Anna Rose stood up, took the box, and handed the kid a twenty-dollar bill. “Keep the change and thank you.”
“Thankyou,” he said and hurried back to his vehicle.
She sat back down. “I love pizza from our little local place. It’s the best I’ve ever had. Not even the famous New York slices compare to this, in my book, and I miss it when I’m not in Shamrock. I always have it at least once when I come to visit.”
“Yep, me too, and I’ve tested it all over the United States,” Taryn agreed. “Are you going to open that lid, or are we just going to sit here and smell it all evening?”
Anna Rose eased the lid open and took out a large slice. “I’m going to eat three slices. That leaves five for y’all to fight over.”
Taryn picked up one and took a bite from the pointed end. “Jorja is trying to lose weight, so that leaves five for me.”
The driver of the blue car left Clinton’s apartment, got into her vehicle, and drove away without even so much as a nod toward the three cousins, but at least she didn’t leave a cloud of gray dust to settle over their pizza.
“Holy smoke!” Jorja gasped and dropped what salad she had on her fork back into the bowl. “That was Mallory Jones. She graduated with me, too. She always had her nose stuck in the air so high that if it came a good old West Texas rain, she would have drowned. She and Elaine were best friends. I wonder, if this is really a fight for Clinton like y’all think it is, whether it will ruin their friendship.” She set her salad on the porch, reached across Taryn, and picked up a slice of pizza. “Whywould they want him anyway?” She pointed toward his truck with her free hand. “He drives that, not a Cadillac, and he has a limp.”
“He got that limp serving his country, so don’t make fun of him for it,” Taryn scolded.
Jorja shot an evil eye toward her. “I don’t make fun of people. That would make Jesus ashamed of me. I’m just stating facts.”
Anna Rose pointed at the slice of pizza in her cousin’s hand. “I thought you were watching your weight.”
“I am helping y’all out with your extra weight. If I have two slices, then you and Taryn won’t eat all of it and gain five pounds.” Jorja’s tone had turned sharp.
“Well,bless your heartfor protecting your fat cousins,” Taryn said as she finished off the last bite of her slice and reached for another one. “And thank you, Anna Rose, for supper.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Jorja snapped.
“I wonder what Clinton’s got up there in his apartment,” Anna Rose said. “We should have gone up there and crashed his party with Mallory. He can’t eat a whole casserole and a pie by himself.”
Taryn shook her head. “Y’all can go if you want ...” She stopped midsentence when a big yellow cat came out from under the porch. “Nana didn’t mention that she had a cat. Did y’all see any cat food in the pantry?”
“Nope. Nana doesn’t even like cats.” Anna Rose tossed her crust toward the animal. “Guess it’s just a hungry stray who likes pizza. I’ve been working on pictures for a cat book. If it’s still here tomorrow, I may take some photos of it.”
“What kind of cat pictures?” Jorja asked.
“Ones for the millions of people in this world who dote on their animals,” Anna Rose answered. “Think of all the pet memes you can find on the internet and all the coffee mugs with cats and dogs on them, or toys for fur babies you can buy in just about every store you go into. My agent says a cat picture book will go over well.”
Jorja picked up her salad and started to head back into the house. “I’ve seen dozens of devotionals with cat pictures in them. I thought maybe you were beginning to change your way of life. See y’all in the morning.”
“Why is she like that?” Anna Rose whispered when their cousin had closed the door.
“Who knows?” Taryn said with a shrug. “We all had different attitudes and burdens to carry out of Shamrock when we left. I’m not sure what hers was or if she’s managed to even get rid of any of it.”
Anna Rose pointed at Taryn. “You were mine when I left.”
“Hey, now!” Taryn protested. “You were as ornery as I was. The only difference was that you didn’t get caught as often as I did, and folks didn’t lay the blame on you for every wild and wicked thing that happened in Shamrock.”
Anna Rose drew herself up straight and looked down her nose at Taryn. “Anna Rose Duquette. I understand that you are related to Taryn O’Reilly. Is that right?”
Taryn finished off her pizza and reached for the last slice. “If you’re trying to imitate Mr.Barron, you’re doing a good job.”
“Yes, sir. Taryn is my cousin,” Anna Rose said in her own voice. “That’s when Mr.Barron went to the board, wrote my name, and put two demerits after it and said, ‘Three demerits from any of you, and you will spend a day over at the in-school suspension room.’”
Taryn almost choked on a bite of pizza. “I never knew about that.”
“I asked him why I got two when I didn’t do anything,” Anna Rose said. “And he told me that I was guilty by association. What did you do, anyway?”
“I took the blame for a couple of things in his class to keep others from getting a third demerit,” Taryn said, “and I spent several days in the suspension room for doing it. I wasn’t an angel, but I wasn’t a snitch, either.”
