The other girl’s nose twitched. “Military bring you here?”
No, she always wanted to be underemployed in a place that didn’t recognize ketchup as its own food group. But the words got stuck under the lump in her throat.
“Aw, sugar. You’re gonna be just fine. Look at you taking classes. That’s something. That’s something real big.”
She wanted to tell Kaci the lie that had become so easy the last week—that she was already fine—but the girlhadsat down. Anna could’ve called Jules, but she didn’t want this spreading around the office. “I’m already failing,” she whispered, because she was afraid if she said it any louder, she wouldn’t be able to recover. She’d walked into class sixteen minutes late, right as Dr. Kelly was collecting the pop quiz he’d started the semester with.
Timeliness, according to Dr. Kelly, was the sign of a strong mind, and only strong minds would survive.
“Now, you can’t be—” Kaci started, but her encouraging smile dropped off almost as fast as Anna’s marriage had. “What class?”
“Thermo.”
Kaci whipped a smart phone out of her messenger bag. “I swear to sweet baby Jesus, if I told that man once, I told him a billion times, teaching ain’t about being an ass.”
That sinking sensation in her gut was becoming all too familiar as well. “You know Dr. Kelly?”
“Oh, I know him.” Her drawl flared. “Know him all too well. Pompous, old windbag. Never did care about people needing to make a living first and educating themselves second. I’ve got half a mind to go on over there and give him what for.”
Her thumbs flew so fast Anna saw smoke. She lunged for the phone. “No. Please, please don’t say anything. I was the only one. He’ll know it was me. I need this class.” Her voice cracked. “I really do. Please.”
Kaci regarded her with a mix of curiosity and sympathy. “Don’t you worry about that pop quiz. Tell you a little secret. Jim-Bob’s great-great-great grandson sitting over there in the chancellor’s office is making the old bag of bones curve since he flunked his whole last class. Ol’ grandpappy, he likes to feel important.”
Anna’s breathing evened out, but her pulse was still hammering faster than a hummingbird’s wings. He couldn’t flunk the whole class. That was a good thing. But she would still have to study her brains out to earn tuition assistance from work.
“Dr. Kelly’s your grandfather?” She wouldn’t have thought he was old enough to have grandbabies, much less a grown granddaughter. Maybe life was doing her a favor to even out all the bad lately.
Kaci grinned. “No, he’s my ex-husband.”
“Yourwhat?” Anna sputtered. No way Kaci was old enough to have been married. Not with those baby cheeks and flawless skin. And toDr. Kelly?
Oh, God.Dr. Kelly was a retired colonel. Kaciwasthe officers’ ex-wives club.
Kaci winked. “Chaps his knickers when I call him that.” She fluttered her left hand. Her diamond sent rainbows dancing over the mocha walls. “But it taught me a darn good lesson. I’m going for a younger man this time around.”
“Is that legal?” The words were barely out before she clapped her hand to her mouth. That was rude. Minnesota had minimum age restrictions, but?—
“This here’s Georgia,” Kaci said. “Everything’s legal when you’re marrying your cousin.”
Anna’s lips twitched. Then her chest heaved. Not the pathetic,Titanic-watching,broken label maker kind of heave.More like an amused, my-best-friend-told-a-dirty-joke kind of heave.
But if she wanted to pass thermo, dawdling here tonight probably wasn’t in her best interest.
The twinkle in Kaci’s eye outshone her diamond. “Just joshin’ ya. Lance isn’t my cousin. But heisa Bama boy. They do things even worse over there. Now listen to me. Here I am scaring your poor Yankee sensibilities.”
Anna sank back into the chair, fascinated and mildly besotted. She hadn’t made a friend outside the military or work since college. “I don’t think being from Minnesota makes me a Yankee.”
Kaci cocked her head. “Do you eat grits?”
“Um, no.”
“You don’t like grits, you’re a Yankee. That simple. But don’t you worry. I won’t hold it against you. More grits for me.”
Her smile grew. “Thanks.”
“So. What’d he do to you?”
“Dr. Kelly?”
