“Maybe we’re both jealous,” Jancy said.
“Jealous! What in the devil for?”
“I’m jealous because she has y’all, and she might be jealous because I’m in her house and she’s afraid I’ll mess with the dynamics y’all have,” Jancy said.
“That’s a crock of bull crap,” Nettie said. “That’s like sayin’ we only got space in our hearts for one person. You both need to get over it.”
“I’ll try,” Jancy said. “But she’s got first dibs on the whole enchilada. I’m just the hired help.”
“Your grandmother was my friend. You are my friend.” Nettie’s finger was a blur as it shook in front of her face. “Now get your butt out there on the porch and stop pouting. And keep your eyes and ears open. I want to know why Emily is acting so weird.”
“Nettie! I told you why she’s acting strange.”
“No, you told me why you are. I think her problem goes a lot deeper than a little snit of jealousy,” she said. “Go!”
“I don’t want to. I haven’t been invited.”
“I’m tellin’ you, not invitin’ you. And if you see anything or find out what’s goin’ on with her, I want to know.”
“What makes you think I’d rat her out if I did find out something?” Jancy asked.
“You don’t want to see Vicky drop dead with a heart attack that we could have prevented if we’d known the facts.”
“Okay, but only because I respect you and Vicky so much,” Jancy said on a sigh.
“And get that long face straightened up before you get out there.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, but it wasn’t with a smile.
Vicky was in the kitchen talking to someone on the phone about a delivery. The bathroom door slammed loudly, so evidently Nettie had claimed that room. Jancy pushed the front door open to find Ryder and Shane sitting on the porch steps and Emily on the swing.
“Come on out here with us,” Shane said. “You can sit here beside me.”
Emily patted the place beside her. “There’s room on the swing.”
The golden scepter had been extended once again. Did she bow her head and accept the favor, or did she ignore the queen and sit beside Shane? One didn’t sound any better than the other, but Nettie had given her orders, so she sat down on the swing.
“So what do you w-want to be wh-when you grow up?” Shane asked.
“Why’d you ask that?” Jancy kept the swing going with a foot.
“We were talkin’ about how things change after we get out of high school. I couldn’t wait to get out of Pick, but after six weeks of college, I just wanted to come home and work in the diner,” Emily said.
“And you, Ryder?” Jancy asked.
“Same. I went to school to be a marine biologist and wound up taking an offshore rig job. I like it fine, but I hate being away from home. That’s why I’m going to take a desk job in Frankston the first of August,” he answered Jancy, but his eyes were on Emily the whole time.
“Shane?” Jancy asked.
“I always w-wanted to do body w-work on cars, so I’m the success story.” He grinned. “Now you, Jancy.”
“I’m a waitress. I’ll probably always be a waitress. I like what I do just fine. My mama wanted me to be a hairdresser, but . . .” She shrugged. “Tips aren’t nearly as good and I don’t even like doin’ my hair. I can’t imagine doin’ something I don’t like all day.”
“Anything else you’d like to do in the future?” Emily asked.
“I want to be a wife and a mother, but I’m not in a hurry for either.”
“Me, too, but I am in a hurry.”
Jancy could have sworn that she saw her look right at Ryder—or was it Shane?
CHAPTER FIVE
Mornin’, Vicky.” Jancy yawned as she stepped out of the bathroom. “Looks like the weatherman might be right. It’s not raining. We need a hot and sunny day for the big picnic.”
“It should be interesting to see if old P-Nose even shows up,” Vicky said.
“P-Nose?” Jancy cocked her head to one side.
“Think about it,” Vicky said.
“Oh!” Jancy clapped a hand over her mouth. “It does look like one, doesn’t it?”
“A short one.” Vicky nodded and closed the bathroom door behind her.
Giggling, Jancy turned to find Emily coming from the kitchen. She had bags under her eyes, and she was wearing the same clothes she’d had on the night before.
The giggling stopped. “Are you sneakin’ in or did you fall asleep on the porch?”
“Shh . . .” Emily put a finger over her lips. “I’m pleading the Fifth.”
“Good mornin’.” Nettie threw open her bedroom door.
Emily slipped inside her room.
Nettie rubbed sleep from her eyes. “I thought I heard voices.”
“Vicky and I were laughing at Carlton’s nose.”
“Why his nose?” Nettie asked.
“Vicky calls him P-Nose. Think about it,” Jancy said.
Nettie nodded. “It ought to look like that. Way he pokes his nose into everyone’s business and tries to screw them.”
“Nettie!” Jancy gasped.
“It’s the truth.” She knocked on Emily’s door. “Rise and shine, mornin’ glory. If you are goin’ to walk to work with the rest of us, you’d best get up and around.”
Jancy waited on the porch swing for the other three. Trees had begun to take on individual forms instead of blending together into big black shapeless blobs. In an hour the sun would pop up as an orange sliver at first, and then it would rise with heat and power to knock out the darkness. As Jancy sat on the porch that morning, the pungent scents of wet grass and dirt all around her, she admitted that getting stranded in Pick was a good thing.
Her life had been a black blob for a long time, but in the past five days she’d begun to feel like the trees were taking shape. The sun wasn’t up yet, but it was rising, and it might reveal that she wasn’t supposed to spend the rest of her life at the diner. Yet she wasn’t sure what she’d do if that’s what was laid on her heart.
“Hey.” Emily sat down on the other end of the swing. “I guess I owe you an explanation. You know I did not spend the night on the swing.”
“Emily, this is your home. You don’t owe me anything,” Jancy said.
“Well, then I’ve got a confession. I wasn’t sure about you living here. I remembered you from when you lived here before, and you were kind of standoffish. Anyway, after working with you and listening to Shane talk about you, I’ll admit I was wrong.”
“Shane talked about me?” Jancy asked.
“Honey, Shane had a big, big crush on you when we were sophomores and he and Ryder were seniors.”
“Really?” Jancy gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, yeah.” Emily smiled.
“Why didn’t he say something?”
“Because he stutters and it would have broken his heart if you’d laughed at him or rejected him. I’ve talked to him every night since you took the job. He says that you are a hard worker and that Mama and Nettie are lucky to have you.”
“You must like him a lot,” Jancy said.
“I really do,” Emily told her.
“Y’all ready?” Nettie and Vicky came out at the same time.