Chapter Thirteen

Lily tried to sort through all the emotions of the day before as she drove to work, but it was totally impossible. She was glad to see Sally’s little red sports car parked right in front of the store when she drove up. Maybe her friend could help her figure out everything that was going on in her life. Then she noticed Teena’s business SUV parked right behind Sally’s car and almost squealed. She could talk to both of her friends at once.

“Yesterday was a roller coaster of nerves,” she told them as she took her coat off. “I’m so glad y’all are both here already. I feel like if I don’t talk to someone I’m going to explode.”

“Me, too,” Teena said from behind the counter, where she was pacing from one end of the space to the other and back again.

Sally came from the back with a quart of ice cream. She set it down with such force that the three spoons she’d stuck in it rattled together. “Must be the phase of the moon.” She dug into the mint chocolate chip ice cream. “I guess we all had a helluva night. Who’s going first?”

Teena held up a hand. “I will. Ryder’s girlfriend is pregnant. He says he’s dropping out of college and marrying her, and he wants me to give him a job in the real estate business.”

Lily stashed her coat and purse under the counter and plopped down in a chair. “He and Creed are only eighteen, right? He can’t be ready for marriage. Who is this girlfriend?”

“The twins were nineteen in November.” Teena handed a spoon to Lily, and then she dipped into the ice cream. “His girlfriend graduated a year before him. She works at a nursing home and is going to school nights to finish her LPN degree. She’ll be finished in May. The baby is due in July. I’m going to be a freakin’ grandmother. I’m too young for that.”

“Evidently not,” Sally said. “When’s the wedding?”

“They’re going to the courthouse this weekend, and he’s moving into her apartment with her. He says if he can work at the business with me, he’ll start at the bottom and take night classes to get his license.” Teena moaned. “I wanted my kids to do better than that, but what can I do?”

“You can be a good grandmother and support them, even though it’ll mean growing a new tongue every other day,” Sally suggested. “And be a good mother-in-law, too. Being a mean one won’t help the situation at all. I’m living proof of that.”

Lily used her spoon to point at Sally. “You’ve never been a grandmother or a mother-in-law.”

“But I’ve had a mother-in-law that kept throwing little digs until she convinced her son I wasn’t good enough for him,” Sally reminded her.

Lily’s good news didn’t seem as important as it had when she got to the shop, not when Teena was dealing with so much. She thought of those little soon-to-be-fifteen-year-old twin girls having sex and hoped they were using protection. How old were the boys they were out partying with? Did they have enough sense to at least bring condoms?

“Well, my news isn’t that big,” Sally sighed. “I went on a date last night with this guy I met on a dating site, and it was a disaster. His picture and profile said he was forty years old and a banker.”

“And?” Teena stopped pacing and sat down in a chair.

“He might have been forty at one time, and he was a retired banker, but he has kids as old as me and several grandchildren.” Sally groaned. “I barely made it through thirty minutes of drinks before I fled. That’s what I get for trusting a dating site.”

Lily giggled first, then Teena got tickled, and soon they were all laughing. When things settled down, Lily dabbed at her eyes with a tissue she pulled from a box on the counter. “I tried one of those dating sites once, too. I went to the restaurant where we were to have dinner, saw the rose on the table—that was to be my sign—and walked right past him to the exit.”

“Why?” Sally asked.

Lily shrugged. “He looked too much like Wyatt. I went straight home, paid the sitter, and made popcorn for the kids. We watched a movie. Never tried it again.”

“So we both had crappy nights.” Teena focused on Lily. “What happened that you needed to talk?”

“Holly talked to me.” Lily told them and went on with the story.

“I remember all of us being fourteen and not talking to our mothers,” Sally sighed. “It must be horrible to be the mother and going through that.”

“I have boys,” Teena said. “They’re inclined to either tell too much or not enough. It’s totally different than raising girls, or so I’m told. I’m glad she’s confiding in you, and really glad that my new daughter-in-law is at least nineteen years old and not fourteen. Messin’ around with a girl that age could land my boys in jail.”

Lily nodded. “And Mack kissed me.”

Teena grinned and Sally nodded.

“That’s all I get?” Lily asked. “Just a grin and a nod?”

“Come on. We’ve been expecting it,” Teena told her. “We just knew if you ever came home even for a weekend visit that the two of you would hit it off.”

“It was just a kiss, and that doesn’t mean wedding bells,” Lily told them.

Sally opened her mouth to say something but didn’t get the first word out before the jingling bell above the door announced a customer.

“Good morning, Ruth-Ann!” Sally called out. “What brings you out in the middle of the week?”

Ruth-Ann came straight to the counter. “I had to run some school errands for Mr. Stewart and thought I’d stop in to buy more of Granny Hayes’s cute little earrings. They’re the big thing at school right now.” She adjusted the mirror beside the display so she could see herself, and held one up to her ear.

She held up another earring. “I like these better. I heard that Holly had a falling-out with the Sanchez twins, and that Holly is now best friends with Faith Torres.” Ruth-Ann laid two pairs of earrings on the counter and fumbled in her purse for her credit card. “I would never have put those two together. I guess opposites really do attract.”

“I guess they do.” Lily exhaled slowly.

“Is Holly devastated that she won’t get to go to the quinceañera party?” Ruth-Ann asked.

“Not in the least.” Lily rang up the sale and ran the credit card. “And I’m really glad, since I don’t have to buy a fancy dress for her to wear.”

“I went to one for Janie Green when I was fifteen,” Ruth-Ann sighed. “It was even better than our high school proms or the school Christmas party we throw for the teachers every year.”

Teena headed for the door. “I’m showing a house at nine, so I have to be going. See y’all later.”

The minute Teena was out the door, Ruth-Ann leaned across the counter and whispered, “I also heard that Ryder Smith is getting married real soon because his girlfriend is pregnant. Do y’all know the date?”

Lily shrugged as she handed Ruth-Ann the sales slip to sign. “Thank you. I know Granny Hayes will be tickled that her earrings are selling so well.”

“They’re really cute.” Ruth-Ann headed toward the door, then turned back. “We really must do lunch or go shopping sometime, Lily.”