“Don’t give me that look,” Jorja protested. “I know I need to lose about five pounds—but then, so do both of y’all.”
“What’d I say or do?” Taryn asked. “I didn’t say a word, so don’t jump on my case.”
Jorja threw up her palms, rolled her eyes, and slammed the door.
Anna Rose sat down beside Taryn. “You can share my pizza with me when it gets here. If you work with flowers all day, then whatever you eat before midnight has no calories or fat grams.”
“I thought that only worked if you drank a diet soda with it,” Taryn said.
“That sounds like something you’d say when you were bossing us around when we were all kids,” Anna Rose said. “You told us that Clinton is the boss now.”
“And he’s all wrapped up in some kind of contest now, so I might have to take the title back,” Taryn told her.
“What contest?” Anna Rose asked.
Taryn told her about Elaine Ferguson’s visit to Clinton’s apartment. “According to the little I could get out of Nana Irene, something is going on among a bunch of local women who are chasing after him. Would you throw your hat into the race for who wins this battle? You always did enjoy a good contest.”
Anna Rose shook her head. “Not me. If there’s that many women after him, then I’d feel like just another notch on his bedpost. When Iget ready to walk down the aisle with someone—if I ever do—I want to feel like I’m special. How about you?”
“Elaine looked like she could whip off one of those knockoff red-soled shoes and beat me to death with it if I gave her any competition, so I don’t think I’m interested,” Taryn replied.
Anna Rose nudged her on the shoulder. “I always figured you were bulletproof—or in this case, high-heel-shoe proof. I’ve never known you to back down from a fight—at least not after we got to be adults.”
Taryn set her cereal bowl and spoon to the side, took a rubber band from her pocket, and used it to pull her red hair up into a ponytail. “I’ll fight a forest fire with a cup of water if I want something bad enough to drag it out of the blazes, but I don’t know Clinton well enough to get near that fire called Elaine. Besides, he’s been to war and brought home a limp to prove it, so he knows how to take care of himself.”
“Did you ever think that Nana Irene might have brought us all home to protect him?” Anna Rose asked.
“I’m only protecting you and Jorja from each other,” Taryn protested.
“Well, good luck with that,” Anna Rose snapped. “She drives me crazy. I can’t remember a time when she didn’t look down her nose at me, especially after she got out of high school and got even more wrapped up in Jesus than she’d been her whole life. I’m surprised she’s not doing missionary work with her mama and daddy in whatever country they’re in now.”
Taryn tilted her head to the side. “I’m thinking that something might have happened to her about the time that she graduated. When I was in the service, I saw solders get religious after a traumatic event. I wonder if she almost wrecked that car her dad bought her for her sixteenth birthday or if she got drunk and felt guilty about it. Aunt Yvonne was always big in the church, and Jorja hung on to her mother’s skirt.”
“I’m glad that my mama has always been full of life and fun,” Anna Rose said.
“Yep, I love Aunt Molly’s smile,” Taryn agreed. She thought about Anna Rose’s mother and how much fun she had when she went there for a visit; then she remembered Jorja’s folks. They had always been so staid and proper that she felt awkward and afraid she would do something wrong when she spent time there. No wonder Jorja had problems. She was probably fighting against normal desires and the fear of not being perfect enough for her folks.
A car turned into the parking lot. Anna Rose stood up and pulled a bill from her pocket to pay the delivery person. “Just in time to keep me from starving to death.”
A tall, curvy brunette got out of the car, smoothed her hands down over the butt of her jeans, and picked up what looked to be a pie from the passenger’s seat. She glanced over at Anna Rose and Taryn but didn’t even wave at them.
“Maybe you can tackle her for whatever is in that pie shell,” Taryn whispered.
Jorja brought out a huge bowl filled with salad and a sleeve of saltine crackers and sat down on the steps beside them. “Who’s that?”
“Evidently it’s another contestant vying to win Clinton’s hand in marriage,” Anna Rose answered. “He’s already got the main-course casserole up there, and now dessert. If you’d take that salad up to him, y’all could have a whole meal.”
“What are y’all talking about?” Jorja asked.
“We think this contest is a fight to the finish. The winner gets to rope Clinton into walking down the aisle with her. You want to give her some competition?” Taryn asked.
“Not interested,” Jorja said. “I don’t know why Nana is keeping him through the summer, since we’re here. There’s three of us. We can run the shop by ourselves.”
“Nana always has a motive for what she does,” Anna Rose said. “We might never know what she’s got up her sleeve, but believe me, she’s got something in mind.”
“I don’t believe you,” Jorja said. “Nana Irene is a fine Christian woman, and she knows that God doesn’t like people who manipulate others.”
The crunch of gravel announced another car minutes before it parked behind the bright blue car that was already there. A kid who couldn’t be older than seventeen got out and carried a pizza up to the porch. “Got a delivery for Anna Duquette.”
