“My daddy told me that any kind of breakfast food helped cure it but to always have a couple of aspirin and a cup of coffee first,” Anna Rose replied.
Jorja unwrapped the paper from her bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. “I don’t think either of my folks ever needed a hangover cure.”
“I don’t imagine they did,” Taryn said with a smile. “Aunt Yvonne was always the perfect person, like you were. I never heard her raise her voice—but my mama was a different matter. She used to fuss at me for taking the blame for things I didn’t do and for not ratting out the folks who were with me when I did do something bad. In the same breath, she would tell me to pray for those kids.”
“Why didn’t you stand up for yourself?” Anna Rose asked.
“I really thought those folks I wouldn’t tattle on were my friends, but I was just the scapegoat,” Taryn answered.
“When you figured that out, why didn’t you start right then and ...” Jorja paused. She sure hadn’t done much to own up to her problems; she had buried them deep inside and never told anyone until recently.
Taryn held up a palm. “Ever heard that old saying about not being able to fight city hall? That applies to a bad reputation once you have it. By senior year, I was pretty much a loner. I couldn’t trust any of mypast so-called friends because they had all betrayed me. I wasn’t about to fight them after they blamed me for things I didn’t do, because that would have gone on my permanent record.”
“It’s hard to believe that Nana Irene raised her kids in the same home and they all turned out so different. Her only son went to the service and married Aunt Lisa. She had a good set of lungs when me and you got into trouble, Taryn,” Anna Rose said with a giggle. “Nana Irene used to say that she had to be that way to live with Uncle Patrick.”
Taryn’s smile turned into a soft giggle of her own. “He does have the Irish temper and gift of gab. But he’s a good father, and he would go to battle for any one of us three girls—then or now. I’d hate to see what he would do if Jorja told him what happened.”
Jorja didn’t even have to close her eyes to see her Uncle Patrick, with his crop of red hair and his brilliant green eyes that always seemed to be happy—except for when he was mad, and then they could bore holes into a person.
“I always loved his stories,” Jorja said. “Coming to your house was so different from mine, where everything was so quiet you could have heard dust dropping from the ceiling fan to the floor.”
“That’s what I’m talking about when I say kids raised in the same house can turn out so different. Your mama never met a bit of dust she couldn’t conquer,” Anna Rose said. “My mama used to say you didn’t even need plates at her sister’s house—that you could eat right off the floors.”
Jorja nodded in agreement. That her mother didn’t have blisters on her hands from all the cleaning bordered on a miracle. She often repeated that saying about cleanliness being next to godliness. All through her life, Jorja figured that her mother probably had wings folded up her undershirt and a halo sitting at a perfect angle above her head.
Anna Rose snapped her fingers in front of Jorja’s face. “Are you off in la-la land?”
Both Jorja and Taryn jumped.
“Yes, I was,” Jorja admitted. “I was thinking about how perfect my mother has always been, both physically and spiritually. I couldn’t tell her what happened, for fear that she would think I was dirty and not worthy to be her daughter.”
“Bless your heart, Jorja,” Taryn said, “and I mean that in a good way. I’m so sorry you have had to live with all those emotions without anyone to even talk to. Did Aunt Yvonne ever tell you about sex?”
“Good Lord, no!” Jorja declared as she laid her hand over her heart. “I’m not sure that I wasn’t conceived by immaculate conception. Mama and Daddy never even kissed each other in front of me.”
“You poor baby,” Anna Rose said. “Daddy kissed Mama every time he left on a long haul in his truck, and she jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist every time he came home. I can’t imagine living in such a sterile house.”
Jorja finally smiled for the first time that day. “It was home—but I have to say that I loved Aunt Molly’s sense of humor, and it was always a treat for me to get to spend a day or two with her. Nana Irene told me that Molly was one of those ‘surprise babies.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “God must’ve known, though, that Nana Irene needed some humor in her life and sent Molly to be part of the family. Don’t you miss her horribly?”
“Yep, I do, but we FaceTime a couple of times a week and that helps,” Anna Rose answered.
“Do you tell her about the times when you have a hangover?” Jorja asked.
“I tell my mama everything,” Anna Rose answered. “Don’t you?”
Jorja shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t. I know she prays for me and that she loves me, but she would be so disappointed in me if she knew ...”
“You might be surprised,” Taryn said.
“No, I wouldn’t.” Jorja shook her head. “Mama’s heart and soul are as clean as her house. I’d talk to either of your mothers before I would her.”
Anna Rose patted her on the arm. “My mama would be glad to talk to you. She’s pretty good at listening and not passing judgment.”
Jorja suddenly understood why Nana Irene wanted the three of them to be closer, like a real family instead of bickering all the time. They were all only children, and their parents had moved away from them. They were all she had left of family, and when it was time for Nana Irene to leave this earth—in the far distant future, in Jorja’s mind—she wanted to go with the assurance that her granddaughters all had one another’s backs.
She heard a quick intake of breath and looked up to see all the color drain from Ford Chambers’s face as he and his family came into the McDonald’s out of the rain. Kaitlin Sullivan—now Chambers—hadn’t changed all that much in the past ten years. She still wore her shoulder-length blonde hair in the same style and applied entirely too much eye makeup.
Taryn wadded up her trash and tossed it onto the bright red tray in the middle of the table. “We should probably go. We can use the back exit door and not go past them. I’m sure Kaitlin’s mother has warned her to stay away from me.”
