“I see.” Jennie Sue bit back a grin. “I should be going. The meeting starts in half an hour. Thanks for breakfast and for listening. I’ll call as soon as I’m back in the bookstore, and you and Nadine can come down for a visit.”
“I’ll already know what happened. I heard they’ve hired Elaine’s cousin to serve finger foods, and she’ll keep her mama informed. Her mama will call Elaine, and I’ve made a deal with her to call me. So don’t say nothing you don’t want repeated.”
“Small towns. Sometimes they’re great, but other times not so much,” Jennie Sue sighed.
“Got to love ’em no matter what, though, don’t you?” Lettie called after her as she left by the back door.
Chapter Twenty-One
As she was walking out the door, Rick’s truck came to a screeching stop not a foot behind her mother’s car, where she’d parallel-parked it against the curb. She was so happy that he’d come to give her a little bit of last-minute moral support that she didn’t care if he buckled the rear end of the Caddy. But it wasn’t Rick who crawled out of the driver’s seat—it was Cricket.
Disappointment filled her heart but was soon replaced by worry. “Is something wrong? Why are you driving? Is Rick hurt?” The questions tumbled out of her mouth faster than her pulse.
“I didn’t figure on it hurting to pump the brakes and almost smashed into your car. Nothing is wrong. I’m driving because Rick is a stubborn-headed jackass today. He stormed off to the creek when I told him that we should at least check on you this morning. So I got in the truck myself, and here I am. Are you on the way to the big meeting?” Cricket asked.
Relief, pure and simple, even if Rick was a jackass, swept over her. He could get over his pissy mood, but being hurt or even dead was a different thing altogether. “Yep. You want to go with me?”
“I’m not dressed for that. Besides, I’d be in the way, and you don’t really want me there, do you?” She paused at the last part.
“Yes, you are. No, you won’t be, and yes, I do.” Jennie Sue opened the passenger door to the Cadillac for her. “When the gossip starts the minute I walk out of the company, I’ll need a witness to repeat exactly what I decided. Weren’t you the one who snapped a dozen pictures of me getting off the bus on the day I came back to Bloom?”
“Twenty-two, but I deleted the ones that were blurry,” Cricket answered as she handed her crutches to Jennie Sue and got into the car. “You are welcome.”
“See, you were my friend before you even knew you were.” Jennie Sue slammed the door shut. Cricket gave her confidence and strength to stand up to the board of directors and do things her way.
“I wasn’t really your friend when I deleted the pictures,” Cricket said as soon as Jennie Sue was in the driver’s seat and had turned on the AC. “I just didn’t want anyone to think I was a bad photographer.”
“You are full of crap, Cricket Lawson.”
“No, I’m not, but my brother sure is this mornin’. You might change your mind about likin’ him when he gets in moods like this,” she said.
“Is that very often?” Jennie Sue asked. Not even Rick being in a bad mood could make her not like him, but it might make her argue with him.
“Not so much lately, but when he first got home, they came on a daily basis. I thought he was making big progress until this morning,” she answered.
The car didn’t even have time to cool down when Jennie Sue pulled over to the “Reserved for D. Baker” spot in the parking lot. She retrieved Cricket’s crutches from the back seat and handed them to her when she hopped out of the car on one foot.
“You’re getting pretty good at that,” Jennie Sue said.
“Can’t wait to get my boot on and throw these things away. They’re death on the underarms.” Cricket got them into position. “I hope they’ve got an elevator.”
“I thought I’d get behind you and push you up the stairs.” Jennie Sue’s voice went high and squeaky with nerves.
“Don’t know about you, but I’ve got the jitters about going with you into the Baker castle, so don’t joke around about it.”
Jennie Sue swung the door open for her. “Elevator is straight ahead, and it opens right into the conference room. And between us sisters, I’m terrified, but I don’t intend to let anyone know it.”
“I’m not your sister,” Cricket protested.
“But I’m the one who took you to the hospital, remember?” Jennie Sue pushed the button for the elevator and tapped her fingers on the wall while they waited.
“You really are nervous, aren’t you?” Cricket asked as they waited for the elevator door to open.
“I vowed when Percy left that I’d never let anyone make me tense like that again. This isn’t the same, but . . .” She stepped into the elevator and pushed the second-floor button when Cricket was inside.
“He must’ve been a devil to live with,” Cricket said.
“He was fine when everything was perfect, but when it wasn’t, he was a basket case. His therapist said he had the worst case of control issues she’d ever seen. I don’t ever have to be perfect again.”
Cricket’s eyes started at her sandals and traveled up to her hair. “I can see that.”
“Disappointed in the way I’m dressed?” Jennie Sue asked.
“Nope. I’m glad you are being yourself,” Cricket answered.
The doors opened before Cricket could answer, and at least twenty sets of eyes tracked them. The room went so quiet and still that Jennie Sue wondered if they’d all been struck dead and simply hadn’t fallen down yet.
“Hello, everyone. This is my friend Cricket Lawson. I asked her to accompany me today,” Jennie Sue said.
“Honey, we don’t allow extra people in these meetings,” Lawrence O’Reilly, the vice president, said. “Your friend can wait in my office just down the hall.”
“Why?” Jennie Sue asked.
“Because we will be discussing things of a sensitive nature.” He looked over the top of his glasses at her as if she were a child.
“Then why are the caterers allowed to stay in here?” Jennie Sue asked. “I do believe this is my company now. Here, Cricket, you sit right here.” She pulled out the seat at the head of the table and motioned for Cricket to sit down. “Where is Justin?”
The lawyer came in from a side door. “I’m right here. Needed to print a new copy of one of the papers. Shall we all sit down and begin?”
“You are sitting in my chair.” Lawrence glared at Cricket.
“You won’t be stayin’, so it doesn’t matter,” Jennie Sue said and waited until Justin was seated just to Cricket’s left before she took a place across the table from him. He was the one she wanted to talk to, not the other people.
“Okay, Jennie Sue, you need to start signing papers at the orange tabs. These are simply saying that you are receiving the company, your parents’ checking account, the stock portfolio, and their savings. All in all, it’s merely transference of everything they owned into your name, as stated in the will.”
She spent the next fifteen minutes signing her name and then stood up. “I want to thank all of you for your loyal service to this company. Now you can all leave, because I’m calling an executive meeting with Justin. You can wait in your offices until he calls you to return. At that time he will tell you my decisions.”
“But—” Lawrence started.
“No buts,” Jennie Sue said before he could go on. “I’ve made up my mind, and I won’t be long. The caterers can stay in the office with you until I finish, and then they can come back and y’all can have finger foods while Justin explains my plan.”
Lawrence’s lips set in a tight line in his big, round face as he stormed out of the conference room. “I told all of you that she was crazy.”
“That might not have been a wise move,” Justin said. “He’s already putting out feelers for another position, because he says your lack of big business sense is going to be the downfall of this company.”