“Are you okay?” he asked.
The touch of his hand on hers steadied her nerves. “I’m fine, Rick. And Lettie and Nadine are fine.” Her voice notched a little higher than usual, and her heart pumped a little faster.
“I had an early-morning delivery, and now I’m on the way home. We’d better both keep our minds on driving, right?” He removed her hand and kissed the palm. “Have a great day, Jennie Sue.”
Is that a sign I should stay here? she asked herself as she checked her hand to see if his lips had left a warm imprint. Surprisingly, it didn’t look any different than it had before.
Rick ran a hand over his lips several times as he drove home. His pulse was still racing when he got back to the house. Thank goodness Cricket was still in her room, because he didn’t want to talk to anyone who would spoil the mood.
He made himself breakfast and left thirty minutes earlier than necessary. It was Monday, so he would be driving the bookmobile to Roby. He drove slowly past the bookstore, but it was still closed.
This is pretty close to stalking, the voice in his head said.
“No, it’s not,” he argued, but the idea stayed with him all day. That evening when he got back to town, he dropped off the keys and went straight home.
When he arrived, he made a pass through the house and started for the garden when he saw a note on the kitchen table from Cricket saying that she wouldn’t be home until bedtime. So he pulled out a chair and called Jennie Sue. He had to get this heavy feeling about stalking her off his mind, and if she thought he was, then he’d apologize.
She was out of breath when she answered on the fourth ring. “Hello, Rick. I’m sorry it took so long. I’m working late at the bookstore, and I was carrying a box of books from one place to the other. I couldn’t get to my phone. What’s up? Is Cricket all right?”
“She’s fine. I haven’t talked to her today. I’m not stalkin’ you, I promise,” he blurted out.
“What brought that on?” she asked.
“I’ve been feelin’ something between us for a while, and I’ve found myself . . . You’re going to think I am stalkin’ you,” he said.
“I do not think that. I watch for the bookmobile to drive through town when I’m in the bookstore. I like you, Rick,” she said.
“I just wanted to be up-front and honest with you.” Had she really said that she liked him? “You never know what the talk might be.”
“Ain’t that the truth. So how was your day at the market Saturday?” Jennie Sue asked.
“Very busy, but I sold everything I took. And I didn’t take Cricket with me.” He’d figured that she might hang up on him or tell him that they couldn’t be friends because of Cricket.
“Oh, Rick, I really don’t want to cause trouble,” she whispered.
“You didn’t. I just thought it would be best if my sister and I had a day apart. It’s turned into three days apart. She left a note on the table this evening sayin’ that Lettie had picked her up for supper, and it would be late when she got home tonight. So how was your Saturday?”
“Productive. I had a visit with my mother, and then that evening I gave Lettie, Nadine, and Mabel mani-pedis,” she said. “Those old darlin’s kept me laughing at their stories all evening.”
He shut his eyes and imagined the glimmer in her blue ones that went along with the laughter. Listening to her voice when she was happy was like seeing a gorgeous sunrise bringing the promise of a new day.
She went on, “Those three can flat-out hold their wine. They drank two bottles between them, and other than a little girlish giggling and slight slurring of words, they were steady as a rock.”
“And I bet they all had headaches on Sunday morning when they went to church,” he said. “Want to go for a drive with me? I haven’t had supper. It’s half-price burger night at Sonic.”
“I’d rather go out to the farm and help you gather tomorrow’s deliveries, since Cricket isn’t there to fuss at us,” she said. “We could pick up burgers and eat them on the way.”
“So you missed me?”
“I missed green beans and squash and corn.”
He imagined her closing one eye in a sly wink. “And you don’t want to go home to your apartment because you know that Lettie will holler at you to come in her house, and Cricket will be there, right? Oh, I do feel used,” he said, but his tone said that he was getting a big kick out of this.
“Not you,” she said sweetly. “I would never use you to escape going home. But I would use your garden to stay away from Cricket a few more days.”
“I’ll pick up the burgers on the way and be there in ten minutes.”
“Mustard and no onions,” she said.
She was sitting on the outside bench when he arrived. She waved and didn’t wait for him to get out to open the door for her, but dived right in and grabbed the brown bag. “These smell so good. Man, I missed good old greasy burgers when I was in New York. They just don’t taste the same out there.” She bit into hers before she got his out of the bag and handed it to him.
“Do you ever have a negative thought in your head?” Rick asked.
“Used to, then I figured out that positive can’t survive in a negative atmosphere, so I have a mental ‘Delete’ button that I press real often. Do you have bad thoughts?” she asked.
Rick chewed fast and swallowed. “I did for a long time, but a therapist in the hospital finally got through my thick skull—negative and positive don’t survive together.”
She was halfway through her burger when they reached the farm, so he turned off the engine and rolled down the windows. “Let’s finish before we hit the garden.”
“Thank you. I want to enjoy every bite of this.” She kicked off her shoes and slowly ate the rest of her food before she opened the door and said, “I’ll grab a basket and meet you in the peas.”
He nodded and followed her to the back porch with both of their drinks in his hands. “You forgot this.”
She took a long draw from the straw and set it on the porch. “I missed this the past few days, Rick. It’s so peaceful out here—especially with the smell of fresh dirt and creek water. Two more things I missed in New York.”
“There’s a shallow creek at the back of the place with a big old scrub oak shade tree at the edge. We could go there for a little while when we finish up here,” he said.
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “But first, let’s get the stuff gathered up for your deliveries tomorrow morning.”
They were finished in less than an hour, and once they’d washed off their bare feet and gotten their shoes back on, he led the way down a path with weeds growing up in the middle of two ruts.
“I can hear it already,” she said before they made the final bend in the path.
“When Cricket and I were little kids, several times a year we’d have a tailgate picnic at the creek, and then Mama and Daddy would let us splash around in the water,” he said.
“Oh, it’s beautiful. Look at that big old shady tree. I love it, Rick,” she said. “Can we wade in it?”
“It’s spring fed, so it’s pretty cold, but you can if you want,” he answered as he sat down under the huge scrub oak tree.
“I’d rather go skinny-dippin’,” she whispered.
“Would you repeat that?” He could feel a blush heating up his cheeks.
She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Did I say that out loud?”
“I believe you did.” He grinned.
“I was thinkin’ it, but I didn’t mean to say it.” She was downright cute with two bright-red spots dotting her cheeks. “And it would be fun, because I’ve never done that before.”
“I don’t think it would be a good idea. I swear in this area even the blackbirds in the trees carry gossip. You can’t even imagine what one little skinny-dippin’ night would have created by this time tomorrow,” he said.
“It could be one of those ‘used rumors.’” She put air quotes around the words. “Those that we file away to sell to a town that’s just gettin’ into the rumor business.”