Lifting the paper, I read Kitty’s Korner.
Hear ye! Hear ye!
She always starts off announcements like she’s a town crier. I usually laugh but not this time.
People of Zodiac Hills, hold onto your hats!
She does that too—makes archaic references like that. I mean… who wears hats nowadays? Well, lots of people wear baseball caps, I guess.
But I’m getting off track.
Starting this April, that big movie-streaming company called Netfilms will be showing a brand-new version ofLove in Zodiac Hills. (For those of you young’uns out there, that was a show they had on television in the ’80s. Sort of like that other show,TheLove Boat,only it was on land.) Anyhoo, it was a program about people finding their one true love all based on their birthday which is ridiculous because what does that have to do with anything?
They’re calling itReturn to Zodiac Hills.
Which means, you’d better get ready because… they’re coming.
I’m out the door as soon as I finish reading Kitty’s Korner. I’m sure the news is already running rampant in town because that’s how it is here in Zodiac Hills. It’s small enough that word travels fast as lightening when it’s news like this. But, if you need to get your car fixed in a hurry, forget it. Things like that are slow as molasses.
Hopping into Toni, my truck, I press the clutch down as I turn the key, all while praying the thing starts today, because I don’t have time for Hal, owner of Hal’s Auto Repair, to fix my pickup. The last time he had it, I was without wheels for a month. And it still doesn’t run right.
Luck is with me today, because ole Toni decides she’s gonna start for me. Dragging the shifter into drive, I back up, turn around, and head down our long gravel driveway onto county road 87A, also gravel. Pressing on the gas, rock and dirt kick up behind me and I smile. I love doing that.
The bell chimes as I step into the best-smelling shop in town, Bella’s Bakery. Looking around the front of the store, I see a couple of regulars sitting at one of the two tables she’s got set up for customers. Smiling, I raise my hand and give them a little wave. In my outside voice, I say, “Bella?”
“Back here, Lou Lou.”
Bella and I have been friends since first grade, so she knows how much I dislike my name, Velma Lou Hamlin. It’s all because of that show,Scooby-Doo, that was popular when I was young. Having people ask me if I was named after the crime-fighting character on that show got old real fast, therefore, I started calling myself Lou. And it stuck, for the most part. I’ll never get my dad to stop calling me Velma Lou because I was named after his beloved grandmother. To my friends, though, I’m Lou. To my best friend, I’ve always been Lou Lou.
Pushing through the swinging doors that lead to the heart and engine of Bella’s Bakery, I see her standing over a table rolling out dough. “Whatcha making?”
“Tarts.”
“Mm.” I love her tarts. “What flavor?”
“Lemon blueberry.”
“Double yum.”
“I’ve got a batch in the oven. You can take some to work with you.”
“Awesome.” I knew she’d set me up. “So….”
“I heard.” Bella’s already way ahead of me. “Mom called me after she read Kitty’s Korner this morning.” She glances up at me. “I was gonna call you….”
Waving her off, I pull up a chair that’s usually in her office, over to her worktable.
“Does your dad know?”
Here’s the thing. My dad hasn’t ever gotten over my mom leaving. “Her betrayal” is how he puts it. “Yep. He read it to me.”
“And?”
I shrug. “He seems fine.” To be honest, he’s probably not fine, but I won’t know that for sure until he processes the information a bit longer. My father has many good qualities, but he’s a brooder. He says he’s “pondering” things, but it’s a bit darker than that. He’ll have to let this information percolate for a while before I’ll know how he really feels.
“Give him a couple of days.” Bella looks up at me and smirks. “He’ll have something to say.”
I shrug again. She knows Kip Hamlin as well as anyone since she spent half her life at my house. I spent half mine at hers. We were sort of inseparable. Still are.
