The Flour Sack Tea Room in Ocean Springs was a popular place for lunch on Saturday. A short drive across Biloxi Bay, it was close enough to be convenient and yet different enough to be appealing. Tucked on a tree- shaded street among Victorian houses and boutiques offering everything from arts and crafts to brass candlesticks, the tea room offered shelter from the heat and all the tea you could drink.
Susan and Jo Lisa sat at a small table next to the window, sipping iced tea in glass fruit jars.
"How about turtle cheesecake, Jo Lisa?"
"It has about a million calories per bite."
"Calories don't count when you're celebrating." Jo Lisa had a job singing, and after weeks of wariness they were finally beginning to feel like sisters again. Double cause for celebration.
"What the hell? I'll have the whole damned turtle."
Two well-dressed women came through the door laughing, and sat down at the table next to them.
"Maggie," the elegant, dark-haired woman said in the bright, carrying voice of the wealthy and privileged, "I don't know how I let myself be talked into this."
Jo Lisa was eavesdropping, and she didn’t care who knew it. The minute she’d spotted the brunette, she’d been on full alert.
"You're the one who said you had news." The brunette’s companion was blond, petite, and pretty. Jo Lisa didn’t know her from Adam’s house cat, but she intended to find out.
“Jo Lisa…”
“Shhh.” She made a stop motion with her hand in case Susan didn’t get the hint.
"You didn’t have to drag me all the way to Ocean Springs for me to tell it," the brunette said.
Jo Lisa wanted to throttle her on the spot. She sounded smug, a quality Jo Lisa detested - unless she was the one displaying it..
“You needed the outing. Go ahead, Jean. Tell your big secret. I’m dying to know.”
“Be patient. Let’s order first.”
Jo Lisa twisted so she could get a better view of the women, then leaned across the table so she wouldn't be overheard.
"Pay attention to that woman, Susan.”
"Which one?"
"The one with black hair It's Paul Tyler's wife."
Time stopped. Susan knew because everything in the room faded until there was nothing and no one except the stunning woman at the next table. She felt like a thief. She had gone to this woman's husband's apartment, held his hand, laughed with him, coveted him.
God was playing a cruel joke on her. Of all the women in the world, why did Paul Tyler's wife have to be the one with beautiful hair and a flawless face? It had to be a hundred and ten outside, and she looked as cool as if she'd strolled through an October day. Why couldn't she at least sweat?
"You must be mistaken," she whispered.
"Your face is the color of chalk."
"Never mind my face!"
Jean Tyler and her companion glanced up, and Susan found herself staring straight into the eyes of Paul's wife. Paralyzed by guilt and curiosity, she held the gaze until the other woman looked away.
"Oh, God," she whispered.
"Let's get out of here, Susan."
"No.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t know you’d be so upset.”
“I’m not upset. I’m going to finish my dessert.” Susan hid her shaking hands under the table cloth and forced herself to look normal. What was normal? She would sit there and hear every word Jean Tyler said if it killed her. She took a minuscule bite of cheesecake, making it last.
"I'm seeing someone," Paul's wife said.
Relief flooded Susan. Then quick guilt. She didn't want Paul to be hurt. He had suffered enough.
"I guess I should be pleased, Jean. But I had hoped you and Paul would eventually work things out. The two of you were so good together."
Jo Lisa scowled at Susan. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
Susan nodded, and her sister shrugged and lifted her tea glass.
At the adjoining table, Jean said, "I'm seeing Curtis Blake."
"Curtis Blake won't hold a candle to Paul. For Pete's sake, Jean, you left Curtis Blake for Paul."
"That was a long time ago."
"I hope you know what you're doing. Bill says that Paul and Susan Riley are getting along awfully well these days. He seems pleased."
Jo Lisa plunked her glass down on the table. "Let's get out of here."
"I'm staying."
At the next table Maggie grilled her companion. "Do you still love Paul?"
"I don't know. He came to see me… "
The waitress arrived with food, and Jean's reply was lost in the clatter of dishes and silver. By the time the food was served and the drinks poured, Jean and Maggie had moved on to another topic—Beth Ann and Timmy, apparently Maggie's children.
Susan stood up and blindly rushed toward the door. Jo Lisa grabbed the checks, paid them, and joined her sister on the overheated sidewalk.
"How did you know her?"
"She came to the Grand Biloxi with this Curtis Blake. Between sets I overheard their names. He's some hotshot surgeon. Everybody knew them."
Without a word she put her arm around her sister's shoulder. Jo Lisa had never been one to say I told you so."
"Come on," she said, dragging Susan toward the car.
They climbed in and started the silent drive home. Susan held her hands squeezed tightly together on her lap.
Was she falling in love with a man who still loved his wife?