Crazy Little Thing Called Love

by Molly Cannon

  “I’m saying it’s time to put your money where your mouth is, mister. You said you’d step in and save the day. So, come on. Let’s hear it. What’s your big plan?”

  He opened a desk drawer and started rummaging through it. “You let me worry about that, sunshine.”

  “You aren’t going to tell me? Oh, for heaven’s sake, Donny Joe. What are you going to do?”

  He started tossing colored markers on the desk. Then he opened another drawer and pulled out a stack of lime green neon paper. “I’m going to put out a new menu, and I guarantee you by tonight you’ll have to turn people away.”

  “You’re going to make a new menu on that? The color alone is atrocious.” Her menu had been printed on a tasteful pale pink cardstock.

  “I use it for flyers when the store has a sale. It’s attention-getting. And that’s what we need right now. Attention.”

  “Oh please. And you can guarantee people will show up? What’s on this miraculous menu of yours?”

  “You’ll find out in good time. For now just go on home and wait for the phone to start ringing.” He picked up a marker and started scribbling on the paper in front of him.

  “I’ll go home, and I’ll wait, but I hope to high heaven you know what you’re doing.” She stood up and turned to leave.

  His voice followed her out the door. “Sunshine, I’ve been doing it since I was fifteen. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

  Etta didn’t go straight home. It was time for school to let out, so she biked over to the school and waited. It was close enough Daphne could have walked home by herself, but Etta worried. She didn’t like the idea of her niece walking out the door and not seeing a loving face waiting to hear all about her day. It wasn’t the same as having her mother there, of course, but she was trying to fill in the best she could.

  The bell for dismissal rang and kids poured out of Everson Elementary. Etta spotted Daphne walking with a group of girls. She was laughing and looked like she didn’t have a care in the world. Etta smiled and called out to her. “Daphne, over here.”

  Daphne waved, and then turned to the other girls saying her good-byes. “Where’s Cousin Beulah?” she asked. Etta took her to school most mornings, and Beulah picked her up in the van most afternoons.

  “She was cutting out squares for a new quilt, so I told her I’d come get you. Do you mind walking?”

  “No, but you could pump me on your handle bars instead.”

  “Ha. Besides the fact that you don’t have a helmet, we’d end up in a ditch somewhere. I’ll just walk the bicycle.”

  “Okay.” Daphne said it like she was agreeing to walk through stickers barefoot, but then a second later her mood brightened. “Rose is having a slumber party this weekend. Can I go?”

  “I don’t know.” Etta panicked. These were exactly the kind of decisions she didn’t want to make. Sure, Rose seemed like a nice kid, but her parents might be the irresponsible kind who’d let them eat all the sugary snacks they wanted, and allow them to stay up all night watching R-rated movies on TV, and turn a blind eye while the girls sneaked out of the house before dawn to toilet paper the gazebo in the middle of town. No, wait. That had been her parents. Adult supervision had been a foreign concept to her mother and father. Rose’s parents were probably nothing like hers.

  But what if she said Daphne could go, and then she choked on a peanut, or fell off a bed and broke her arm, or got scared in the middle of the night and wanted to come home. How could she take such a chance with her welfare? Why, oh, why had Belle left her in charge?

  “Please, Aunt Etta? Rose said her mom would call and talk to you about it. I really, really, really want to go.”

  “We’ll see. I’m not promising anything, but let me talk to Cousin Beulah and see what she says.” Beulah knew almost everything there was to know about the people in this town, and if there was anything hinky about Rose’s family she’d know it.

  Daphne threw her arms around Etta’s neck. “Thank you, Aunt Etta. I promise to do all my homework and all my chores before I go”

  Etta laughed, barely keeping her balance while pushing the bike. “I haven’t said yes yet.”

  The house came into sight and Daphne ran ahead and hopped up onto the porch. “I’m going to get started on my homework right away.”

  Beulah opened the front door before Daphne had the chance. She scolded the young girl playfully. “Slow down, young lady. Goodness, you gave me a start.”

  “Sorry, Cousin Beulah.” Daphne gave her a swift hug and disappeared inside the house.

  The pink curlers in Beulah’s hair bounced around as she shook her head. “That girl.” Then she practically skipped out farther onto the porch to greet Etta. “You better get in here, Etta.”

  Etta leaned the bicycle against the house and hurried up the steps. “Why? What’s wrong, Beulah? Are you okay?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, dearie. Nothing at all. I’m just fine except the phone has been ringing off the wall, and I can’t keep up. I’m just letting it go to message now. You’re going to have a mess load of calls to return.” Beulah smiled so big her eyes nearly disappeared.

  Etta stood on the front porch listening to the jangle of the phone ringing inside the house. Donny Joe had told her to go home and wait for the phone to ring, but she hadn’t seriously believed him. No way. It wasn’t possible, she thought ungraciously. His menu had caused this kind of commotion?

  “So, these calls are about the Valentine’s Dinner?” She chewed her bottom lip, waffling about whether she should be happy or not. A few hours ago people were acting like she planned to serve dog food or something. And now? What had he done?

  “They sure are. That Donny Joe, if he doesn’t cause a riot, I’d declare him an honest to goodness lifesaver.” She clapped her hands together in delight.

  Etta walked behind Beulah into the house. “I haven’t heard the details. What is it exactly that Donny Joe is doing?”

  Beulah stopped in her tracks. “You don’t know? I just assumed he’d gotten the thumbs-up from you.”

  Etta shook her head. “He wanted to surprise me.”

  “Well, hold on to your hat, honey.” Beulah was vibrating with excitement.

  “I’m holding. Please, just tell me.” He must have promised manna from heaven to get this kind of response.

  Beulah waved her closer and then in a hushed voice announced reverently, “Ham in the Hole.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ham in the Hole?” Etta repeated. She wasn’t sure how to react.

  “Ham in the Hole.” Beulah nodded excitedly.

  “I don’t even know what that means.” The ringing phone was making her eye twitch. She walked over and jerked it off the base. “Hazelnut Inn.” She listened and grabbed the pad by the phone and started writing. “Yes, of course, Mr. Binnion. A table for two. I have your name on the list. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you and your wife.”

  Etta ended the call and before she could ask any more questions the phone started ringing again. Forty-five minutes later the Hazelnut Inn had a full house of reservations for the Valentine’s Dinner and she still didn’t know exactly what had caused all the ruckus.

  “What in the world?” Etta sank down on the couch. She looked at the list of names, wondering if they could add enough tables to fit everyone in. “What just happened?”

  “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Beulah’s eyes were sparkling when she sat down beside her. “The very idea that Donny Joe’s willing to do this for the Inn. Well, I can tell you, Etta, I’m simply overcome.” She dabbed at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. “This is a really lovely thing for him to do.”

  Etta patted her cousin’s hand. “So, I take it he puts an actual ham in an actual hole?” She still didn’t understand why that was such a cause for celebration.

  “Well, yes, and it’s delicious.”

  “Okay, but this reaction seems extreme. People were clamoring like they were trying to get on the last lifeboat on a sinki
ng ship. Earlier today I couldn’t give a reservation away.”

  “You have to understand Donny Joe’s history and his relationship with the folks here in Everson.”

  “What do you mean by his history?”

  “I don’t suppose he’d mind if I tell you. It’s no secret he was a wild young man growing up. You’re bound to hear things.”

  “I haven’t heard any of the details.” Etta’s mind began to spin all sorts of sordid tales starring Donny Joe. “I’m sure I can’t begin to imagine.”

  “Well, you may know that Donny Joe’s grandmother raised him. It was just the two of them, and they didn’t have much. In fact, the house he lived in wasn’t much more than a shack. It’s still standing just on the other side of Old Town Creek. I always thought he might tear it down when he bought the house next door, but he didn’t.”

  Etta was surprised. Donny Joe had just been one of the cute boys hanging around Belle when they came for summer visits. He was always cutting up and laughing. She never gave any thought to the circumstances of his home life. “I had no idea.”

  “When he was a teenager he and some other boys got in trouble for vandalizing some businesses with spray paint. Nothing too serious. The business owners would have been happy if they’d been made to repair the damage and served some kind of community service.”

  “That sounds reasonable.”

  “Except some of the other boys’ fathers decided Donny Joe was the ring leader, and their poor blameless sons had been lured into going along. They hired a fancy lawyer and got things all stirred up when they didn’t need to be. Donny Joe was no angel, but he wasn’t a bad kid, either. He was just a young boy letting off steam. His grandmother couldn’t afford a lawyer. By the time it was over Donny Joe was sent to a camp for juvenile offenders. One of those camps where the boys live in cabins and cook their own food. It’s supposed to teach them responsibility and social skills.”

  “What happened to the other boys?”

  “A slap on the wrist. They did have to repaint the back walls of the businesses, but that was about it. Nothing showed up on their record, which was what their parents wanted all along.”

  “While Donny Joe was sent away? For how long?” She wanted to cry thinking of how alone he must have felt.

  “He was gone the whole summer before his junior year of high school. He had always been so carefree. And when he came home, he still acted like he didn’t have a care in the world. I didn’t know him that well, but his grandmother said he was changed. Quieter, less willing to let anyone get close. And who can blame him? You can’t tell me something like that doesn’t shake your trust in the people who are supposed to know you and watch out for you. Being the only one of the boys made to pay. It wasn’t right.”

  “So, what happened after that?”

  “I’ll never forget it. The weekend he came home, he announced that he owed the folks of Everson an apology for his behavior, and as an act of repentance he invited the whole town to come to his grandmother’s place for a picnic.”

  “The whole town?”

  “He dug a hole in his grandmother’s backyard and cooked several big hams. They learned how to do it at camp, he said. In the meantime, we were all suffering from this collective guilt because he’d been singled out for punishment, and we hadn’t done a thing to stop it.”

  “What could you have done?”

  “I’m not sure, but we all took side dishes and trooped across the creek, accepting his offering gladly. Everyone ate until we were stuffed. He may not have realized it, but he was giving us a chance to forgive ourselves. That ham healed us all.”

  “So, now when he’s offering his Ham in the Hole, it’s more than just a ham.”

  “That’s right, dear. If Donny Joe is cooking his ham, folks are going to line up to eat it.”

  “That is quite a story.” Donny Joe and the amazing healing ham.

  “And even though he’d vandalized Mr. Wilson’s store, he hired him to work for him after school. Donny Joe owns that store now. The Backyard Oasis is all his. He’s worked hard to be part of the community and put that summer behind him.”

  “Maybe I should go talk to him.” This called for some kind of thank you since he seemed to be pulling out the big guns to help her.

  “Oh, you should. And when you do let him know we have a full house for Valentine’s Day. I’ll admit I was worried. You have to work up slowly to offering people around here your fancy cuisine, Etta dearie. Sneak it in a little at a time.”

  “Obviously.” Etta walked over and looked out the window at the house next door. Yes, she should talk to Donny Joe. But not right now. Because right now the idea that she should also give him a hug crawled inside her mind and wouldn’t go away. She just didn’t know if she wanted to hug the boy who’d been sent away that summer or the man he was today.

  She spotted Donny Joe the minute she walked inside Lu Lu’s. He was the reason she was there. It was silly to deny it. He was dancing with Irene somebody or other. She really needed to learn everyone’s name if she was going to be here much longer. The two of them were laughing and carrying on the way only lovers or really good friends seemed to do. She’d bet a hundred bucks they were lovers. And they made a glorious-looking couple. Irene was a stunning woman, and it wasn’t exactly breaking news but Donny Joe was a good-looking man, too. In fact the more time Etta spent around Donny Joe, the better looking he got. She could easily stare at him all day and all night if given half a chance.

  She wasn’t sure how or when that had happened. And here she was watching him across the room, feeling all stirred up. He still acted arrogant and cocksure, but now so much of that seemed to be a mask he put on to face the town. Or maybe he was simply putting on the face the folks of Everson expected to see.

  Harley Otis danced by with a spry older woman who looked about ninety and said, “The Ham in the Hole was a great idea, Etta.”

  Before she could say thanks, another couple overheard him and gave her the thumbs-up sign. She smiled and said they should thank Donny Joe. Then she took the opportunity to scurry over to an empty table in the corner. She angled the chair so she’d be out of the way, but still had a good view of the dance floor. Feeling like a spy in an old movie, she watched Donny Joe. Watched him turn Irene in some complicated move that had them spinning around in time to the music. Irene held on, matching his every move like they’d done it a thousand times before. Etta felt jealous. Not just because she would like to be the one dancing with Donny Joe, though that was true, too.

  She could admit it. But she was mostly jealous of the way they belonged to this place, this town. She didn’t know Irene’s story, but now she realized Donny Joe had fought to belong here. And maybe it was a battle he was still waging. Yes, he was established here, owned a business here, had roots in the community. But for all his lauded love of women, he’d never chosen to settle down with one special person. He liked to act footloose and fancy free. Now she wasn’t so sure that was the whole story. Maybe the answer was tied up in his past.

  She’d grown up all over Texas, but her parents moved them around so often they’d never stayed in any one place long enough for her to develop a sense that she was truly part of a community. When she lived in Chicago she’d thought she’d found her place, her niche, but the long hours at the restaurant left little time to socialize. Her friends were the people she worked with, and now it felt like that world was about to be snatched away—like her time there counted for nothing at all.

  The song ended and she felt a wave of awareness wash through her. He’d noticed her. The back of her neck tingled, and her lungs had trouble finding air. He stood in the middle of the dance floor with his hands on his hips like he was formulating a strategy. And then he started moving. Straight for her. Like he had plans that included her.

  She raised her eyes to meet his. She wasn’t going to shrink from this challenge. If that’s what it was. Instead, she issued one of her own. She smiled. A big old welcome smile. He di
dn’t smile back, but he kept coming, eating up the floor between them.

  He stopped in front of her table and touched the brim of his cowboy hat. “Evening, Etta.”

  “Evening to you, too, Donny Joe.”

  “Let’s dance.” He held out his hand. It didn’t sound like a suggestion.

  She normally would have bristled at his tone, but that wouldn’t serve her purpose tonight. So instead she stood up and said, “That sounds nice.”

  He raised his eyebrows as if to say he didn’t think nice had anything to do with it. He pulled her out onto the floor, blending into the line of dance without missing a beat. He kept his steps simple, and he kept her wrapped up close to his body. Everything about it was the same as the first time they’d danced. His hand was warm. She inhaled the clean, soapy smell of him.

  And yet everything was different, too. This time she knew him. Or at least she knew him better. This time his hand touching her back made her tremble with a bone-deep need. This time the brush of his thighs made her want to chase the contact until she rested flush against him. And this time she knew the laid-back ladies’ man façade hid a vulnerable side. That young man who’d been sent away and come back changed. Had that been the thing that made him guard his heart so carefully?

  “So, what brings you out tonight, Etta?” He leaned back so he could look into her eyes.

  “I was looking for you.” She didn’t see any reason to play games.

  “Is that so?” He looked pleased at first, but that look immediately changed to one of concern. “Why? Is there a problem with the Inn? Or is it Beulah or Daphne?”

  “They are both fine, and as you might have guessed the problems at the Inn have been averted by your infamous Ham in the Hole menu.”

  He grinned an “aw shucks” grin. “I have heard from quite a few people that they plan to attend.”

  “Well, we’re sold out, completely booked, full to the gills, so unless they called this afternoon and made a reservation they are clean out of luck.”