Cricket had just flipped the lights on at the shop and set down her tote bag on Thursday morning when her phone rang. She fished it out of her purse and smiled when she saw Jennie Sue’s name pop up.
“Good mornin’,” she answered. “How’s the vacation going?”
“Absolutely wonderful,” Jennie Sue replied. “We had planned to go to a waterpark and the zoo today, but Aubrey and Dina both cried. They wanted to build another sandcastle on the beach and play in the sand. Rick is getting them into their bathing suits. I’ve gathered up the sunblock and snacks. Now, tell me all about this new pharmacist and how you are being the damsel in shining armor who is rescuing him from a life of misery with Anna Grace.”
Cricket giggled. “I don’t know about all that, but he has to be saved, and I’m doing my part to help with that. He helped me pick peas and gather the tomatoes last night. Then he ate supper with me.”
“Lettie thinks there might be a little attraction there,” Jennie Sue said. “She said that when she and Nadine came to the bookstore yesterday, your eyes were sparkling.”
“Anna Grace bullied me in school and has continued to be hateful to me every chance she gets. Getting back at her would make anyone’s eyes twinkle.” Cricket unloaded her tote bag and made a pot of coffee while she talked.
“Well, don’t lose the sparkle. I want to see it when I get home,” Jennie Sue said. “We went to a T-shirt shop yesterday, and the girls picked out two for you.”
“That will make my eyes twinkle for sure.” Cricket poured herself a mug of coffee before it even quit dripping and carried it to the sofa. “I miss those two little angels so much.”
“We’re ready,” Rick’s deep voice came through the line.
“Beach, Mama, beach,” Dina said.
“Did you get the snacks and the juice boxes and the towels and the buckets and shovels and…” Aubrey ran out of breath.
“They aren’t acting much like angels right now,” Jennie Sue laughed.
“I love hearing their voices, and they’ll always have little wings and a shiny halo in their favorite aunt’s eyes,” Cricket said. “Give them a hug from me and go enjoy the day. The damsel in shining armor has things under control here.”
“Love you, sister,” Jennie Sue chuckled. “See you at the end of next week.”
“Lookin’ forward to it,” Cricket said and ended the call.
When Jennie Sue first came back to town a few years ago, Cricket had felt the same way about her that she still did about Anna Grace. She’d thought Jennie Sue was uppity and had been glad that she’d fallen on hard times. But with time, and especially after Rick and Jennie Sue started seeing each other, Cricket had seen that she’d been wrong and that she should have never grouped Jennie Sue in with the other Belle girls.
Maybe you’re wrong about Anna Grace too. Cricket’s mother’s voice was clear in her head.
“Mama?” Cricket whispered.
But there was no more from her mother, and before she could figure out why she’d heard the voice so clearly, the bell above the door rang, and Anna Grace came into the store for the first time ever. Cricket blinked a dozen times, but the tall blond woman did not disappear.
“May I help you?” she finally asked.
Anna Grace was wearing a cute navy dress that day with matching high heels and had a matching bag draped over her arm. She crossed the floor with the grace of a runway model and sat down in the wingback chair across from Cricket’s desk. She crossed one long, slender leg over the other and took a deep breath. “I need to talk to you.”
Here it comes, Cricket thought. She’s going to tell me to leave Bryce alone or else she’ll ruin my business.
“About what?” Cricket sat down in her desk chair and got ready for the bullying.
“I want to apologize for all the times when I’ve been hateful and mean to you, and to ask for your help.” Anna Grace kept her eyes on a spot on the wall behind Cricket’s head.
“Thank you for that, but I don’t believe you.” Cricket reached under the desk and pinched her thigh, proving she wasn’t asleep but fully awake. “I think you are here to tell me to step aside where Bryce Walton is concerned, that you intend to start up a relationship with him, and eventually marry him because he’s a pharmacist.”
“If my mother was sitting in this chair, you would be right. She gave me orders to do just that this morning, but…” Anna Grace actually blushed.
Cricket folded her arms over her chest. “I think you will do anything to get what you want, and then later, you and your friends will laugh at me for being so gullible. Well, I’m an adult now. I’m not a teenager who wants to be included in your circle of friends, and I’m not someone you can bully anymore.”
“If I was sitting where you are, I would feel the same way,” Anna Grace said. “I don’t want to date Bryce. I don’t want a relationship with him. I’m in love and have been for a long time with Tommy Bluestone, a biology teacher who lives in Sweetwater. Mama won’t hear of it, and Daddy says if I marry him, I’ll have to move out of the house and find a job elsewhere because he’s not living with Mama when she’s that mad. So I just let them think I’m dating other guys, but I haven’t dated anyone but Tommy in more than three years.”
“Are you serious?” Cricket eyed her carefully. “I heard you just recently broke up with a dentist.”
“I have to invent a reason to break up with my imaginary boyfriends when Mama begins to insist that I bring them home for a weekend, or that I invite him to go out to eat with us so she can meet him.” Anna Grace looked absolutely miserable when she admitted that.
Cricket shouldn’t feel sorry for her after the way Anna Grace had looked down on her all those years, but she did. “That must be tough.”
“You can’t even imagine.” Anna Grace looked like she might break into tears any minute. “I wish Jennie Sue was here so I could talk to her, but then she probably wouldn’t even answer my calls after the way we all shunned her when she married your brother.” She lowered her voice and looked around the store. “I was proud of her for what she did. I’d never admit it to anyone else, but I was. She stood up to her mother and all the Belles when she came back to town. I want to know how she did it, because I can’t live with all this stress any longer.”
Cricket still wasn’t sure this wasn’t just playacting. “She had the guts to go after what she wanted, even before she met Rick. She rented an affordable apartment and cleaned houses for enough money to live on. You know all this, and yes, all her old friends did shun her for doing it. What makes you think she’ll even talk to you?”
“I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t,” Anna Grace said. “I want to make Mama happy, but I can’t make her happy and be happy myself. Tommy has asked me to marry him.” She pulled a black velvet box from her purse and popped it open to show Cricket what looked like an engagement ring. “Mama would throw a Southern hissy if she even knew I had this. The diamond is barely half a carat, and I think it’s gorgeous. I love it. Tommy saved up for a long time to buy it for me.”
“That reminds me of your sweet sixteen ring,” Cricket said.
Anna Grace held out her hand to show a ruby ring on her right hand. “This is my sweet sixteen ring, and I guess other than my engagement ring having a diamond instead of a ruby, they kind of do resemble each other. My birthday is in January. Mama didn’t think a garnet was fancy enough, so she bought a ruby, which is about the same color. But how did you…” She frowned.
“I remember every one of y’all’s rings. You came to school showing them off and bragging about them,” Cricket said. “I was sixteen that same year, and we were still mourning my mother’s death. Rick was in the service and couldn’t even come home. I was lucky that Lettie and Nadine brought me a cake that day. So yes, I remember that and every mean thing y’all did to me. I hated school because of you.”
“I’m so sorry.” A tear made its way down Anna Grace’s cheek and dripped off her jaw.
“Apology accepted,” Cricket said. “What did you tell Tommy when he proposed, and how did he ask you to marry him?”
Cricket figured Anna Grace would stutter and stammer, but she smiled.
“We took a blanket out into a field of Texas bluebonnets to watch the sunrise. He’s very inventive with our dates, and we have so much fun together. He’s taught me that money isn’t everything and helped me find my inner self,” Anna Grace answered. “Right when the sun came up that morning, he brought out the ring and asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Now what do I do?”
“Well, since you said yes, I suppose that you should marry him,” Cricket answered, but she still didn’t believe all of this was real.
“I’ve always dreamed of having a big wedding with the fancy dress, at least eight bridesmaids, a blowout reception, and all the trimmings, but I know if I tell Mama that I’m engaged to Tommy Bluestone, I’ll have to give all that up,” Anna Grace sighed.
“A wedding is a day. A marriage is a lifetime,” Cricket told her. “Jennie Sue and Rick didn’t have a big wedding. They went to Las Vegas and got married in one of those funny little chapels out there. You have to decide whether you want a big wedding or a marriage. At least that’s the way it looks to me.” Cricket didn’t give a flip about a huge event, if and when she ever got married, but she did want a man to look at her the same way her brother looked at Jennie Sue. That was pure love, and it beat the hell out of a fancy dress, a string of bridesmaids, and a four-foot wedding cake.
“Tell me more about Tommy. Why are your folks so set against him? Teaching school is an honorable profession.”
“That’s what I told them back when we had been dating a few months,” Anna Grace sighed. “But they informed me that I’d been raised in a better lifestyle than he could ever offer and reminded me that I made five times what he did in a year working at Daddy’s oil company, but my job would come to an end the day I married Tommy. That’s how much they’re against me and him having a happy ever after.”
“What’s money compared to love?” Cricket said. “You go to work. You come home, have supper together, talk about your day, and then spend the night in each other’s arms. Tell me where you would live if you decided to go against your folks.”
“Tommy has a small, one-bedroom apartment in Sweetwater. The whole thing is about the size of my walk-in closet. The Belles will shun me worse than they did Jennie Sue if I do this. Mama and Daddy swore three years ago that they would disown me if I marry him.”
“Do his parents accept you?” Cricket asked.
“Oh, yes! He’s the baby of eight kids, and they all are so sweet to me. They invite me to everything—birthdays, anniversaries, holidays—and they are just awesome. I love spending time with them,” she said.
“What do his folks do, as in jobs?” Cricket asked.
“His mother was a high school math teacher. His father was a history professor at the Tech College. They’re both retired now,” Anna Grace answered.
They sounded like pretty influential folks to Cricket, but then in the eyes of the Belles, she could understand where the Bluestones might not make the social cut.
“How much money do you need to be happy?” Cricket asked. “You could get a job at a rival oil company. That would really piss your folks off.”
“Truth is, I’m not qualified for another job,” Anna Grace said. “I’m just window dressing at the company. I answer Daddy’s phone calls, take coffee to him, and take care of his appointment book. I don’t know anything about managing money or living on my own.”
Cricket remembered sitting in the café and seeing Jennie Sue get off the bus when it stopped across the street. Cricket could hardly believe that the famous and very rich Jennie Sue, the daughter of a Belle, was coming home with just a suitcase and riding on a bus instead of driving a fancy sports car. “I guess it just depends on what you want most. Tommy or money.”
“That’s harsh,” Anna Grace said.
“Maybe so, but it’s the gospel truth, isn’t it?” Cricket was almost believing her, but not quite.
“Tommy wants us to get married at the end of summer on the beach at Padre Island. He has a friend who has a cabin down there that he’s willing to let us have for a whole week for our honeymoon.” Anna Grace sighed again. “Daddy said that if I make Mama happy, then I can have a honeymoon on the Riviera in France.”
“Again, Tommy or money? What will make you smile like you did when Tommy opened that box you’ve still got in your hand? What are you going to remember the most about your wedding and honeymoon on your fiftieth wedding anniversary?” Cricket asked. “Answer those questions, and you’ll know what means the most to you.”
Test her, the voice in Cricket’s head whispered.
“Want a cup of coffee?” Cricket asked. “There’s also some leftover blueberry muffins under the cake dome if you want one.”
“I’d love both, but I’ll get them. You don’t need to wait on me,” Anna Grace said.
“I didn’t plan on it.” Cricket took a sip of her lukewarm coffee and pushed her office chair back. “I’m going to heat my coffee up in the microwave. Those muffins might be better if you give them about ten seconds.”
“I can’t cook. I don’t know jack about cleaning, and I’m afraid I’ll be a big disappointment to Tommy.” Anna Grace dabbed at another tear with a paper napkin.
Cricket put her coffee in the microwave. “Looks to me like you’ve got three months to learn. Do you even know how to run one of these to heat up that muffin?”
“Not really.” Anna Grace grimaced. “When I want something like that done, I tell our cook and she takes care of it.”
What would Jennie Sue do? Cricked asked herself.
She would help Anna Grace. The pesky voice in Cricket’s head didn’t help one single bit.
“All right I hear you loud and clear,” Cricket muttered as she carried her second cup of coffee and a muffin back to her desk.
“What was that?” Anna Grace’s heels made a tapping sound on the tile floor as she followed Cricket back to the desk.
“I can cook. I’m an expert at cleaning and gardening. I have an extra bedroom you can use. And I’ll give you a job here in the bookstore dusting shelves, waiting on customers, sweeping up dead crickets every morning, and dumping the occasional dead mouse out of a trap and into the dumpster out back. Your current friends don’t come in here very often, but if and when they do, are you willing to let them see you doing that kind of work?” Cricket said.
Anna Grace hesitated for a moment but then nodded.
Cricket went on to say, “At the end of the day you’ll go home with me and help me in the garden, then learn how to cook and clean. It will be a crash course in life. That’s what I can offer if you love Tommy enough to leave your fancy lifestyle.”
“You’d do that for me after the way I’ve treated you?” Anna Grace’s expression showed total shock.
“No, I’ll do it for you because that’s what Jennie Sue would do,” Cricket said. “Leave your high heels at home. The closet in the spare bedroom at my small house isn’t very big, so you will need to limit what you bring to no more than two suitcases. If you don’t have anything fit to pick beans or dig up potatoes or even to clean house in, you can borrow some of my old shirts, but my cut-off jean shorts will be too big for you.”
“I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” Anna Grace gasped. “I don’t know how much you’ll charge me for all that, but I do have a little bit of savings, so I can pay you.”
“Nope. I’ll give you minimum wage for working here in the bookstore forty hours a week. I’ve been thinking about hiring some help so I can take a few hours off now and then anyway, but the rest of it is free for the help you’ll be giving us in the garden and helping me clean the house. You might even pull a few more dollars in if you offer to clean Jennie Sue’s house, or Lettie and Nadine’s for the rest of the summer. We only work half a day on Saturday and we’re closed on Sunday at the bookstore,” Cricket told her. “And trust me, I can’t believe I’m offering this any more than you can.”
“When would I start?” Anna Grace asked.
“I’m going to a party tonight at Lettie and Nadine’s. I’ll leave the front door open. If you’re there when I get home, then you’ve started. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make up your mind. If you’re not there, then I figure this was a prank, or that dollar bills mean more to you than love. But Bryce is off limits, no matter what you decide. Not because I’m in love with him or want to be a pharmacist’s girlfriend, but because he’s much too nice of a man for the likes of you if you throw Tommy over and give him back that gorgeous ring for prestige and money,” Cricket said. “And another thing—jeans and T-shirts are just fine for work in this place. You can leave all your fancy suits at home too. Who knows? You might be able to save up enough money by the end of summer for you and Tommy to drive out to Vegas and get married there.”
“I just might see you out at your place later.” Anna Grace smiled.
“I can honestly say that I hope not,” Cricket told her, “but it’s up to you. I’m not easy to live with, and I speak my mind. You won’t bully me ever again or I’ll kick your skinny butt out in the yard.”
“I’ve lived with my mother for more than thirty years,” Anna Grace said. “That doesn’t sound too bad at all, and I can never repay you or thank you enough for this offer. There’s just one problem. Daddy says if I ever leave, I won’t even have a vehicle. If he’s serious, then he’ll send someone to take my car or else make me give him my keys. Mama will be mortified, and Daddy doesn’t like it when she’s not happy.”
“If you need a ride, call me.” Cricket didn’t figure she’d ever get that call. “You can ride to work with me, and if you want to go somewhere in the evenings, there’s an old work pickup truck out at the farm. It doesn’t have air-conditioning, and you’ll have to put your own gas in it.”
Tears began to stream down Anna Grace’s face. “Not one of the Belle daughters would ever offer to do all this for me. They’d all be too afraid of my mother and their own mamas.”
“Honey, Mary Lou had better be afraid of me. I’m determined that no one is ever going to make me feel inferior again.” Cricket had actually stretched the truth, because, deep down, she felt rather plain and chubby in Anna Grace’s presence.
“You haven’t dealt with my mama,” Anna Grace said, “but I’m not going to argue with you. Can I have your cell phone number?”
Cricket picked up a business card for the shop, wrote her number on the back, and handed it across the table. “Welcome to the world of the poor and proud.”
Anna Grace pulled a tissue from a box and wiped the tears from her face. “I’m going to call Tommy and talk to him on the way back to the office. Thank you again, Cricket. I damn sure don’t deserve this, but I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”
She pushed open the door just as Lettie and Nadine were about to open it. She stepped aside and allowed them to enter, then went on her way.
“Am I seeing things?” Lettie asked. “Was that Anna Grace leaving this store without a black eye or bloody nose?”
“Yep, and I still don’t know if she tried to pull a prank on me, or if what she said was real, but I think I shut down the joke if it was one, and I made her feel like crap.” Cricket went on to tell them what she had said and done.
“Holy hell!” Nadine sputtered. “What are you going to do if she shows up at your house tonight with her things in tow?”
“Teach her how to work and how to cook and clean,” Cricket said. “Jennie Sue gave me a chance when I treated her like crap, so I’m paying it forward.”
“This is like that one book we read a few months ago, or was it years ago?” Lettie drew her dark eyebrows down and tapped her chin with her bony finger. “Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, but I remember that someone said that the heroine was letting the villain define her actions. You just proved that Anna Grace doesn’t have any power over you anymore. I’m right proud of you, girl.”
Nadine shook her head slowly from side to side. “Man alive, you’ve got your job cut out for you if you think you can teach that girl a blessed thing in just three months. She’s probably never even pushed the button down to make toast.”
“Don’t I know it,” Cricket agreed. “She doesn’t even know how to work a microwave.”
“I want pictures of her the first time you take her out in the garden and teach her how to cut okra.” Lettie headed for the coffeepot. “That’d be something even more bizarre than aliens.”
“Oh, no!” Nadine grabbed her chest. “If she does this, she will be at your house on Saturday when you’re supposed to go fishing with Bryce. Do you think she’s just initiating…no that’s not the right word…” Nadine pursed her lips. “Insinuating, that’s the word, into your life so she can get next to Bryce? Is this just a ploy to be a pharmacist’s wife after all?”
“I warned her about that,” Cricket said. “If it is, she’s going to find herself landing out in the yard flat on her butt, and I hope it’s good and muddy when it happens.”
“I’ll help you,” Lettie said. “Just give me a call, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Let me drive and we’ll be there in five,” Nadine declared.
Cricket just hoped that she never had to make that call.