Small Town Charm

by Carolyn Brown

  Cricket shouldn’t feel sorry for her after the way Anna Grace had looked down on her all those years, but she did. “That must be tough.”

  “You can’t even imagine.” Anna Grace looked like she might break into tears any minute. “I wish Jennie Sue was here so I could talk to her, but then she probably wouldn’t even answer my calls after the way we all shunned her when she married your brother.” She lowered her voice and looked around the store. “I was proud of her for what she did. I’d never admit it to anyone else, but I was. She stood up to her mother and all the Belles when she came back to town. I want to know how she did it, because I can’t live with all this stress any longer.”

  Cricket still wasn’t sure this wasn’t just playacting. “She had the guts to go after what she wanted, even before she met Rick. She rented an affordable apartment and cleaned houses for enough money to live on. You know all this, and yes, all her old friends did shun her for doing it. What makes you think she’ll even talk to you?”

  “I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t,” Anna Grace said. “I want to make Mama happy, but I can’t make her happy and be happy myself. Tommy has asked me to marry him.” She pulled a black velvet box from her purse and popped it open to show Cricket what looked like an engagement ring. “Mama would throw a Southern hissy if she even knew I had this. The diamond is barely half a carat, and I think it’s gorgeous. I love it. Tommy saved up for a long time to buy it for me.”

  “That reminds me of your sweet sixteen ring,” Cricket said.

  Anna Grace held out her hand to show a ruby ring on her right hand. “This is my sweet sixteen ring, and I guess other than my engagement ring having a diamond instead of a ruby, they kind of do resemble each other. My birthday is in January. Mama didn’t think a garnet was fancy enough, so she bought a ruby, which is about the same color. But how did you…” She frowned.

  “I remember every one of y’all’s rings. You came to school showing them off and bragging about them,” Cricket said. “I was sixteen that same year, and we were still mourning my mother’s death. Rick was in the service and couldn’t even come home. I was lucky that Lettie and Nadine brought me a cake that day. So yes, I remember that and every mean thing y’all did to me. I hated school because of you.”

  “I’m so sorry.” A tear made its way down Anna Grace’s cheek and dripped off her jaw.

  “Apology accepted,” Cricket said. “What did you tell Tommy when he proposed, and how did he ask you to marry him?”

  Cricket figured Anna Grace would stutter and stammer, but she smiled.

  “We took a blanket out into a field of Texas bluebonnets to watch the sunrise. He’s very inventive with our dates, and we have so much fun together. He’s taught me that money isn’t everything and helped me find my inner self,” Anna Grace answered. “Right when the sun came up that morning, he brought out the ring and asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Now what do I do?”

  “Well, since you said yes, I suppose that you should marry him,” Cricket answered, but she still didn’t believe all of this was real.

  “I’ve always dreamed of having a big wedding with the fancy dress, at least eight bridesmaids, a blowout reception, and all the trimmings, but I know if I tell Mama that I’m engaged to Tommy Bluestone, I’ll have to give all that up,” Anna Grace sighed.

  “A wedding is a day. A marriage is a lifetime,” Cricket told her. “Jennie Sue and Rick didn’t have a big wedding. They went to Las Vegas and got married in one of those funny little chapels out there. You have to decide whether you want a big wedding or a marriage. At least that’s the way it looks to me.” Cricket didn’t give a flip about a huge event, if and when she ever got married, but she did want a man to look at her the same way her brother looked at Jennie Sue. That was pure love, and it beat the hell out of a fancy dress, a string of bridesmaids, and a four-foot wedding cake.

  “Tell me more about Tommy. Why are your folks so set against him? Teaching school is an honorable profession.”

  “That’s what I told them back when we had been dating a few months,” Anna Grace sighed. “But they informed me that I’d been raised in a better lifestyle than he could ever offer and reminded me that I made five times what he did in a year working at Daddy’s oil company, but my job would come to an end the day I married Tommy. That’s how much they’re against me and him having a happy ever after.”

  “What’s money compared to love?” Cricket said. “You go to work. You come home, have supper together, talk about your day, and then spend the night in each other’s arms. Tell me where you would live if you decided to go against your folks.”

  “Tommy has a small, one-bedroom apartment in Sweetwater. The whole thing is about the size of my walk-in closet. The Belles will shun me worse than they did Jennie Sue if I do this. Mama and Daddy swore three years ago that they would disown me if I marry him.”

  “Do his parents accept you?” Cricket asked.

  “Oh, yes! He’s the baby of eight kids, and they all are so sweet to me. They invite me to everything—birthdays, anniversaries, holidays—and they are just awesome. I love spending time with them,” she said.

  “What do his folks do, as in jobs?” Cricket asked.

  “His mother was a high school math teacher. His father was a history professor at the Tech College. They’re both retired now,” Anna Grace answered.

  They sounded like pretty influential folks to Cricket, but then in the eyes of the Belles, she could understand where the Bluestones might not make the social cut.

  “How much money do you need to be happy?” Cricket asked. “You could get a job at a rival oil company. That would really piss your folks off.”

  “Truth is, I’m not qualified for another job,” Anna Grace said. “I’m just window dressing at the company. I answer Daddy’s phone calls, take coffee to him, and take care of his appointment book. I don’t know anything about managing money or living on my own.”

  Cricket remembered sitting in the café and seeing Jennie Sue get off the bus when it stopped across the street. Cricket could hardly believe that the famous and very rich Jennie Sue, the daughter of a Belle, was coming home with just a suitcase and riding on a bus instead of driving a fancy sports car. “I guess it just depends on what you want most. Tommy or money.”

  “That’s harsh,” Anna Grace said.

  “Maybe so, but it’s the gospel truth, isn’t it?” Cricket was almost believing her, but not quite.

  “Tommy wants us to get married at the end of summer on the beach at Padre Island. He has a friend who has a cabin down there that he’s willing to let us have for a whole week for our honeymoon.” Anna Grace sighed again. “Daddy said that if I make Mama happy, then I can have a honeymoon on the Riviera in France.”

  “Again, Tommy or money? What will make you smile like you did when Tommy opened that box you’ve still got in your hand? What are you going to remember the most about your wedding and honeymoon on your fiftieth wedding anniversary?” Cricket asked. “Answer those questions, and you’ll know what means the most to you.”

  Test her, the voice in Cricket’s head whispered.

  “Want a cup of coffee?” Cricket asked. “There’s also some leftover blueberry muffins under the cake dome if you want one.”

  “I’d love both, but I’ll get them. You don’t need to wait on me,” Anna Grace said.

  “I didn’t plan on it.” Cricket took a sip of her lukewarm coffee and pushed her office chair back. “I’m going to heat my coffee up in the microwave. Those muffins might be better if you give them about ten seconds.”

  “I can’t cook. I don’t know jack about cleaning, and I’m afraid I’ll be a big disappointment to Tommy.” Anna Grace dabbed at another tear with a paper napkin.

  Cricket put her coffee in the microwave. “Looks to me like you’ve got three months to learn. Do you even know how to run one of these to heat up that muffin?”

  “Not really.” Anna Grace grimaced. “When I want something like that
done, I tell our cook and she takes care of it.”

  What would Jennie Sue do? Cricked asked herself.

  She would help Anna Grace. The pesky voice in Cricket’s head didn’t help one single bit.

  “All right I hear you loud and clear,” Cricket muttered as she carried her second cup of coffee and a muffin back to her desk.

  “What was that?” Anna Grace’s heels made a tapping sound on the tile floor as she followed Cricket back to the desk.

  “I can cook. I’m an expert at cleaning and gardening. I have an extra bedroom you can use. And I’ll give you a job here in the bookstore dusting shelves, waiting on customers, sweeping up dead crickets every morning, and dumping the occasional dead mouse out of a trap and into the dumpster out back. Your current friends don’t come in here very often, but if and when they do, are you willing to let them see you doing that kind of work?” Cricket said.

  Anna Grace hesitated for a moment but then nodded.

  Cricket went on to say, “At the end of the day you’ll go home with me and help me in the garden, then learn how to cook and clean. It will be a crash course in life. That’s what I can offer if you love Tommy enough to leave your fancy lifestyle.”

  “You’d do that for me after the way I’ve treated you?” Anna Grace’s expression showed total shock.

  “No, I’ll do it for you because that’s what Jennie Sue would do,” Cricket said. “Leave your high heels at home. The closet in the spare bedroom at my small house isn’t very big, so you will need to limit what you bring to no more than two suitcases. If you don’t have anything fit to pick beans or dig up potatoes or even to clean house in, you can borrow some of my old shirts, but my cut-off jean shorts will be too big for you.”

  “I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” Anna Grace gasped. “I don’t know how much you’ll charge me for all that, but I do have a little bit of savings, so I can pay you.”

  “Nope. I’ll give you minimum wage for working here in the bookstore forty hours a week. I’ve been thinking about hiring some help so I can take a few hours off now and then anyway, but the rest of it is free for the help you’ll be giving us in the garden and helping me clean the house. You might even pull a few more dollars in if you offer to clean Jennie Sue’s house, or Lettie and Nadine’s for the rest of the summer. We only work half a day on Saturday and we’re closed on Sunday at the bookstore,” Cricket told her. “And trust me, I can’t believe I’m offering this any more than you can.”

  “When would I start?” Anna Grace asked.

  “I’m going to a party tonight at Lettie and Nadine’s. I’ll leave the front door open. If you’re there when I get home, then you’ve started. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make up your mind. If you’re not there, then I figure this was a prank, or that dollar bills mean more to you than love. But Bryce is off limits, no matter what you decide. Not because I’m in love with him or want to be a pharmacist’s girlfriend, but because he’s much too nice of a man for the likes of you if you throw Tommy over and give him back that gorgeous ring for prestige and money,” Cricket said. “And another thing—jeans and T-shirts are just fine for work in this place. You can leave all your fancy suits at home too. Who knows? You might be able to save up enough money by the end of summer for you and Tommy to drive out to Vegas and get married there.”

  “I just might see you out at your place later.” Anna Grace smiled.

  “I can honestly say that I hope not,” Cricket told her, “but it’s up to you. I’m not easy to live with, and I speak my mind. You won’t bully me ever again or I’ll kick your skinny butt out in the yard.”

  “I’ve lived with my mother for more than thirty years,” Anna Grace said. “That doesn’t sound too bad at all, and I can never repay you or thank you enough for this offer. There’s just one problem. Daddy says if I ever leave, I won’t even have a vehicle. If he’s serious, then he’ll send someone to take my car or else make me give him my keys. Mama will be mortified, and Daddy doesn’t like it when she’s not happy.”

  “If you need a ride, call me.” Cricket didn’t figure she’d ever get that call. “You can ride to work with me, and if you want to go somewhere in the evenings, there’s an old work pickup truck out at the farm. It doesn’t have air-conditioning, and you’ll have to put your own gas in it.”

  Tears began to stream down Anna Grace’s face. “Not one of the Belle daughters would ever offer to do all this for me. They’d all be too afraid of my mother and their own mamas.”

  “Honey, Mary Lou had better be afraid of me. I’m determined that no one is ever going to make me feel inferior again.” Cricket had actually stretched the truth, because, deep down, she felt rather plain and chubby in Anna Grace’s presence.

  “You haven’t dealt with my mama,” Anna Grace said, “but I’m not going to argue with you. Can I have your cell phone number?”

  Cricket picked up a business card for the shop, wrote her number on the back, and handed it across the table. “Welcome to the world of the poor and proud.”

  Anna Grace pulled a tissue from a box and wiped the tears from her face. “I’m going to call Tommy and talk to him on the way back to the office. Thank you again, Cricket. I damn sure don’t deserve this, but I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”

  She pushed open the door just as Lettie and Nadine were about to open it. She stepped aside and allowed them to enter, then went on her way.

  “Am I seeing things?” Lettie asked. “Was that Anna Grace leaving this store without a black eye or bloody nose?”

  “Yep, and I still don’t know if she tried to pull a prank on me, or if what she said was real, but I think I shut down the joke if it was one, and I made her feel like crap.” Cricket went on to tell them what she had said and done.

  “Holy hell!” Nadine sputtered. “What are you going to do if she shows up at your house tonight with her things in tow?”

  “Teach her how to work and how to cook and clean,” Cricket said. “Jennie Sue gave me a chance when I treated her like crap, so I’m paying it forward.”

  “This is like that one book we read a few months ago, or was it years ago?” Lettie drew her dark eyebrows down and tapped her chin with her bony finger. “Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, but I remember that someone said that the heroine was letting the villain define her actions. You just proved that Anna Grace doesn’t have any power over you anymore. I’m right proud of you, girl.”

  Nadine shook her head slowly from side to side. “Man alive, you’ve got your job cut out for you if you think you can teach that girl a blessed thing in just three months. She’s probably never even pushed the button down to make toast.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Cricket agreed. “She doesn’t even know how to work a microwave.”

  “I want pictures of her the first time you take her out in the garden and teach her how to cut okra.” Lettie headed for the coffeepot. “That’d be something even more bizarre than aliens.”

  “Oh, no!” Nadine grabbed her chest. “If she does this, she will be at your house on Saturday when you’re supposed to go fishing with Bryce. Do you think she’s just initiating…no that’s not the right word…” Nadine pursed her lips. “Insinuating, that’s the word, into your life so she can get next to Bryce? Is this just a ploy to be a pharmacist’s wife after all?”

  “I warned her about that,” Cricket said. “If it is, she’s going to find herself landing out in the yard flat on her butt, and I hope it’s good and muddy when it happens.”

  “I’ll help you,” Lettie said. “Just give me a call, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Let me drive and we’ll be there in five,” Nadine declared.

  Cricket just hoped that she never had to make that call.

  Chapter Five

  Rather than get dressed for a party, Bryce would have liked to put on his overalls and go out to the farm to spend the evening with Cricket. Time with her was refreshing to his soul. Even from the beginning, she
didn’t put on airs or try to cover up what she was thinking, and he liked that in a woman. But tonight, he would be going down the stairs from his apartment into the garage, and then into Lettie and Nadine’s house to celebrate Nadine’s ninety-fifth birthday. He’d known them for only a few days, but he already wanted to grow up and have the kind of attitude about life that they had. One that said he loved life and living, and that he was so confident in his own skin that he didn’t give a rip what people thought of him.

  On his way out the door, Bryce picked up his present—a box of fancy chocolates that he’d bought at a local gift store. He’d called his mother to see what he should take, and she’d suggested a bottle of wine, but his grandmother said a box of candy was a better gift since he didn’t know if Nadine liked wine or, if she did, what kind.

  When he had gone down the stairs and crossed the garage, he stood at the back door, not knowing whether to go in or to knock. A breeze wafted the scent of roses across the space to him. He turned to look over his shoulder, and Cricket waved at him.

  “Hey, good evening.” She smiled.

  She was wearing a cute floral sundress printed with roses, and red sandals. Her brown hair was twisted up on top of her head and held with a bright red rose clip. Surely, he wasn’t just imagining that beautiful, clean smell that got stronger as she neared.

  “You sure look pretty tonight,” he said.

  “Thank you.” Her smile grew even wider, seeming to light up the whole garage. “You clean up pretty good yourself.”

  “I do my best with what little I’ve got to work with,” he chuckled. “I didn’t know whether to knock or not.”

  “No, just go on in. Judging from all the cars and trucks parked along the road, we’re not the first ones here.” She brushed past him and opened the door.

  He motioned for her to go on in ahead of him and then followed that enticing scent through the back door. Nadine was in the kitchen, swiping her finger across the icing on a cupcake, and she just grinned when she saw them coming into the house.