“Oh, yeah! Kate, just how long was he in this business, anyway?” Jamie asked.
“I’d guess about eight years, so he might have even told the truth when he said the business was just getting off the ground. Before that, he sold cars, put in his own little used car lot for a while, and did a couple of other things. By then I didn’t care and refused to finance his schemes.” The only thing that she had cared about then and right up to that very moment was the fact that her child had not lived. And that evening, watching those two little girls whisper and giggle, made the ache in her heart even more painful.
The lady took the little girls’ food to them first. Then she went back to the kitchen and returned with a tray laden with their food. “Enjoy! Tonight the peanut parfait sundae is on sale for half price.”
“Thank you.” Kate smiled.
“And if y’all need anything, just holler.”
“So.” Amanda picked up her burger and folded the paper back. “What is happening tomorrow? Does this weather make a difference in either of your jobs?”
“Not mine,” Jamie said. “If you were serious about watching Gracie, I’m going to take you up on it one day a week just to give her a break.”
“And you?” Amanda glanced at Kate.
“I’m going to the Double Back Ranch to learn how to drive a tractor or walk a fence line if it’s not raining,” Kate answered. “I’ve never worked outside before, and I kind of like it.”
“So if you wind up with the cabin, maybe Waylon will hire you every summer,” Jamie said.
This would be a good time to tell them about the letters, the voice in her head said. Not when things are going so smooth. It’s going to cause another argument, and I want this evening to be nice—for Gracie. She doesn’t need to ride home in a tense car with three angry women.
“That’s still being checked on,” Kate said quickly. “How about you, Amanda? You got any desire to make a move to Bootleg?”
“Well, I called the bank here in town and talked to the president. He says there could possibly be an opening about Thanksgiving. One of his tellers is retiring. Baby is due the first of September, six weeks to recover after that, so it would work out fairly well.”
“What about your store?” Jamie asked.
“Wanda would buy out my half in a heartbeat. I can put in my application and still have lots of time to think about it,” Amanda said without hesitation.
“I can’t believe we’re talking about moving here. Do you realize that Conrad’s been gone only a couple of weeks?” Jamie squirted ketchup from a dispenser onto her fries. “Kate, you look as if you are seeing angels floating down from heaven. What on earth is out that window that’s mesmerizing you?”
“I’m not looking out the window. I was watching Gracie and Lisa. They are adorable. And about Conrad—maybe he’s only been dead two weeks by the clock, but if we’re all honest, he’s been dead a lot longer than that, right?” Kate said.
“Would you ever think of leaving your big, fancy job and moving to a place like Bootleg?” Amanda asked.
“I’d never leave my business behind, but if I had a daughter like you have, I might reconsider everything.”
“Never say never,” Jamie quipped.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Amanda was so antsy that she decided to bake again all morning on Thursday. She rationalized making more by saying that she would take two large platters of cookies to the church for the potluck. Gracie was delighted to sit at the table and help stir, mix, and sample the broken ones as they came out of the oven.
“I like cookin’,” Gracie said. “Because I get to eat the mistakes.”
“I like it because it helps keep my hands busy. We’ll have to think of something for lunch for your mama, though, other than cookies.”
“Why?” Gracie giggled.
“How about toasted cheese sandwiches and some noodle soup?”
“Yes!” Gracie pumped her fist in the air. “And cookies and milk for dessert like yesterday.”
“You got it, kiddo! Well, I’ll be . . . danged.” Amanda caught the cussword before it left her mouth.
“What? Another broken one?” Gracie asked.
“No, I think I’m nesting. I cleaned my room this morning and put away all the little boy things that Aunt Ellie brought when she delivered the bed and bassinet.”
“Amanda, why is it a bad thing that my daddy married all of you?”
She fumbled for an answer. “Because it’s against the law.”
“You know what my Mama Rita says? She says that I have to obey her when she tells me something, but what my mama says is the law. Is it like that?”
“A whole lot.” Amanda put the last of the cookies in the oven and checked the clock. It was time to open two cans of soup and get things ready for dinner.
“Then if my mama had told my daddy not to marry you, he wouldn’t have done it?” Gracie asked.
“This is a different kind of law.”
Gracie frowned. “Like the detective that likes Kate a lot. Mama says he’s the law. If he’d told my daddy not to marry you and Kate, then he wouldn’t, right?”
“I don’t know about that, but what makes you think that Waylon likes Kate?” Amanda asked.
“I’m a little kid, but I’m not stupid.” Gracie folded her arms over her chest and huffed. “I can see the way he looks at her. Like Mama looks at chocolate.”
That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Amanda burst out laughing, and Gracie joined right in.
“Why is that funny?” Gracie asked when they’d both gotten control.
Amanda hugged the child. “I hope my baby grows up to be as smart as you.”
“Mama says it’s my half brother. What’s the other half?”
“Half brother means you have the same daddy but not the same mama,” Amanda explained.
“Does that mean I’m a big sister for real?”
Amanda sure wished that Jamie was there to have this conversation. “It does mean that. Do you want to be a big sister even though you don’t have the same mama as my baby?”
“Heck, yeah, I do.” Gracie grinned with a chocolate chip stuck to her teeth. “I don’t care who the mama or the daddy is as long as it can be my brother.”
“Hello, what’s this about a brother?” Jamie asked as she made her way into the house.
“Amanda’s baby will have my daddy, but Amanda will be the mama. And we’ve got cookies, Mama. Lots and lots of cookies!” Gracie ran to give Jamie a hug.
Jamie grinned. “The simplicity of innocence.”
“We are making noodle soup for dinner, Mama. Tell me about your day,” Gracie said.
Jamie picked up a still-warm cookie. “I want to hear about your day and then I’ll tell you about mine.”
“I wish Kate was here to tell us about hers. I miss her when she’s gone all day.” Gracie sighed.