“Maybe not, but we can put up a brave front and make them believe it’s the truth,” Mitzi answered.

“We’ll see how the week goes. I could use a cold beer. How about you?” Jody asked.

“Let’s go inside where it’s cool. I’d like to change into something more comfortable than this dress,” Mitzi answered. “But what if you’re pregnant? Should you be drinking beer?”

“I’m not jumping through hoops and giving up beer until I know for sure. Now, I need to know something—why have you been keeping Graham’s proposal a big secret, especially since I’ve told you everything?” Jody teased as she followed Mitzi into the house.

“You’re in a better mood.” Mitzi stopped under the AC vent in the living room and enjoyed a moment of cold air flowing down on her.

“It comes and goes. One minute I’m crying. The next is a whole ’nother story. I’ve been up and down so much today that I’m not sure who I am. Talk to me about Graham to take my mind off Lyle and his new child bride.” Jody went to the refrigerator and returned with two icy cold cans of beer. She opened one and took a long drink from it, then set the other one on an end table beside a recliner.

Mitzi headed down the short hall to her bedroom, left the door open, and raised her voice as she changed into a pair of loose-fitting pajama pants and a T-shirt. “I think he’s just grateful that I told the girls they could come to the shop for half a day through the summer.”

Paula was sitting in a rocking chair with a glass of iced sweet tea in her hands when Mitzi made it back to the living room. “My mama called, too, mainly to fuss at me because I didn’t sit with her in church. But I got the news about us having dinner with Graham, too. Wanda called her as soon as she could. What is it with old women and gossip? We’re not going to be like that, are we?”

“Hell, no!” Jody sat down in the middle of the floor. “We should make a pact to never get old or trust a man.”

“You’ve got a bed right there,” Mitzi asked. “Why are you sitting on the floor?”

“I’m all sweaty and dirty. Don’t want to mess up the sheets.” Jody handed her the beer from the end table and patted the floor. “I’m glad we had dinner with Graham. It took the heat off me for a little while.”

Mitzi sat down and leaned back against a recliner. She took a long drink from the can and then set it on an end table. “Lyle marries someone else. I’ve been seeing Graham on the sly. What kind of drama can you add to that, Paula?”

Paula pushed her dark hair behind her ears. She’d wanted to tell them that she was pregnant for weeks, but the timing was never right. At first she didn’t want them to think she couldn’t hold up her part of the business, and then this past week, when she decided she absolutely had to say something, thinking about it had upset her stomach. Then Jody called with the news that Lyle had married his pregnant girlfriend, and she sure couldn’t say anything then. She and Mitzi needed to be there for Jody during that time, and that still wasn’t over. But was now the right time?

“She’s taking a long time to answer. Makes me wonder if she’s dreaming up some fake news to make us laugh,” Jody said.

“Like she’s going to try to convince us that she’s got a secret boyfriend, and she really isn’t going to book club once a month or taking off work an hour early to help her mother but she’s sneaking out to see him,” Mitzi giggled.

Jody joined her in what started off as a giggle but turned into infectious laughter, and then she got the hiccups. “Paula can’t keep a secret. She’s always told us everything. If she had a boyfriend, she would be smiling all the time.”

And now they were teasing her about not being able to keep secrets. She almost blurted it out just to show them, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Then she figured that she’d get back at them, since they thought they were so funny.

“That’s it. I’ve got a secret boyfriend. Graham and I’ve been seeing each other for a month. That’s why he moved here,” she finally said.

Mitzi looked like she was about to cry.

Jody stared at her like she had an extra eye right in the middle of her forehead.

“Are you telling the truth?” Mitzi’s eyes swam in unshed tears.

“I don’t believe you,” Jody whispered.

“I’m so sorry. I was trying to be funny, but that was mean,” Paula hurriedly apologized. “But after that shock, what I do have to say won’t be near as dramatic. Here’s the truth.” Paula took a deep breath and laid her hand on her stomach, which she concentrated hard on settling with a few sips of sweet tea.

“You’re turning a little green around the mouth,” Jody said. “Do you, are you . . . I can’t even say the words.”

“Do you have something incurable?” Mitzi whispered.

“No, it’ll be cured in about three months,” Paula whispered.

Fresh tears flowed down Jody’s face. “I’ve been selfish thinking only about me and my heartache. How long have you had this?”

“Six months, but I only found out about it three months ago. I’m not dying—I’m pregnant,” Paula spit it out.

The whole house went silent. Not a single tree limb brushed against a window. The refrigerator motor wasn’t running, and the ceiling fan didn’t even squeak like normal. Paula wished she had a tigereye stone tucked away in her bra. Those brought courage.