for it.”

  “You could also have your first dance at the reception be to that song and have the announcer explain to the crowd that you and Daddy have shared a love of it since your first date,” Kendra suggested. “That’d smooth any ruffled feathers.”

  “You know, I like the way you think.”

  Kendra twisted an Oreo open and licked the icing off. “Back at you, Z.”

  “Speaking of the reception, let’s discuss the cake.” Joy directed them back to the planning. “Daddy’s favorite is chocolate, so you probably want a layer of that. What’s your choice, Zelda?”

  “I like marble cake. You don’t have to pick between vanilla and chocolate—sort of like having your cake and eating it too.”

  “Marble it is. You could do the entire cake in marble and have the groom’s cake be chocolate.”

  “I like that idea,” Meg affirmed.

  “I’ll make Daddy’s cake, so don’t worry about ordering that,” Joy volunteered.

  “You bake too?” Zelda turned to her, eyes wide. “What do you not do?”

  Joy ducked her head. “Play golf, knit, or crochet.”

  Zelda stole an Oreo from the tray. “I’ll try to make my peace with having such a limited stepdaughter,” she joked, then bit into the cookie. When she’d washed it down with milk, she stood. “All right. I’m feeling much better about this wedding. I know we haven’t figured it all out, but y’all have gotten me far enough down the path that I might be able to take a few steps myself over the next couple of weeks. Now, would anyone care to reintroduce me to the world of scrapbooking?”

  “Oh, Z, we thought you’d never ask.” Kendra came around the table with a gleam in her eye. “Now over here is a Cricut machine …”

  Thirty-Three

  Tandy rolled over in bed and slapped the buzzing alarm clock. “Ugh. I hate hearing an alarm clock on a Saturday morning.”

  “Then don’t set it, sweetie.” Clay came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. “I can’t believe you agreed to go shopping this early on a Saturday in the first place. What’d you girls do last night? Bond?”

  Tandy buried her face in the pillow. Something like that. Scrapping with Zelda was fun—way different from scrapping with Momma, yet still fun. Sort of like kissing a new boyfriend. Not necessarily bad. Just new.

  And Zelda had gone out of her way to make the transition as easy as pos
sible, letting them tell stories about Momma, even telling some stories about her own mother. I’m more okay today with this whole wedding thing than I was a month ago. When had that happened?

  Before last night she was pretty sure.

  Probably the night Daddy and Zelda came home from Florida. Sitting around Joy’s table as a family, with Daddy holding the hand of a woman, felt right. It felt whole. And Momma would approve. Daddy wouldn’t have asked Zelda to marry him if he thought Momma wouldn’t approve.

  Tandy rolled her head to the side and watched Clay get dressed for the day. “I’m going to have a stepmother in July.”

  “You okay with that?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good, since I think your daddy isn’t going to allow anything different at this point.”

  “She’s really okay.” Tandy flipped to her back and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Except for being a morning person. We’re going to have to break her of that, and soon.”

  “You could have asked her to go later today, you know.”

  “It’s already April. July will be here before we know it. Besides, her wedding, her day. If she wants to shop at a horrible hour of Saturday morning, then I should let her. And this way we’ve got more time, so more shopping.”

  “Ah, the truth comes out.”

  “Anything I should pick up for us while I’m in Nashville?”

  “I need more of that shaving cream from the Body Shop.”

  “Got it. Anything else?”

  “No, I think that’s it.”

  Tandy pushed the covers back and got out of bed. “Alrighty, then. Guess I should get in the shower.”

  “It might help to wake you up.”

  “A gallon of Diet Mt. Dew will take care of that.”

  “I’ll pop one in the freezer for you so it’s nice and cold when you get out.”

  “Aww, he loves me.” She gave him a peck on the lips on her way to the bathroom.

  “Yes, he does.”

  With the image of a tall, cold bottle of liquid caffeine in mind, Tandy stepped into the shower. She ran through the day ahead of her, then began planning out the week. April already. Where had March gone?