“At least Tex knows who his father was, even if Hondo didn’t have a pedigree,” Mia said.
Addy turned around enough that she could see Mia. “And we’re not having this conversation tonight.”
“Oh, all right!” Mia huffed. “If you won’t talk to me about that, then can I have a consolation prize and not have to go to the bake sale?”
“Not happening,” Addy said.
“All right then, can I have a banana split instead of a sundae?” Mia pressured.
“That’s doable,” Jesse said. “I was thinking of having one myself. I have an incurable sweet tooth, and ice cream is my favorite dessert.”
“Did you know that about Jesse, Mama?” Mia asked.
“She knows everything about me.” Jesse smiled.
Except how I feel about him, Addy thought.
Jesse had to slow down just slightly to go through Windom and Dodd City, two little communities that each had less than four hundred people. Addy remembered spending lots of Saturday nights in an old barn halfway between the two little towns. That’s where the teenagers went to drink beer, turn up the radio on Jesse’s old pickup truck, and dance to the music. That’s where they had both lost their virginity—but not to each other—and where Addy had gotten drunk for the first time when her first had dropped her for another girl. It’s where Jesse held her hair back for her when she threw up, and where he held her while she cried over the breakup.
“Bet I could read your mind right about now,” Jesse said as he drove past the WELCOME TO BONHAM sign.
“Probably so.” She smiled at him.
“What?” Mia looked up from her phone. “What are y’all talking about?”
“Where did you kids go to party on Saturday nights?” Addy asked.
“That’s classified.” Mia went back to whatever game she was playing.
Jesse pulled into the pharmacy parking lot and said, “I’ll run in and get the medicine.” He was out of the truck and halfway across to the pharmacy door before Addy could gather her thoughts together and argue with him.
“What’s it like to have Jesse for a guy friend?” Mia asked.
“Pretty nice,” Addy said. “They aren’t as whiny as girls, and they are pretty straightforward. Wasn’t Ricky your friend before you became more involved?” She winced at the visual of that boy even kissing her daughter.
“Ricky was my first love,” Mia said. “I was afraid to have sex in high school like all the other girls were doing because I didn’t want to wind up getting pregnant like you did. I don’t want children until I finish college, do something exciting and other fun things.”
“I see.” Addy remembered saying something like that when she was only a little younger than Mia.
A person supposedly never forgot their first love or their first sexual experience. Not so, Addy thought. I can remember Mason Jones very well and the pain I felt when he broke up with me, but I wouldn’t want to be with him, or for him to be Mia’s father. The one I can’t forget is Jesse. It’s always been Jesse, but we’re right back where we were all those years ago except for a few kisses. I like having my friend back, but I’m worried that what he really feels is guilt about Mia.
“Mama, what are you thinking about?” Mia asked. “You look like you’re a million miles away.”
“You mean like you do when I’m talking, and you don’t even look up from your phone?” Addy asked.
“Point taken,” Mia said.
Jesse jogged across the parking lot and got into the cool truck. “Man, it’s hot out there. Got that job done. Now it’s time for ice cream. Want to go inside the store, or get it at the drive-by and eat in the truck?”
“Truck, please,” Mia answered.
“Too messy,” Addy said. “Let’s go inside and eat at a booth.”
“Ma—ma,” Mia whined.
“Got to face the outside world sometime,” Addy told her.
“What if Lylah or Pete is in there?” Mia asked.
“Smile sweetly, say hello, and walk away from them,” Addy advised.
“I’d rather knock Pete through the glass window,” Mia said.
“Mama always told me to pray for my enemies,” Jesse said.
Addy bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, I’ve been reminded that I should pray for my enemies. Please open Lylah’s eyes to see that her son isn’t the guy she thinks he is, and while you are doing that, can you make her mute for a few weeks, so she won’t spread gossip about me and mine. And one more thing, Lord, forgive me for what I will do if she gets all up in my space about my daughter. Amen.”
“Amen!” Mia giggled. “Now that’s a prayer I can get into. Let’s go get some ice cream.”
Jesse slid a sly wink at Addy. “Mama just said pray for them. I never thought about a prayer like that.”
“It does put a whole new spin on talking to God,” Mia giggled.
Addy hadn’t heard her daughter laugh like that in ages. Hopefully, that meant her old Mia was coming back, and that hateful girl who had recently taken over her body was on her way out.
“Motherhood brings out a whole different side to a woman,” Addy said as Jesse snagged a parking spot close to the front door of the ice cream shop. “God must’ve heard me because the ice cream shop has only one elderly couple in there tonight.”
Mia hopped out of the backseat and beat both her mother and Jesse into the cool store. “Slowpokes,” she teased as she waited in front of the counter to order. “Y’all are getting so old.”
“Hey, now, I kept up with you all day, didn’t I?” Jesse argued.
She cocked her head to one side. “That’s because I took pity on such an old man and went slow so you could keep up.”
Jesse made the same gesture, and Addy held her breath for a brief second for fear that Mia would see the similarity between them.
“I was going slow so you wouldn’t feel bad,” Jesse assured her.
“Yeah, right!” Mia turned toward the young man behind the counter and told him what she wanted on her banana split. Then she went to a booth and took out her phone again.
“You two have the same expressions,” Addy whispered.
“Our eyes are alike, too,” Jesse said out the side of his mouth. “She’s going to figure it out, Addy. We need to tell her soon.”
“Maybe next week,” Addy agreed. “But for tonight, let’s just enjoy the fact that she’s not biting our heads off.”
Jesse carried the tray with three banana splits on it to the booth and passed them out according to what each of them had ordered. Addy could tell that he wasn’t quite sure where to sit since she was on one side and Mia on the other.
“You can sit beside me,” Addy said as she dipped deep into her ice cream.
“Thanks.” Jesse slid in beside her.
Thank God for cold ice cream, Addy thought when his hips and thighs were pressed against hers. I bet if I dropped a spoonful on my leg, it would sizzle.
Mia only took time away from her ice cream to text on her phone. Addy sent up a serious prayer that she wasn’t getting or sending messages to Ricky. Finally, when she could stand it no longer, she asked, “Who are you so involved with on the phone?”