She listened for a moment and turned back to Laurel. “He says that instead of causing you to all that bother, he’d like all of us, him and Aunt Maxie and me, to take you out to dinner somewhere. You know—so you won’t be put to any more extra work and to thank you for taking care of me.”
Laurel smiled thinly and took the phone from Lolly. “Let’s eat here, Jase. It’s been a while since I had dinner guests, and it would be so much fun,” she said in her most dulcet tones. “And I think it might he easier for both you and Lolly if your reunion is here rather than in a public restaurant.”
Most of what she said was true, but the real reason she didn’t want to appear in a public restaurant involved her life, not theirs. Please God, just let me have these few hours with Jase, just a short interlude without the past intruding, and I won’t ask for anything more.
“Well, okay,” he agreed. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble for you.”
“No trouble at all. And I’ll look forward to seeing your aunt again.”
“Thanks.”
“Maybe you should wait until you’ve eaten to say that,” she returned, striving for a lighter tone. “I’m not much of a cook.”
“I’m not talking about food, Laurel. I’m talking about everything. You’ve been a far better friend to me than I deserve.”
“That’s kind of you to say, Jase. See you about six? We dine early here in the boondocks.”
“Whenever you say.”
Laurel put down the phone with blood ringing in her ears and a faint flush spreading across her cheeks.
Chapter Six
In the meantime, she, whose height of culinary achievement was French toast, had to plan a dinner for four.
After opening up the dining room, which hadn’t been used since Mama died, Laurel unlatched the French windows to let in some early morning air. Then, throwing caution to the wind, she packed Lolly in the Escort and drove down the street to the neighborhood Piggly Wiggly. While she’d never had a confrontation in the store, probably because there were so many people around, she knew she was taking a chance.
As it turned out, they caught a few gimlet stares and a couple of middle-aged sniffs, but she didn’t think Lolly noticed. Teenagers were accustomed to being disapproved of. Of course, there was a possibility the check she wrote to cover the groceries might bounce, but she was relatively confident she could reach the pawnbroker and the bank in time Monday morning. One of her newly developed skills was estimating how long it would take checks to clear.
If this were three years ago, she would have used a credit card, but she’d cut up all her plastic when finally paying off the last balance after her mother died. No more living beyond her means. The interest and late fees were killing her.
With the groceries packed in the back of the Escort, she decided to pick up a late lunch at G&G Chicken. The drive-thru’s speaker emitted an annoying buzz when she tried to talk into it, so she drove up to the window, where a teenage boy greeted them with a metallic smile and a tilt of G&G’s trademark yellow cap emblazoned with a crowing red rooster. Laurel placed the order and sat back to wait, but the boy lingered at the window.
“You live around here?”
Startled, she stared at him, then realized she wasn’t even on his radar. He was talking to Lolly, who was leaning around her and giving him the full radiance of the Redlander smile.
Lolly’s doggie ears bobbed as she shook her head no. “I’m visiting from North Plano, near Dallas.”
The teen flashed his orthodontics again and winked. “Make it a long visit.”
Laurel waited till he left the window, then turned toward Lolly. “I think you’ve made a conquest.”
“Yeah, guys usually like me. I think it’s the hair.” She twisted a yellow curl around her hand.
Laurel was hard put to keep her mouth shut, but didn’t Lolly realize the power of that smile?
Rooster Cap returned and handed over the chicken, keeping his eyes glued on Lolly the whole time. Laurel paid him with the last of her ready cash, which he didn’t bother to count.
Good grief—she could have given him Monopoly money and he’d never have noticed!
He winked at Lolly again. “Tell your mother you want to stay the rest of the summer.”
Laurel’s foot, which had been poised above the gas pedal, nearly shoved it to the floor. How old did that kid think she was? Somehow she managed to get the Escort down the drive without crashing into the large plastic rooster that crowed farewell as they left.
Of course, a mother was exactly what she’d been acting like for the past twelve hours, but did she really look old enough to be the mother of a fifteen-year-old? She paused at the street and angled the rearview mirror so she could make a quick check for wrinkles and sagging flesh.
Lolly was watching her every move. “Did it bother you that he thought you were my mother?”
Laurel poked at her hair. The ponytail was a real loser, but she didn’t notice anything different about her face. “A little bit. I don’t think of myself as old enough to be the mother of a teenager.”