It was a perfect night for it.
Jed sniffed the air dramatically. “Smells amazing, Maudra.”
She gave him a pointed look. “Well, ’course it does. I made it, didn’t I?” She sat the casserole on the table alongside Spanish rice and broccoli and cheese. “Now hurry up and sit down before it really does get cold.”
With the amount of steam pouring off the casserole, I doubted there was any danger of it getting cold for several hours. After pulling up chairs, Maudra looked at me. “Care ta offer the blessin’, Brooke?”
“What?” I most definitely did not want to do that.
“Good Lord, boy. You gonna be a youth pastor in a bit. You’d better git used ta prayin’ in public.” She didn’t give me a second chance before she closed her eyes. “Dear Father. Thank you fer this food and fer fillin’ this housewith love again and lettin’ us all be tagether. In yer name we pray. Amen.”
“I love your short prayers, Maudra.” Jed grinned at her as he dished her out some of the enchiladas. “I need you to give my dad a lesson in how to do that.”
“Well, no need in boring God ta tears. Ya want ’im to keep listenin’, don’tcha?”
He chuckled. “I guess so.”
The food was wonderful. She had captured the essence of Grandma’s recipe, and the tastes and smells brought Grandma back to me as we all got lost in the act of eating for several minutes.
“So, Jed here tells me that he’s prolly gonna get a job over at Cottey.” Maudra wiped the corner of her mouth with her silk hanky. “I think that’s a wise choice. They pay better ’n the public school here, and college professors get more time off than normal teachers. Think it’ll be a good thing.”
My mouth was wonderfully full. I hadn’t felt this content in ages. “Well, he’s going to need all that extra time, Maudra.” She raised an eyebrow quizzically at me. I feigned surprise. “What? He left that part out of the story, did he?”
She looked at Jed accusatorily. “You left out parta the story? Boy, I might jist take ’way yer supper.”
Jed raised his fork in innocence. “I honestly don’t have a clue what he’s talking about, Maudra.”
She looked at me. “Well, spill it, child. What’s this story that’s so juicy?”
“I don’t know how juicy it is, but we went downtown today, and Jed about had a fit with how poorly designed it seemed to be. He might be upset enough to join that committee that’s wanting to revitalize the town.”
“Oh, that.” Jed nodded, giving me an exaggerated eye roll. “Yes, it was quite a sight, Maudra. I can’t believe you’ve lived here so long and haven’t forced somebody to do something.”
“Oh, child. I stay outta that. But Donnie will be thrilled there’s someone else who wants to help return this old town to its original grandeur.”
Jed backtracked. “Well, now, I just got here. I don’t know how appropriate it would be for me to start telling people how to redesign their town.”
“I’ll give ya that this town’s fallin’ apart, but I think the base of it is still there. I think the downtown area could be rill nice. And the park is rill pretty. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. What’d ya see that gotcha all riled up?”
“We went to Rose Petal’s Place.” He made a face like he had a bad taste in his mouth.
“Jed wanted to get Mom some flowers or something before we went there, so I took him to Iris’s.”
Maudra’s eyes got big, and she nodded. “Well, no wonder. That store’s enough ta give a saint a headache. All those horrible colors and those fake plastic flowers.”
“Thank you!” Jed smacked the table with his palm, the sound sharp in my ears. “Right? Aren’t they horrible?”
Maudra put her hand to her chest. “Well, goodness, boy, ain’t no reason ta give me a heart attack over it.”
“Sorry, Maudra.”
I jumped back in. “I don’t think Iris was too glad to see us. Well, actually, she was at first. I think she thought the most handsome man in the world had just come into her store. She was ready to set him up with every girl in town.”
“Don’t fool yerself. She was jist tryin’ ta figure out if she could set him up with herself.”
Jed shuddered.
I shook my head. “She got her hopes dashed, then. When she figured out he and I were together, she quit being quite as friendly. I don’t know if it was the fact we were gay that upset her more, or realizing I was Rose’s boy.”
