“Want me to stay as your support system? You and I are hers,” Emily said.
“No, you and Jancy need to go home by bedtime and get some sleep. You are helping by keeping the diner open. Did you even get the recipe out for the tarts?”
“Busted!” Emily put her wrists together as if she was about to get cuffed. “Woody said that folks need to be needed and if we started making tarts Nettie would lose some of that. That got me to thinkin’ about Jancy. She hasn’t ever felt like folks needed her, but we do. How do we get that across to her?”
“By being there for her like she is for us right now.” Vicky stood up and pulled Emily up with her. “We’d better get back in there. She’s probably trying to talk Ryder and Shane into helping her escape.”
Emily slung an arm around Vicky’s shoulders. “I feel so much better since I’ve seen her and talked to you. You see why I have to be at home, Mama? What if this had happened during the school year?”
“One day at a time, my child. We’ve got all summer to discuss that,” Vicky said.
When they were back at home that evening, Shane walked Jancy to the door, her hand tucked into his. He let it go and wrapped his arms around her in a lingering hug. “Don’t w-w-worry. Nettie is goin’ to be okay.”
“I’ll do my best, but no promises. I inherited the worry bug from my mother.” She smiled.
“Your m-mama, Miz Elaine, w-was always good to m-me. I really did like her.”
“Thank you, Shane.” She forced herself to take a step back.
“Good night, Jancy,” he said.
“’Night,” she whispered.
Ryder had been standing close to Emily, but he took a step back. From the corner of her eye, Jancy noticed that their pinkie fingers were locked together. Maybe Ryder was the real reason that Emily didn’t want to go back to school. If he was the reason she’d come sneaking in the house before dawn, Vicky would be the next one in the hospital with a heart attack.
Emily unlocked the door and lingered on the porch while Jancy went inside and flipped on the lights. It had been a whole week since she started to work at the diner. She had friends, a boyfriend, and folks accepted her, even considered her one of their own. Everything she’d always wanted. What would they all think of her if they knew about the trouble she’d been in?
“Tell me this didn’t happen today,” Emily moaned as she flopped down on the sofa.
“Wish I could.” Jancy made another trip around the room. “I’m scared.”
“Nettie looked good. She was teasing with us and she wasn’t pale. Did you see something I didn’t? You’ve been through the death of a loved one. I haven’t. You’d tell me, right.”
Jancy sat down in Vicky’s recliner. “Nettie looked fine, and I’m tellin’ you the truth.”
“Then what on earth are you afraid of? We need you, Jancy. Please don’t leave. I’m talkin’ about long term, not just a few months,” Emily said.
“Folks needin’ me is a scary thing. What if I disappoint y’all, or what if Shane decides this whole thing is just a schoolboy crush that went on too long? I could go on and on.” Jancy sighed. “I’ve never made friends this fast. When I left Amarillo, I swore I’d never trust anyone again, and here I am, falling right back into the same old ways and in even a shorter time.”
“One week, twenty-four/seven. That would be close to a hundred and fifty hours you’ve spent with them and a lot of hours with me. You’ve been in the center of solving the drama with Carlton. You’ve got a boyfriend who really cares about you and respects you. And we are your friends, but you are also our friend, Jancy,” Emily said. “Think about it. If you were making friends with someone and saw them once a week at, say, a yoga class or a Bible study, for three hours, this would be the equivalent of fifty weeks or almost a year. We’re all just getting everything at warp rather than slow speed.”
“That’s a good point.” Jancy threw the lever and stretched out in the chair. “But—”
“No buts. Besides, you didn’t just fall into a foreign country. Your granny lived in Pick her whole life and you were here for two years. You’re like the prodigal son who’s come home. No, I’m the prodigal son and you are the wandering soul who’s found his way back to where he belongs.”
Jancy giggled. “I don’t think either of us has the right equipment to be a son.”
Emily tossed a throw pillow at her. “You know what I mean. You’ve simply come home, Jancy. It’s like your destiny—own it.”
She caught the pillow midair and hugged it close to her chest. “And you? Are you owning your destiny?”
“Tryin’ to, but it’s harder for me. I wish I was you.”
“That’s crazy talk.” Jancy threw the pillow back at her.
Emily had never had to save tip money for days to start a bank account so she could get her service back for her cell phone. She’d never had her car burn up in front of her. And she’d never once wondered where her next meal would come from.
“It’s the truth.” Emily tucked the pillow under her head.
“Are you bat-shit crazy?” Jancy asked.
“Nope, just wishin’ for the best of both worlds. I’d never want to have had to live like you did, Jancy. But I wish—oh, it doesn’t matter.” That Emily needed to get something off her chest was evident by the way she kept twisting a strand of her hair and staring off into space.
“What’s his name?” Jancy asked.
“Who?” Emily asked without looking at Jancy.
“Only a man can make a woman act like you do. So what’s his name? Get it off your chest and you’ll feel better.”
“It’s Ryder,” Emily whispered.
“Sweet mother of God!” Jancy gasped even though she’d halfway expected it. “How long have you been dating? Vicky is going to throw a fit.”
“We were going to tell Mama last Sunday, but I decided that telling her I wasn’t going back to school was enough for one week. Now what do we do? I can’t tell her about Ryder with Nettie sick. That’s too much to put on her.”
“Did this all start this past weekend?” Jancy flipped the lever, sending the chair into an upright position.
Emily shook her head. “Been dating him since last Christmas.”
“Holy crap, Emily. How did you keep that a secret?”
Emily popped up from the sofa and started pacing around the room. “I was in school. He was out on the rig three weeks and then back home for two weeks, so it wasn’t so hard to keep it quiet. But now that I’m home and he’s not going back out—we just need to bring it out in the open.”
“Does Shane know?” Jancy asked.
“He’s the only one.”
“Poor Shane. Knowing and protecting his friends but still feeling guilty because he loves Vicky and Nettie, right?”