“Lucky?” Endora asked with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Why are you asking that?” Clara frowned.
“Aunt Bernie gets into everyone’s business,” Luna whispered. “For some reason, she doesn’t want Ursula or the other sisters to know that she’s moving here. Mama practically brought out the Bible, made us lay our hand on it and swear we wouldn’t say a word to them.”
“That’s for two whole months,” Endora groaned. “I have trouble keeping a secret for two days. Thank God that Luna knows, or I would explode trying to keep from telling her. We share everything.”
Clara noticed that Luna squirmed a little in her chair and didn’t make eye contact with her sister. There was a whole pot full of gossiping tea to be spilled there for sure, and it had nothing to do with telling the other five sisters that Bernie was moving to Spanish Fort.
“Speak of the devil,” Luna whispered with a grin.
Bernie opened the door and poked her head out. “Y’all want to go see where Joe Clay parked my trailer?”
“Sure,” Clara, Luna, and Endora all chimed together.
“We really could be sisters rather than just cousins,” Luna said.
“I like that idea,” Clara said. “Our names end the same way, so we could pull it off. Clara, Endora, and Luna.”
They followed Bernie through the kitchen, and Clara smiled when Mary Jane picked a floppy, straw hat off a hook beside the back door as she passed by and crammed it down on her head. “Got to keep the sunspots at bay as much as possible.”
“Mama fussed at me and Myra if we even mentioned trying to get a tan, but Nana Vernie Sue was even more vocal about it,” Clara said and then wondered if she shouldn’t have even brought her mother’s name up.
“Marsha was right about that,” Mary Jane said. “I always discouraged my girls from tanning, too.”
Well, how about that?Clara thought.She said something nice about her sister, and I’ve never heard Mama say anything sweet about Aunt Mary Jane.
***
The hands on the clock seemed to go in warp speed the rest of the week. Bernie looked at the date on her phone on Friday and couldn’t believe that four days had passed since she took her trailer to the Paradise.
“Aunt Bernie, Nash and I can do this cleanup if you will change out the jukebox. It’s time to get somedifferent music on there,” Clara suggested when they were walking through the storage room.
“Time has gotten away from me,” Bernie admitted. “You are so right. I need to remove all the Fourth of July songs, so I’ll take you up on that offer. Go on and get busy”—she stopped and pulled a storage box of records from a shelf—“and I’ll get the change done.”
Clara took the container from her. “Let me take that for you.”
“Thanks,” Bernie said. “Next time around, it will be y’all’s turn to do this.”
Nash came into the storage room and hoisted a large cardboard box of beer onto his shoulder. “Do what?”
“Change out the jukebox records,” Clara answered. “I’ve never done that. Have you?”
“Nope, but I’m willing to learn.” Nash set the beer on the bar and then turned to Clara. “That looks heavy. Let me carry it for you.” He took the box from her and put it on the floor beside the jukebox. “Do we clean up the place first, or learn how to do this?”
Bernie scooted the jukebox out far enough that she could get behind it. “I reckon you better learn this first. You already know how to sweep, mop, and restock, but since I won’t be here next time this needs to be done, you had best learn the process.”
She carefully removed the back of the jukebox, pulled out records, and slipped them and the tabs with the name and artist into empty paper sleeves. Then shereversed the process until every slot was filled—mostly with country music, but she did add a little Creedence Clearwater Revival and Etta James for flavor.
“And that’s all there is to it,” she said when she finished and filed the records she had removed into the box behind the Fourth of July tab. “I change them every holiday, and sometimes in between, but y’all can figure out how often you want to do the job. I think I’ll go through some of the stuff in the storage room this evening. Y’all have been doing most of the bar business all week anyway, but if you need me, just holler and I’ll come running. Or maybe I’ll just walk real fast.”
“Does this mean you are about ready to draw up the contract to sell the place to me?” Nash asked.
“Just about, but you promised me six weeks, and I’m holding you to it,” Bernie answered. “It will take that long for me to go through everything and decide what Pepper and I want to take, and what we’ll be content to leave behind. I’ve already told him that there’s lots of squirrels on the Paradise property, so he can’t even ask about taking some from here.”
“I’ll gladly work the six weeks and learn all I can about how you do things,” Nash said with a grin and glanced over at Clara.
Bernie fought the urge to do a little jig right there beside the jukebox. The looks they had exchanged all week said she was making progress—even if it was in baby steps. She could easily pack up and be ready toleave by Monday after she visited with her lawyer, but she needed more time to convince them that they belonged together.
