by Brenda Novak
“Something special is happening today?”
“We’re going to open the shop.”
“What shop?”
“Evonne’s Homestyle Fixin’s.”
Kennedy blinked several times. “You’re kidding me.”
“No.” Excitement sparkled in his youngest son’s wide gray eyes. “We have twenty-two jars of peaches, eighteen jars of tomatoes—”
“Does Grace need the money?” Kennedy asked.
“She told me I could charge whatever I want. And she’s gonna split it with me.”
“So probably not.”
“I think she misses Evonne. Like me.” He assumed a more grown-up air. “She wants to take a page out of Evonne’s book.”
“Which means…”
His shoulders rounded again. “I don’t know. That’s just what she said.”
“It means—” Kennedy started.
“I remember,” Teddy interrupted. “It’s living the simple life…or something like that.”
Kennedy laughed.
“She’s probably going to take a lot of naps,” Heath piped up. “Right, Dad?”
“Living the simple life is definitely about slowing down for a bit,” he replied. “Considering what she normally does, I’m sure that’s a good idea.”
“What does she normally do?” Heath asked.
“She’s an assistant district attorney, remember?”
“No.” Teddy shoved his bowl away. “What’s that?”
“A lawyer.”
“What’s a lawyer?”
“Someone who knows the laws we live by in this country.”
Teddy licked the milk mustache from his lip. “Yeah, that’s it. She said she’s taking a vacation from the laws.”
“From practicing law,” Kennedy corrected, but Teddy took no notice.
“She’s really nice.”
Kennedy folded his arms. “I’m still waiting to hear why you disobeyed me.”
“She needed my help.”
“Having a good excuse doesn’t make it okay,” Kennedy pointed out.
Teddy’s eyebrows gathered above the bridge of his small nose. “We leave the back door open to catch the breeze,” he said as though that somehow improved the situation. “And sometimes we sit out on the porch and drink fresh-squeezed lemonade.”
“You do?” Heath said, his tone jealous. “I like lemonade. Can I come, too?”
“Maybe,” Teddy said, but it was easy to tell he’d rather have Grace all to himself.
Kennedy wondered how he should respond to his son’s disobedience. Grace’s personal life worried him. He hadn’t forgotten the ominous Bible in his sock drawer. He’d barely slept because of it. And yet he’d already seen how Grace interacted with Teddy. He felt quite certain she’d never hurt him. “You disobeyed me, so you have to be punished.”
“How?” Teddy asked.
“You’ll have to do some extra work around here this weekend.”
Teddy didn’t even bat an eye. “Okay. But I can still go over to Grace’s today, right?”
Kennedy’s jaw dropped. He didn’t care about the extra work? “I don’t know about that.”
“Please?” he begged. “She needs me.”
“If I let you go there again, you can’t stay so long. It upsets Grandma. Just visit for a couple of hours and head back.”
“But Grace and I have a lot to do!”
Kennedy assumed the role of a stern parent. “Do you want to be grounded in addition to the extra work?”
“No.” Teddy stared glumly up at him, making it difficult for Kennedy to be angry. “But it’s stupid if I have to stay at Grandma’s all day. No matter what I do, she says, ‘Stop that! You’re making me nervous.’”
“If you want to help Grace open the shop, you’re going to have to compromise.”
“But—”
“Teddy…” Kennedy warned.
Finally, his son seemed to get the point. “O-kay,” he said with a pained sigh.
“And do me one other favor.”
Teddy’s expression grew leery. “What’s that?”
Kennedy grinned. “Bring home more of those cookies.”
Teddy’s eyes lit up as though he’d just been given a gift. “I will if you’ll let her go camping with us this weekend.”
“What?” Kennedy said.
“She loves the outdoors. She told me so herself. That’s why she likes to be in the garden.”
“I don’t think so, Teddy. I’m guessing she wouldn’t want to go even if I invited her.”
“Sure she would, Dad! I bet if you let her go camping with us, she’d even vote for you. She just needs to get to know you, right?”
Feigning disinterest, Kennedy picked up the newspaper next to his empty plate. “Maybe another time, buddy.”
But Teddy wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Please, Dad? I know you’d like her if you’d give her a chance. I know she’d like you, too. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about me when I’m over there.”
Kennedy had no idea how to respond. Teddy seemed on the verge of tears.
“We’re planning to do the stand all next week,” his son added hopefully.
“I’ll think about it,” Kennedy said, putting off the inevitable disappointment his real response would engender. But he regretted softening that much when Teddy’s smile stretched wider than he’d seen in months.
“Thanks, Dad. You’re the best!”
Kennedy started to say he hadn’t agreed—then clamped his mouth shut again. He didn’t have to say no. The moment he invited her, Grace would do that for him.
“No problem,” he said. “Just don’t be disappointed if she can’t come, okay? She might have other plans.”
“She doesn’t have other plans,” he replied confidently. “She hardly knows anyone here. And she really likes me.”
It wasn’t her affinity for Teddy he was worried about. It was her lack of affinity for him.
As soon as she stepped out of the shower, Grace tried George’s office number. She’d tried calling him twice already, but Heather, his secretary, said he hadn’t come in yet. He usually hit the office at eight, so it seemed odd that his secretary didn’t know where he was at ten o’clock, but Grace assumed he must’ve had a court date he’d forgotten to mention.
“George E. Dunagan’s office.”
“Hi, Heather. It’s Grace again. Is George in yet?”
There was a slight hesitation. “Um, I’m not sure. I’ve been on the phone.”
Being on the phone meant she couldn’t see him when he walked in? “Could you check, please?”
“Ah, sure.”
“Thanks,” Grace said, perplexed by the strain in his secretary’s voice.
There was a long pause but finally George came on the line.
“Grace?”
She sighed in relief. “George. There you are. I was beginning to think you’d been abducted by aliens or something.” She laughed, but he didn’t join in.
“What’s up?” he said.
She straightened, trying to figure out what had changed. “Nothing, really. I just wanted to check in with you. We haven’t talked for a few days.”
“I’ve been busy.” He didn’t elaborate. “How’s Stillwater?” he asked after a moment of awkward silence.
“Okay, I guess.”
He covered the phone and spoke to someone else.
“Madeline talked me into breaking into an auto repair shop last night,” she said because she knew he wasn’t listening.
“That’s nice,” he said when he came back on the line.
Grace moved over to her dresser, where she’d put a picture of them having dinner for her birthday. “George, what’s going on? You’re acting so distant.”
“Listen, Grace, I’ve got another call, and it’s one I have to take. Can we talk later?”
A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. George had never treated her so coolly. Why wasn’t he pressing her to come home early? Why wa
sn’t he asking if he could drive out and spend the weekend with her? He’d always done that sort of thing in the past. “Is there something I should know about?” she asked.
“I can’t explain right now. I’ve got a lot going on.”
She couldn’t imagine how he could be any busier than usual. And he’d always had time for her before. But she let him go. “Sure,” she said. “You’re okay, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine,” he replied and hurried off the phone.
He was fine. He’d said so himself. So why was every nerve screaming that something was wrong? George had always been so steady, so resolute. He couldn’t have changed his mind about wanting a relationship with her, could he? Not when she needed him most….
Grace was still staring at the phone when Teddy knocked. She’d been expecting him, but after talking to George, she wasn’t sure she wanted company—until she opened the door and Teddy promptly presented her with a dandelion.
“I picked it for you,” he said proudly.
She smiled. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.” Somehow his sweet gesture made her feel better. Nothing was really wrong between her and George. Eventually, they’d marry as they’d planned all along and have a boy just like Teddy.
In any case, she had enough to worry about without stressing over George. The reverend’s Bible was floating around somewhere.
“You all ready to open the shop?” she asked.
“Yeah!”
She was almost as excited as he was. Selling Evonne’s handmade soaps, lotions and preserves was one way to feel close to her again. “Do you have your grandma’s permission to be here?”
He glanced at the Nibley for Mayor signs on her porch, the ones she’d been meaning to put in her yard, then scuffed one toe against the other. “Yeah.”
She sensed he had something else to say, but he didn’t come out with it. Every time she asked about his family, he clammed up. She guessed his home life was so bad he didn’t want to discuss it. “Teddy?”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“I want to meet your parents.”
“This weekend?” he said hopefully.
“Today.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “But my mom’s gone and my dad’s at work. So can it wait till after we set up the stand?”
She didn’t see why not. “Of course,” she said, and a warm feeling lingered in her heart as she waved the boy inside. How such a random pair of lost souls had managed to find each other, she didn’t know. But it seemed fitting that they’d met at Evonne’s. “Come on, we’ll start bringing out the peaches.”
“Do you think we’ll make lots of money today?” Teddy asked, setting his lawn chair as close to Grace’s as he could.
Grace studied the fruits and vegetables and other things they’d laid out for sale. At the last minute, Teddy had asked if they could bake a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. Grace wouldn’t have done it, except he’d said he’d mow the lawn in exchange for any that were left over at the end of the day, and she wanted him to have them. She suspected there’d be quite a few extras. Folks had to be missing Evonne’s peaches and tomatoes they’d grown up eating. But Grace wasn’t sure that something she’d made would appeal to the people of this town. Especially considering one of the theories that had circulated—that she or her mother had poisoned the reverend.
“Maybe a few bucks,” she said with a shrug.
“Who do you think our first customer will be?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, but it didn’t take long to find out. Almost as soon as the words were out of Grace’s mouth, a white sedan pulled to the curb and Mrs. Reese, one of her former high school teachers, got out.
Grace’s hands tightened on the arms of her chair. This woman had once thrown a ruler at her for being unable to answer a question in class. In high school, Grace hadn’t done much homework. She’d been too busy working at the pizza parlor and helping with the farm—and worrying, always worrying, about the shallow grave in the backyard. During those years, it had been a struggle just to sleep through the night.
“I heard you were back,” the white-haired Mrs. Reese said when Grace greeted her.
“Yes, for a few months.”
“I see.” Her eyes scanned the items on display. “I must say I’m glad to hear you’ve turned your life around. Making assistant D.A. and all that. Came as a bit of a surprise, to be honest with you.” She focused on the Vicki Nibley For Mayor sign Grace had finally placed in the yard. “But I can’t say as I like your politics.”
“Then I can’t say as I like yours, either,” Grace responded.
Mrs. Reese’s mouth opened and shut twice, but nothing came out. Turning to Teddy, she frowned. “Your grandma know you’re over here?” she asked.
Teddy wouldn’t look at her. His chin bumped his chest as he nodded vigorously.
“I can’t imagine she likes it.”
Grace cleared her throat. “Did you stop for a reason, Mrs. Reese?”
The older woman glared at her, then waved at the jars of peaches. “Those Evonne’s?”
“They are. We brought them out of the cellar just yesterday.”
“I’ll take three jars.”
Grace let Teddy collect the money. Determined to remain polite, she nodded as Mrs. Reese glanced her way before returning to her car.
“What was that all about?” Grace asked Teddy as the older woman disappeared around the corner.
“I guess she doesn’t like Mrs. Nibley,” he said sheepishly.
Grace studied him more closely. Something was going on here, and she figured she’d waited long enough to find out what. “Mrs. Reese acted as though she knows your grandma pretty well.”
A pained expression appeared on his face. “Everyone knows my grandma.”
“Who is she?” she asked, but before he could answer, a 1950s truck stopped at the curb and her heart leapt into her throat. It was Jed Fowler. She knew because he’d been driving that truck ever since she could remember.
He emerged looking ruddier than ever. He’d obviously lost some weight, but he still had a barrel chest and wore the same style coveralls she remembered from when he’d come out to fix the tractor all those years ago. A tattered red ball cap advertising his auto shop covered his head, so she couldn’t tell if he’d lost any more of his hair.
Wondering what the police had told him about last night—if he knew it was Madeline who’d broken into his shop—she stood up as he walked over. “Hello, Jed,” she said nervously. “How are you?”
When their eyes met, she got the impression he could see right through her. Had Kennedy told him she’d been with Madeline? That she was the one who’d taken the reverend’s Bible?
She wiped her clammy hands on her cotton skirt and took a deep breath. “Something I can get for you today?”
“You make those cookies?” he asked, pointing to one of five platefuls at the far end.
“I did.”
He picked up a bar of soap, smelled the lavender, then grimaced and put it back. “I’ll have a jar of pickles.”
“That it for you?” she asked.
Teddy hovered eagerly at her elbow. “I’ll take the money.”
Jed’s eyes rested on the boy. He seemed as surprised as Mrs. Reese to see Teddy, but handed him a twenty while motioning toward the cookies. “Give me a plate of those, too.”
He was buying her cookies. That made Grace feel even worse about last night.
She helped Teddy calculate the change, which he dropped into the old man’s callused palm. Jed started to walk away—but Grace called him back. “Mr. Fowler?”
He turned.
Folding her arms across her chest, Grace forced herself to go on. “I—I heard about what happened last night. I’m sorry, truly I am.”
She swallowed hard, wondering how he might respond. But he didn’t say anything. Which wasn’t all that unusual. His gaze wandered to Teddy again. Then he nodded.
Grace’s heart was still pounding as
she watched him climb into his truck. She hated the thought that she’d been an accomplice to breaking open his door and invading his privacy.
“What happened last night?” Teddy asked.
She didn’t answer. She wasn’t about to tell him. She had her own questions. “Why is everyone so surprised that you’re with me?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. But he was staring at his shoes again.
“Who’s your grandmother, Teddy?”
The sun nearly blinded them as midafternoon approached. He lifted a hand to shade his eyes. “Can I tell you later? When you meet my dad and he asks you to go camping with us?”
“Camping?”
“Yeah. I asked him if you could go and he said yes!”
“Teddy—” Grace shook her head, trying to stay focused on the bigger question. “Tell me about your family.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because we just got the stand going. And if you don’t like what I say, you’ll want me to go home.”
“That’s silly. I don’t care who your family is.”
“You don’t?” He seemed relieved.
“Of course not.” She tugged on the bill of his ball cap, and he grinned.
“That’s good,” he said. “Because it won’t be my fault if my dad beats Vicki Nibley, right?”
His dad? Grace’s knees went weak. “What’d you say?”
Obviously confused by her response, he glanced between her and the Vicki Nibley sign closest to them. “I won’t be mad at you if Mrs. Nibley wins,” he told her.
She brought a hand to her chest. “You’re not telling me you’re Kennedy Archer’s son!”
He nodded, but only halfheartedly as if he was afraid to admit it.
“You can’t be,” she said.
He bit his lip. “Why not?”
“Because you don’t look anything like him.”
“I don’t?”
“No!” she said stubbornly. But now that she knew, she could see some resemblance. Teddy had his father’s square jaw, wide mouth and confident, All-American smile. He also had the Archer bone structure, which would probably make him a very handsome man some day.
“Everyone says I look like my mom,” he said.
