“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jorja asked.
Anna Rose nudged Taryn on the shoulder. “That she’s getting her baby fix, which she needed badly, and she’s found a friend in Clinton that could turn into a relationship. Maybe it’s her lucky summer, but not ours. We haven’t found a new friend.”
Jorja frowned. “Don’t say that. We might not all agree on everything—”
“Or anything,” Anna Rose cut in quickly.
“Let me finish,” Jorja snapped. “What I was going to say is that we’re taking a walk and trying to help each other get over the past and not arguing about every little thing.”
Taryn waved at someone who honked at them. “You are right about me getting my baby fix, but it’s gone beyond that. I’m worried about the depression I’ll fall into when Rebecca comes back from the center and takes Zoe. It took me weeks to get over Alicia leaving my world. I still look at little-girl clothes every time I ...” She stopped in front of a boutique and pointed to a cute little lacy bonnet in the window. “Like right now. Isn’t that adorable?”
“It is,” Jorja said, and wondered if she would ever look at little-girl things without thinking of the baby she hadn’t wanted at the time. She laid a hand on Taryn’s shoulder. “We’ll be here to help you. We can throw things at the tree or go for long walks in the evening like we’re doing now.”
“Y’all both need to get a cat,” Anna Rose said. “Goldie has helped me as much as any therapy I’ve ever had. I’ve told her secrets that I can’t even tell either of you, and she doesn’t judge or fuss at me. Petting her is soothing.”
“You could share her with us,” Jorja suggested.
“Nope, she’s mine, and I told her to run from y’all,” Anna Rose teased.
“I don’t need a cat,” Taryn declared.
“That’s right,” Anna Rose agreed. “You’ve got a baby and Clinton. But, honey, you will leave them behind, and I’m taking Goldie with me. When I do, she’s going to be an inside cat.”
Jorja clucked like an old hen and then wondered if that’s what she would wind up like—just an old hen living a lonely life without kids or a husband to share everything with. “Do you really expect that cat to adapt to being confined in a hotel room or a temporary apartment?She has a home here, where she can roam all over town and come back to the trailer when she wants to eat or be petted. She’ll wither up and die if you make her move every time you get a whim to chase off to another place to take pictures.”
“Do you think that’s what we’re doing?” Taryn asked. “Is the fact that Anna Rose and I have moved around so much going to cause us to wither up and die, never having put down roots or trusted people?”
“But look at you.” Anna Rose leaned forward enough to see Jorja. “You don’t travel like we do, but you bury yourself in the safety of a school routine to keep from facing your demons. You haven’t really put down roots, either. You still live in a small apartment. That makes it easier to pack up and leave at a moment’s notice.”
Jorja nodded with a twinge. Anna Rose had nailed it. “We’re a bunch of misfits, aren’t we?”
“But we do have the choice to change if we want to,” Taryn said as she turned at the next corner and passed under the arched sign that read “Blarney Stone Plaza.” The whole plaza was just a small strip of concrete and gravel, with some shrubs, a couple of trees, a plaque, and the stone—which was about waist high on Jorja and had been painted green. According to what was on the bronze plaque, it had been brought over from Ireland in 1959. A different sign that showed a picture of the Blarney Castle said that there was so much disagreement about a piece of the castle being taken away from its home in Ireland that it had to be delivered with armed guards.
“Did you ever read this other stuff when we lived here?” Anna Rose pointed to the smaller print at the bottom of the sign. She read aloud the part that said the stone was also rumored to be either part of the rock that Moses had struck in anger or that it could be part of the very thing that Jacob had rested his head on when he had the dream about the ladder. “It’s biblical, so being as religious as you are, you definitely need to kiss it for good luck, Jorja.”
Taryn locked the stroller wheels and stepped off the sidewalk. “I don’t care who’s put their mouth on it, I’m kissing it. I need even moreluck than what we’re getting by working in the Lucky Shamrock.” She walked over to the stone, hugged the round thing like a brother—or a sister, or cousin, on the days she liked Anna Rose and Jorja—and kissed it twice.
“Are you going to kiss that baby with those lips?” Jorja asked with a shiver that went from her ears to her toes.
“Not until I have a shot of Jameson to wash all the germs off,” Taryn teased.
Anna Rose was next, but instead of hugging the stone, she laid across it and wiggled. “I need more than just a kiss’s worth of luck; I need a whole body’s worth. If I’m going to feel the need to settle down here in Shamrock, it’ll take more than putting my lips on this thing.”
“Are you even considering it?” Jorja gasped.
“Maybe,” Anna Rose answered. “Nana Irene will need someone to help her out either with the shop or to be there for her personally when she has her knees replaced. Have you noticed how she limps and hangs on to things to get around? I don’t know how she and Ruby are making it.”
“Ruby might be able to take care of her—but then, who’s going to run the shop?” Taryn asked. “I’ve been considering staying on awhile longer, even after my vacation time is up. I can work from anywhere. Are you going to kiss the stone or not, Jorja?”
Jorja took a deep breath and held it while she hurried over to the stone and planted a kiss on the edge of its round top. She hoped that most folks kissed the center and not the side.
“There. I did it,” she said, but she couldn’t keep another shiver from chasing down her spine. “I have a job, so I can’t stay. I could come back on holidays and relieve y’all if you wanted to go somewhere.”
“Have you signed next year’s contract?” Taryn asked as she turned the stroller around and started walking north.
“Not yet. It should be ready by July first,” Jorja answered.
“Then you’ve still got time to test the waters and see whether you want to stay here or go back to teaching,” Taryn told her.
