“Mabel told me to listen to my heart, so that’s what I’m doin’,” she replied.
He followed her into the kitchen and asked, “What if this chemistry we have is just a passing fancy for you? You now own a huge company, not to mention this house and property. What if I’m only—”
She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Rick, what we have has nothing to do with money. It’s something deeper than that, something in our hearts. To me, it’s not a passing fancy. It’s like the seed that you plant in the spring. With some tender care, it could grow into something fruitful.”
“I think we can work with that.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Now, where’s a good cast-iron skillet so I can do my part about gettin’ breakfast ready?”
“Under that cabinet.” She pointed and then set the electric griddle in the middle of the table.
When he’d fried a pound of bacon and they were all seated, she poured the batter out in six perfect circles. A picture of Percy throwing away the first pancakes she’d made after they were married because they weren’t perfectly round flashed through her mind. She quickly hit the mental “Delete” button, determined that she was never going to think about him again.
“Okay, I can already see that those are the lightest pancakes I’ve ever seen. What’s the secret?” Cricket asked.
“I only give out my recipe to people who don’t hate me,” she answered.
“Okay, okay, I don’t hate you anymore.” Cricket grinned.
“So are you only my friend because I make good pancakes, because you feel sorry for me, or because I like your brother?” She flipped two pancakes onto Cricket’s plate.
“All of the above. When did you start liking Rick?” Cricket asked. “I thought y’all were just friends.”
“It’s been a slow process. And the secret to good pancakes is beating the egg whites until they are almost like meringue and then folding them in gently. Gives them little air pockets that make the pancakes very light. I’ll text you the link to the recipe. I found it on Pinterest.” Jennie Sue put two on Rick’s plate.
“Oh, my!” Cricket moaned when she took the first bite. “These are fabulous.”
Jennie Sue slathered her pancakes with butter and poured syrup over them. Then she flipped the ones on the griddle before she took the first bite.
“I know it’s quick, but I want some things settled and off my mind. So I’m askin’ Justin to call a meeting for the board of directors and the vice president of the oil company on Monday morning. I know there’s a lot of worry about jobs and what’s going to happen, and the sooner I can put employees’ minds at rest, the better. I am going to sell the company to the highest bidder. Daddy told me a while back that two major oil companies had approached him to buy it, so that shouldn’t be a problem. He was ready to retire, himself.”
“You sure you’re ready to do that? You have a business degree. You could learn to run it yourself,” Cricket said.
“I thought about it last night before I went to sleep. I don’t want a job that requires that much commitment, so I’m selling it. I feel right about my decision.”
“You’ll be a multimillionaire,” Rick muttered.
“Yes, I will, and the money can sit in the bank until I decide what I want to do with it. And this house is going on the market next week. I do not want to live here,” she said.
“Why? It’s a beautiful home, and you have a staff here to do all the work,” Cricket said. “Granted, it’s too big and intimidating for me, but you grew up here. It’s your childhood home. Don’t do something you will regret.”
“It’s time for Mabel and Frank to retire. They should’ve done it years ago. I’m going to ask Justin to set up a severance package that will keep them comfortable and doing anything they want the rest of their lives,” she said. “And I’ll give the other people who work here a nice bonus with their last paycheck.”
“You’ve got until tomorrow to think about this before you go to that meeting.” Rick held out his plate for more pancakes. “You could change your mind.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so.” Jennie Sue slid the other pancakes off the griddle onto a plate. “When we get finished here, can we go out to the farm? We could take a picnic from the leftovers from last night to the creek.”
“If that’s what you want,” Rick said.
“Not me,” Cricket said. “I’m not crutchin’ it out that far. Drop me at Lettie’s house. Do you mind if I fix up a basket of leftovers to take to her place?”
“Take whatever you like. Why didn’t they come around last night?” Jennie Sue asked.
“They were afraid that the Belles might drown them in the pool. It wasn’t just your mama that couldn’t get along with those two. It was the whole Belle group. When your great-granny started the club, she wouldn’t let their mama join it. That could be why Flora did what she did,” Cricket explained.
“What a tangled mess.” Jennie Sue picked up a piece of bacon and bit off the end. “Perfect. I love it like this. Floppy bacon never did appeal to me, but Daddy loved it.”
“So did my dad, but Mama liked crispy,” Rick said as he put another two pancakes on his plate. “We could wrap up any leftovers of these with bacon in the middle and take it to the creek for our picnic. I bet they’re just as good cold as they are hot.”
“Anything would taste good if we eat it by the creek.” Just making that much of a decision took a burden off her chest. And the fact that Cricket hadn’t gone up in flames when she said that she liked Rick was an added bonus.
Cricket rapped on Lettie’s kitchen door and then opened it a crack. “Hello. Anyone home?”
“In the living room. Come on in here and tell us about the party last night. We were hoping you might sneak away and come by or at least call,” Lettie said. “Get yourself a glass of sweet tea on the way, and bring the pitcher to refill ours.”
Cricket set the brown paper bag holding several baggies full of goodies on the cabinet and yelled, “Can’t carry this much. Y’all come and help me.”
“We forgot that your foot is messed up.” Nadine’s voice preceded her into the kitchen. “And what is this?”
“I brought the party to you since you couldn’t come to it,” Cricket said.
Lettie came in right behind her. “I’ll take that to the living room. We was sittin’ in there, tryin’ to decide whether we wanted to make us a fresh tomato sandwich or go to the café for some lunch. It was so crowded after church that I just brought us on home. Now we can put all this out on the coffee table and have us a picnic.”
“So start tellin’ us about the party while we get things done.” Nadine got out the pitcher of tea from the refrigerator and carried it, plus an empty glass, with her. “Come on, girl. I’ll give you the recliner, and me and Lettie can take the sofa and spread out all these goodies.”
“Well, I think Jennie Sue and I have gotten past the hate stage. She fixed my hair last night and even helped with my makeup. I had no idea that green eye shadow would look so much better on me.” Cricket set her crutches to the side and hopped over to the recliner. “And we went swimming after everyone left, and Rick even wore a swimsuit.”
“What did Jennie Sue do?” Lettie popped open the bag of leftover chicken salad and the one of pimento-cheese sandwiches and helped herself to a couple of each.
“She didn’t freak out. And this morning at breakfast, she admitted that she liked him. I hope he’s not in for a broken heart. When you think about the difference in what she’s inherited—well, it could change things.” Cricket took a sip of her tea while they opened all the lids on the leftover containers.
“Go on.” Nadine crossed forks with Lettie’s when she tried to get a bite of the shrimp cocktail. “You can have that chicken stuff. I like this better.”
“Too bad. I’m having at least one bite of the shrimp,” Lettie said. “Now tell us, who all was there, and what did they talk about?”