“—And I swear on my daddy’s grave,” Kaci was saying, “that pumpkin landed plum smack in the middle of a pig farm. Went half a mile if it went an inch. My momma’s face ’bout near turned purple when that old pig farmer showed up with half a hog carcass and a bill for the rest of it.”
“Now, didyouaim the trebuchet, or did your friend?” Anna asked.
Kaci tossed a napkin at her.
“Decent question,” Jackson said.
“What about you, Bubba?” Lance said. “Seem to recall you had a few good tales.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed at him. He had a feeling she was onto him. And he wasn’t entirely disappointed.
He did like his competition smart.
He took another bite of pie and tried to stay on the earthly plane. Damn good pie.
She was ruining him for biscuits. She really was.
“Yeah,” he finally said, “I got a couple good ones.”
“Which one’s your favorite?” Anna asked. She had a sparkle in her eyes, like she expected him to refuse to tell it.
He wasn’t one to disappoint a lady. “Dunno about that, Anna Grace. Stories like that, you gotta earn ’em.”
She fiddled with the pie server, stroked a finger down the handle. He felt a familiar tightening down south.
He’d gotten a good number of biscuit offers back in Auburn this summer, but not one of them had grabbed his attention like she did.
Her voice went low and husky. “Pretty sure I’ve earned this one.”
Kaci snickered.
“She’s got a point, Bubba,” Lance said.
“That’s how it’s gonna be, is it?” Jackson leaned back in the chair, crossed his ankle over his knee, and reached back to a few memories he held close. “Reckon I was about fifteen or so,” he said. “Had a friend who liked to have some fun. Get creative. Give our mommas heart attacks. So one day we were hanging out, and we started talking about what we were gonna be when we grew up.”
“What were you going to be?” Anna asked.
Jackson scratched his head. “Hadn’t rightly decided yet, but Craig, he said he was gonna fly rocket ships to the moon. So I got to thinking, and I told him we could build a rocket right in our own backyard.”
Kaci leaned forward. “Did you?”
“Tried real hard,” Jackson said. “Tell you what, if that old Hoover of Momma’s had as much suction power as those commercials said, we would’ve done it on the first round. Instead, we had to amp that sucker up and give her more power.”
Kaci was near salivating. Lance shot him a dirty look, probably because Jackson’s rocket story was bigger. Anna Grace, though, was sucking her lips in like she was afraid she’d laugh before the punch line.
“How far did it go?” Kaci breathed. “Did it blow up?”
“Made it high as my granddaddy’s oak tree if it made it an inch. Would’ve gone further, but Craig’s astronaut steered like a girl.”
“Your momma,” Kaci said. “You break any arms or legs?”
“Nah, but little Eunice wasn’t ever the same.”
“You put yourdogin the rocket?” Lance said.
“Shucks, no. It was some old Cabbage Patch Kid. ‘Course, Momma was madder’n a wet hen over that too. Ruined her Hooverandbroke a good doll.”
A whimpery laugh slipped out between Anna’s lips.
