by Tonya Kappes
“You don’t employ me.” Amy pushed her glasses up on her nose and hugged the calendar to her chest. “I take orders from your father, then your mother. Whenever you take over, I’ll be long gone.”
Shay said in a very demanding tone, her head tilted to the side, “Now run off and tell my daddy that I’ve already left before you got here.”
“I will do no such thing.”
Amy and Shay were squared off.
“You’ve got your handful.” Dottie shook her head in disapproval. “I wouldn’t put up with that group of squealing girls for nothin’.” She snarled and wandered back into the office.
“Ladies, we have to get going.” I started to usher them toward the door of the bus.
“Oh gosh.” Shay jumped around with a big surprised look on her face. “Amy, since you must go, can you please go back to the bungalow and grab my purse? I completely forgot it, and the envelope of money Daddy gave me is in it.”
“I told you not to forget it when I dropped it off this morning.” Amy’s eyes were magnified under her glasses. Shay frowned. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”
Amy took the calendar and smacked it into Shay’s hands.
“Get in the bus.” Shay shoved me a little and nodded to get in when I started to protest. She tugged an envelope out of her bra with her free hand. “I’ve got my money. We just don’t want her tagging along.”
“You sure aren’t very fond of Amy.” I noted and got on the bus.
“Daddy is going to fire her soon. She’s a busybody. Of course Daddy wants me to work at Moonbucks, but I don’t want to work.” She looked back at me over her shoulder with a big grin. “Why do you think I gave Lewis my shares?”
Wow. Poor Amy, I thought. She had no idea how much her hard work was for nothing.
I made my way to the back of the small church bus, which looked like one of those airport shuttle buses. Violet Rhinehammer waved me back to sit next to her, no doubt ready to pepper me with questions for the article.
“First question,” Violet said and looked over at me from her side of the seat. “Tell me about your parents.”
“You’ve met Mary Elizabeth. She loves Lily Pulitzer.” I started to tell her about Mary Elizabeth Moberly, my adopted mother.
“No.” She held her hand in the air to stop me. The ink pen stuck in between her fingers. “I mean your biological parents.”
“Oh.” I gulped, not really used to talking about them.
“You said anything.” She reminded me how I gave her full access and no questions were off limits.
“My mom had shoulder-length curly brown hair. It was so pretty. I used to take my finger and twist her hair around it. The smell”—I sucked in a deep breath and could still bring her scent to my mind—“she had the best homemade shampoo. We didn’t have a lot of money, since she stayed home, but she made it so much fun for me and my sister and my brother.”
Images of my mom making the tree fort in the woods near our home and the tents with the bed sheets in our little house came to my mind. The images I’d usually pushed back in my head because they were too painful were actually somewhat comforting this morning. It was probably the nostalgia of Shay’s wedding and having both her parents here.
“So she looked like you?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I laughed. “I… I’ve never noticed it before, but now that you mention it…” I smiled. “I thought she was so gorgeous.”
“You are too.” Violet showed a softer side of herself. “Now, tell me about your dad.”
“He was a miner. He also was the president of the local coal miner’s union, so he was always complaining about the job and job conditions.” I shook my head. “He had coal-black hair. He was over six foot. I remember looking up at him thinking he was a giant. He had a strong jaw and strong morals. He took care of my mom and us kids. We were his first priority.”
“Kinda like how Hank Sharp takes care of you. I mean, you did try to date Ty Randal, but I think Ty’s a little more on the sensitive side for you.” Violet didn’t miss a beat. “But we will get to Hank Sharp later.” She wrote a couple of things down on her notepad. “Your dad, did he ever get worried about his lungs? Black lung?”
“Oh yeah. Mom made him go to regular checkups and made a fuss over him doing exercises to keep his lungs healthy.” I smiled, remembering even more things I’d forgotten. “She had him do push-ups with us kids sitting on his back. He’d chase us afterwards. It was so much fun.”
“We need to go if you’re going to make it to Helen’s by nine!” Betts hollered from the driver’s seat.
“We will continue this later.” Violet closed the notebook and put it back in her shoulder bag.
“Wait, I’m here,” Pierce said.
“Pierce?” I looked over my shoulder. He was standing at the door of the bus with his fancy polo shirt and khakis all neatly pressed. “I don’t recall inviting you.”
“No, but Shay did, since I’m still doing her wedding article.” He gave a wry smile.
“Pierce!” Shay screamed and waved her hand. “Come sit with me.”
Pierce nodded and smiled, giving me what we called one of them “shit eating grins” when he walked past me.
And that was how this day was starting. I should’ve known it would go downhill from here.
“I can’t believe it’s Pierce.” Violet could hardly contain her body as she tried not to look at him. “Do you know how big he is?” she emphasized “big” in a way that told me I had to reel her in and fast.
“Big?” I pish-toshed her observation, though it was entirely true. After all, the man went by only one name. Pierce. Kinda like Cher, Beyonce, Madonna. I guessed when you were that sought out and popular, it was a waste of time to have two names.
“You can get bigger. You are so much younger than him, and look at you, already doing stories for big national magazines,” I told her.
I could see her chest rise, her posture straighten, and a gleam start twinkling in her eye.
“Listen.” I leaned over and told her something that I’d never told anyone since I’d been in Normal. “I know someone at People magazine. Let me call her and see if I can get you a little something for them.”
It was true. It was hard to hang around inner circles in Manhattan and not get introduced to people with some clout. I’d been to several parties with big-name editors of magazines, and I couldn’t say that most of them tried to get an exclusive with me while I went through all of Paul West’s trials and litigations when I was stupid enough to have believed his assurance that none of the accusations against him were true.
But I never told anyone that part of my life and didn’t intend to tell it now. Just giving a few chunks of information to keep Violet satisfied and do an article better than Pierce was my main focus.
After all, I clearly remembered Pierce doing a major piece in the New York Times about Paul that made me look like a gold digger, which I was not.
“Who?” She gasped and quickly pinched her lips when one of the bridesmaids in front of us turned around.
“Let me get in touch with them first.” I patted her leg. “And you have to be sure that you put the best story together, and that means all the photos of the bridesmaids and all.”
“But Shay didn’t give me permission to do that.” Violet was strictly by the book when it came to her sources.
“Honey, I didn’t give Pierce permission, either, but you see how he’s weaseling his way right on in here using her to get to me.” I sighed and was pretty pleased with myself when I noticed the devious smile Violet had used on me several times over the past couple of years show up on her face.
She winked and got to work. Violet scooted up to the edge of the seat, put her hand through the seats in front of us, and tapped one of the bridesmaids on the shoulder.
“Hi, I’m Violet Rhinehammer, and I’m doing an article in a national magazine. I can’t say which one yet, but I’d love to feature how you know the bride.” It was all Vi
olet had to say to get the girl to spill her guts about the fancy boarding school she and Shay had attended.
With a big grin on my face, I looked over my shoulder. My eyes grazed the tops of the seats where I found Pierce staring back at me.
“Touché.” He gave me a two-finger salute from his brow when he figured out exactly what I was up to.
Slowly I turned back around and, once again, felt pretty darned pleased with myself. I might not be able to stop Pierce from doing his own little story about me, but I sure could get a real story out there that I did promote as my words. That was all I needed.
Violet had already gotten the girl’s story and a photo of her with Shay. Shay was thrilled to take part in the big article. They begged to know what magazine. Violet kept her mouth shut. Not that she was lying—she could easily put it in the Daniel Boone National Park Magazine or even in the National Parks Magazine since she did contribute to them. They were national magazines, just not the societal ones Shay had in her mind.
Betts had stopped the small church bus in the middle of the street right in front of Cute-icles.
“I’ll go park at the Laundry Club and let y’all do your thing.” She opened the door, and the giggling bridesmaids spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of the salon. “Pop your head in the laundromat to come get me.”
“Thank you. I owe you.” A favor was something she would use, too, especially if she needed help in cleaning a house.
“Good morning, ladies.” Helen Pyle had greeted us at the door before we could enter. “I’m delighted to say that we have three new manicure stations since I did the remodel, and y’all are the first to use them.”
Helen ushered us in and picked three to go first, leaving Shay and two more girls to look at the polish they’d like for the big day.
Shay had picked a blush, which was perfect for her, while the others decided to go with a brighter pink. Overhearing their conversation with Violet and their descriptions of the dresses, I gathered the dresses were almost cream colored or pretty darn close to it.
“I never figured you were stupid.” Pierce had found a seat at the front of the salon and was thumbing through a men’s hairstyle book from the early nineties. “I’m not sure why you won’t give me the exclusive.”
“Maybe a little thing called history. Do you think I’ve forgotten how you portrayed me as a gold digger when in fact it was the opposite?”
“I’ve been thinking about that.” He put the magazine down and dragged his right leg up to rest on his left knee. “You seemed to have taken to this lifestyle around here.”
“And what lifestyle is that?” I also noticed he wasn’t taking any photos of the manicure session or talking to the girls like Shay had thought he was going to do. I couldn’t help but think he was using poor Shay to really get my scoop.
“The slow, laid-back, jeans-and-sweatshirt look.” His eyes drew up and down my body. “Mae, you might’ve come from Kentucky, but you got a taste of the good life. You got so much class. You are too high class for this life. You could be making millions with your natural talent for business.”
I smiled and blinked, knowing what he said wasn’t a compliment, but he wanted me to react. The only thing I reacted to was the ringing from the landline phone that hung on the wall.
“You want me to comment on your compliment, but I’m not.” I tucked one of the strands of curls behind my ear. “You’d use my words against me in a statement, and I’m not going to give you anything.”
“Fine.” He shrugged and picked the old style book back up. He started to thumb through it. “Have it your way. I am doing the story.”
“You’ll lose!” I yelled and balled my hands into fists.
“Mae, phone call.” Helen Pyle had the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder while she shook a bottle of nail polish.
I walked over to her and didn’t look back at Pierce.
“Are you okay?” Helen asked, glancing over my shoulder at Pierce. “I can make him leave.” She nodded and handed me the receiver.
“I’m fine.” I put the phone up to my ear and wondered who on earth had tracked me down at the hair salon. “Hello?”
“You done up and did it now.” Dottie Swaggert was on the other end of the line.
“Why didn’t you call my cell?” I asked and pulled it out of my pocket.
“Because I don’t have that number memorized and I’ve known Helen Pyle’s for years. But we can’t be squabblin’ about that. I think that the secretary of the Moon people is gonna get strangled by them Moon people.” Dottie talked in circles like she always did, and most people wouldn’t understand her, but I did. “I’m ‘bout to call the law.”
“We don’t need any of that,” I assured her. “What happened?”
“Y’all left Amy here, and I’m thinkin’ on purpose.” Her thinking was right, and it wasn’t my place to tell why and who, meaning Shay, wanted us to leave her. “When she came back here to catch the church bus with y’all, she found out y’all left without her, and Shay’s parents went crazy. Said something about lawyers and the company. Had her backed up against the office wall. It was awful. I nearly had to get my gun out.”
“What’s going on now?” I asked.
“That lawyer came and finally dragged them off of her. He said they should’ve kept a tighter leash on Shay and how could they even let her know she’d owned half the company.”
“That’s why they are making Amy stay with Shay,” I whispered to myself, realizing they were behind the scenes trying to figure out how they could get back Shay’s shares of the company.
“This wedding is going down faster than a speeding bullet.” Dottie sounded really bothered, which was unusual for her. “I told them where y’all were, so I’d expect you’re gonna see one of them.”
“Thanks, Dottie. Maybe I need to move this little outing along instead of dilly dallying.” I gnawed on my lip and slid my gaze to Shay. She wasn’t one of the few people getting their nails painted, so I could take her out of here for a while.
I was trying to take our time and eat up some of the day, but this whole wedding thing seemed like it was in trouble like Dottie had observed. I would not have spent all this time on Shay or agree to let Violet do a story on me if it weren’t for the fact that any publicity about Normal was good for the economy. As a business owner, I wanted all the tourists we could get.
“Shay, would you like to go over to Trails Coffee with me so we can sample some of the roasts my friend Gert Hobson has for you?” I asked and noticed it was already eight thirty.
“Yes.” She ran over and grabbed my arm. “You do know that my daddy about died when I told him I didn’t want anything Moonbucks at the wedding.”
“I can’t believe he was okay with it.” That made me think he was letting his daughter have the spotlight after all, but I’d never seen Tom do anything that wouldn’t benefit him.
We walked out of the salon and stood on the edge of the sidewalk to cross after a car passed. The day was overcast with a few peeks of the sun here and there. The city workers were busy cleaning up the remains of the Chicken Fest from last night and getting it ready for round two tonight.
“He was a little hesitant at first.” She playfully shuffled her feet in the grass as we made our way over to the other side of downtown where Trails Coffee was located. “I told him about the cute coffee shop in Normal, and he looked it up. He’s so generous.”
“Generous?” I asked.
“Yes. He was happy it was here, and it was then that he told me he had talked to Pierce about doing the time piece in the magazine. Daddy said it would bring the small coffee shop some business, giving it national exposure. Kinda like what I want to do with you and how you’ve made it as a strong woman.” As she talked, it was all becoming very clear. “When I met with Pierce and told him all about Normal and why I’d picked it, that’s when he wanted to throw in the part about the interview with you. I had no idea you didn’t want to do it or I wouldn’t hav
e said, but he and Daddy talked last night and he’s fine with not having you be part of the article.”
They talked? Tom wanted to throw the coffee shop a bone? Tom even looked up Trails Coffee, which had Gert’s face all over the website. There was a connection here, and I couldn’t put a finger on it. Not that it was any of my business, but I sure was curious.
“Wow, two days in a row.” Gert was walking down the sidewalk from the opposite direction.
“Are you coming or going?” I asked in case she was leaving.
“I’m coming. I had to drop off the sample coffees to Caboose Café this morning so they could decide whether or not they want to add it to the menu.” She held the door for us.
I couldn’t help but notice the side eye she gave Shay.
“Gert, this is Shay Moon. I’m sure you remember her from last night.”
Gert’s stone-cold eyes shifted from Shay to me.
“I’m sorry. Did Daddy’s presence create a big ruckus?” Shay laughed. “He does that everywhere he goes.”
“Something like that. But I’m sure you’ll understand that I just can’t take on the wedding.” Gert turned away from us and rubbed her hands down her apron before busying herself with one of those fancy coffee makers. “I just got back from the convention. We are so busy, because it is hiking season. Everyone loves to come the park during the leaves changing. That includes one of my employees. I’m sorry.”
“I thought you said she was on board?” Shay’s face went from baffled to angry in what we called a New York minute. “I told my daddy he wasn’t allowed to have Moonbucks because I thought this was going to work out.”
“Mae, did you tell Ms. Moon that I would do the coffee before she came to town?” Gert asked, blinking several times.
“No. I had given her a few places to look into over the online reservation portal. I had no idea her dad was Tom Moon, and I did mention it to you a month or two back.”
“I do recall you mentioning it, but now that we are, I just can’t do it.” Gert tugged off the lightweight coat she wore and put it on the counter. She shrugged.