The last of Saturday’s sun filtered through the lace curtains on the window in her bedroom and threw an array of patterns against the wall on the far side of the room. She lost interest in the ceiling and began to imagine what the shapes were—something she had done when she was a little girl.
She heard Taryn padding around in the kitchen and muted conversation between her and Anna Rose. They were probably talking about what bar Anna Rose was going to that evening and whether Taryn would go with her. Her cousin helped take care of the baby at the shop, but she was happy to help with her in the evenings, too. It seemed like Taryn was taking the role of Zoe’s surrogate mother too seriously.
“Maybe the new me should offer to babysit Zoe and let all three of them go out this evening,” she whispered, and then shook her head. She didn’t want to change diapers and try to entertain a four-month-old baby, and she dang sure wasn’t going to encourage her cousins or Clinton to go to honky-tonks.
A soft knock on the door made her forget about the patterns on the walls and even the holes in the ceiling tiles. “Yes?” she called out.
Anna Rose peeked into the room. “We’re going to put Zoe in the stroller and take a walk. Want to go with us? My therapist says that a long walk is good for the soul.”
Jorja sat up and slung her legs over the side of the bed. “Is Clinton going, too?”
“Nope,” Anna Rose answered. “He got an emergency problem with a retired sergeant who needs help, so Taryn is keeping Zoe for him. She’s putting her in the stroller now, so if you want to go with us, you better get your shoes on.”
“Where are we going?” Jorja asked as she tied her shoes.
“Down to the Blarney Stone Plaza and then maybe to the Dairy Queen for some ice cream,” Anna Rose answered. “Maybe we’ll kiss the Stone again.”
“What do you mean, kiss itagain? I’ve never kissed that silly rock. There’s no telling what kind of germs are on it.” Jorja stood up. “I’m ready.”
“Loosen up, girl,” Anna Rose said with a frown. “We’ve got baby wipes to clean a little area. I intend to go all in and kiss it. Maybe if I renew my gift of gab, something lucky will happen to me this summer.”
“You don’t need any more of that gift,” Jorja fussed. “You could talk a dead man into buying a second coffin as it is.”
“Never hurts to have a little more power,” Anna Rose told her as they walked down the hallway together. “You should wrap your arms around the stone and hug it like a brother, then kiss it a dozen times. Maybe you’ll get a sense of humor.”
“I do, too, have a sense of humor,” Jorja argued. “My colleagues at the school where I teach think I’m funny.”
Anna Rose rolled her eyes. “Jorja, you really need to tell Ford how you feel about him and let him know about the baby,” she said. “That might bring you some final closure.”
“I talked to him when we went to McDonald’s,” Jorja said through clenched teeth. “If you will remember, I even told him I wouldn’t forgive him.” She didn’t want to ever see him again. Just thinking of his name stirred up a red-hot rage in her whole body. Him standing in front of her already made her want to blow the bottom right out of the Sixth Commandment.
Anna Rose opened the door and stood to the side to let Jorja go out first. “You talkedathim. You barely threatened him, and that was only after Taryn and I both had our say-so. You need to really confront him—spit in his eye, slap the hell out of him, even double up your fist and give him a bloody nose. Then you just might be able to put everything from your past to rest and move on.”
“What are we talking about now?” Taryn was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps. A small tote bag and her purse were in the basket under the stroller. Anyone who saw her would automatically think she was Zoe’s mother, and Jorja felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her body.
Her baby would be nine years old if she had lived. She would be fussing about wanting to push the stroller. Ford had stolen not only Jorja’s innocence but also her joy at having her first child.
“We’re talking about Ford Chambers,” Anna Rose answered. “Jorja needs to look him right in the eye and tell him to go sit on a barbed wire fence in the back forty acres of hell.”
Taryn began pushing the stroller out of the parking area and toward the street. “That made a good visual in my head.”
Jorja fell in step beside her cousin. “Did either of you ever tell the guys who hurt you what you thought of them?”
“I did,” Taryn answered. “Before he walked out the door, I told my ex what a lyin’ sack of crap he was.”
“So did I”—Anna Rose took her place on the other side of the stroller—“but I used much more colorful language than that.”
Jorja tried to imagine getting right up in Ford’s face and telling him exactly what she thought of men like him, but the very idea made her chest tighten up so much that she could hardly breathe. The closest she’d ever come to telling anyone what she thought—other than her two cousins—was what she had already said to Kaitlin and Ford at McDonald’s. Even then she’d been a little light-headed for a few minutes afterward.
You’ve got to face him and remind him what he did and what effect that has had on your whole life,the voice in her head said.Until you do, you’re always going to be looking over your shoulder to see if he’s anywhere around.
They reached the street and Taryn made a left-hand turn. At the end of the block, she pushed the stroller onto the sidewalk. They passed the Lucky Shamrock, and Jorja noticed that the baskets of petunias looked wilted.
“We need to take those flowers inside tomorrow and plant some lantana for the summer. It will take the heat and survive as long as we remember to water it. Do you think this might really be our lucky summer?” she asked. She wanted something lucky in her life so badly—but like everyone had said, including her inner voices, she had to take care of the Ford issue first.
“Of course it is,” Taryn replied.
“That was a quick answer—but then, you’re the one pushing that stroller,” Anna Rose said.
