Irene clapped her hands like a child. “Cake and candles and ice cream.”
“We’d better take care of this first or she’ll be a nightmare the rest of the evening.” Allie led the way to the kitchen. She found a package of two chocolate cupcakes in the pantry, unwrapped them, and put them on a decorative disposable plate before carrying them out to the table where Irene waited.
“Candles?” She frowned.
“Right here.” Katy brought them to the table with the container of ice cream.
Allie poked a candle in each cupcake. “Now blow ’em out, Granny.”
“Practicin’ for my birthday, right? That means you have to sing to me.”
“You get them both with one breath and we’ll sing,” Katy said.
“What’s going on? It’s not Granny’s birthday.” Lizzy carried her damn wedding planning book into the kitchen. It was a thick three-ring binder with everything from pictures of centerpieces to candles to honeymoon places, all arranged neatly with tabbed dividers.
Allie hated the sight of the thing, hated everything about it from the pictures of the lavender dresses to the tuxedos that Mitch and Grady would wear. The wedding would be held in the Dry Creek church with the reception in the fellowship hall, not in a big city cathedral.
“I thought we’d talk about the ribbons for our bouquets tonight, but I see you are all crazy.” Lizzy pouted.
“We are practicin’ and if you don’t like it, go away,” Irene said.
“Practicin’ what?” Lizzy asked.
“Granny’s birthday,” Allie answered.
She blew out both candles and Katy started the birthday song. Lizzy and Allie sang with her all the way to the end.
Lizzy poked Allie on the arm. “What are you doing in that men’s robe and why does she think it’s her birthday?”
“It’s a long story. Come on upstairs to my bedroom while she eats and I’ll tell you.” She didn’t want to confide in her sister, but by morning the rumors would have the story blown so far out of proportion that she might as well come clean.
Lizzy followed Allie to her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. “Well?”
“I’m going to get dressed first so be patient.” She stepped inside the big closet and shut the door. Like always, she’d held up good under pressure but now that it was over, her hands shook and her stomach hurt. Her skin turned clammy and tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them spill. She pulled on a pair of underpants and an oversized nightshirt that stopped midway down her thigh.
“You going to take all night in there?” Lizzy called out.
Allie pushed the door open and lay on the bed, curled up in a C with the pillow under her head. “Might as well stretch out here beside me. This might take awhile.”
Lizzy fell back on the bed. “What have you done? Don’t tell me that was Blake’s robe you were wearing down there. I thought it was one of Daddy’s old ones but it was that cowboy’s, wasn’t it?”
“It is and there’s a reason I was wearing it but believe me, sister, I will not be wearing it ever again.” She told the story from the time she finished the room, only leaving out the way his robe touching her bare body made her feel.
“Holy sweet Jesus,” Lizzy exclaimed. “Do you know what the gossip hounds are going to do with that before morning? To get the heat off herself, Nadine will call Sharlene and Mary Jo and they’ll spread the news to everyone else, and by morning you will be having an affair with that cowboy. You might as well have gone on and slept with him.”
“Well, shit! Now that I have your permission, maybe I should go over there and boot that tall bitch out of his bed and have a turn with him,” Allie said sarcastically.
“Oh, hush! That hussy actually said that she’d worn that robe?” Lizzy hissed.
Allie nodded. “She did.”
Lizzy slid off the bed. “Put on some jeans and some boots. We are going to burn the damn thing out in the backyard right now. I may not agree with you but by damn, you are my sister and no one is treating you like that.”
“That won’t solve anything. She is part of his past, like Riley is mine.”
Lizzy went straight to the closet and picked the robe up from the floor. “I don’t give a royal rat’s ass. There’s going to be a robe burnin’. I’ll do it if you don’t want to.” She paused. “Oh. My. God. You have fallen for that cowboy, haven’t you?”
Allie shrugged. “I like spending time with him but I wouldn’t say I’ve fallen for him. That involves more than wearing his robe while my clothes are in the washing machine. Which reminds me, why wasn’t Granny with you at the Lady’s Circle meeting?”
Lizzy glared at the robe now lying on the floor. “No one showed up so we came on back home. We didn’t have a meeting after all.”
“Nadine said she was there and you told her I was working over at the Lucky Penny.”