“Pleased to meet you,” Bryce said. “I’d like a basket of each if you have them. I hear that you own the Sweet Seconds Book Store right next to my pharmacy and that you usually have fresh produce in that store.”
Cricket vowed that she would carry her phone in her pocket from then on, even if she had to put it in a Ziploc baggie. Lettie and Nadine were her good friends and gossip gals. No doubt, they had tried to call her several times that evening to tell her about Bryce coming out to her little farm. Bless their hearts, they were always trying to fix her up with someone, and she kept telling them that she was going to grow up and be like both of them—old maids who kept track of everything that went on in Bloom.
“I’ve got plenty,” she answered. “There’s a little more than a pound in each basket. Do you want big boy tomatoes or the small cherry tomatoes? And yes, I own the bookstore, and I sell produce as well as used books. Do you like to read?”
“Every chance I get.” Bryce’s smile lit up his whole face. “I’ll be over to visit your store as soon as I can. And I’d like the small tomatoes, please.”
“What I’ve got gathered is in the house. Wait right here, and I’ll bring them out to you.” She walked past him and glanced up at his wide shoulders. Yep, the man was at least six feet, four inches tall—maybe even a little more than that. Cricket was only three inches over five feet and she barely came to his shoulder. She predicted that there would be a lot of sick women in Bloom in the next few weeks—especially those who were single or divorced. She could just imagine them lined up waiting to get prescriptions filled, or to buy bottles of aspirin, or even to get a soft drink or limeade at the soda fountain. The bar stools in front of the counter wouldn’t get cold with one woman sliding onto one the moment another left.
“I’ll be right here,” Bryce said.
If Lettie and Nadine liked him enough to give him her cell phone number, then Cricket thought she should invite him in, maybe even for a glass of sweet tea. But if she did that and he mentioned it in town, the gossip vine would burst into flames. She could hear the clucking from the old women’s tongues, sounding like mother hens gathering in their baby peeps before a storm, as they pitied her for trying to latch on to a man like Bryce. No, ma’am! Cricket didn’t need or want anyone to feel sorry for her.
Besides that, everything she’d worn to work that day was hung over the back of kitchen chairs, including her bra and underpants. She’d taken them off in a hurry and changed into what she called her work clothes—an old bra, a shirt she could tie up under her breasts, and a pair of cutoff jeans. She couldn’t bring a good-looking man like Bryce into her house to a sight like that, much less to sit down at the table with him for a glass of sweet tea with mud caked in her hair.
“Some days you win,” she muttered as she picked up a basket of okra and piled a few more pods on the top. “Most days you lose.” She added half a dozen more tomatoes to that basket.
The phone rang as she was walking out the back door, but she ignored it. If anyone found out that she hadn’t answered her phone, the news would probably make the Bloom Weekly News under the HEARD column on the front page. She could see the little article already:
Cricket Lawson did not answer her phone. The whole town is wondering if she is sick, and several church ladies are preparing casseroles to take to her.
Everyone in Bloom knew that Cricket liked gossip too well not to answer a call if she was within hearing distance of the ring. Why on earth she’d forgotten to tuck her phone in her hip pocket was a mystery.
“Nice garden you’ve got here.” Bryce had walked down to the end of the plot and was on his way back toward the house. “How do you work full-time and take care of this, too?”
“My brother Rick does most of the work, but he and his family are on a two-week vacation, so I’m doing double time while he’s gone.” She set the okra and tomatoes on the porch. “At least, it rained a lot this week, so I didn’t have to water.”
Bryce made it to the porch and pulled out his wallet. “I’m surprised that you’ve still got a crop as hot as it’s been. How much do I owe you?”
“Consider those two baskets your welcome to Bloom present,” she said.
“Well, then thank you very much. I plan to make a skillet full of fried okra tonight to go with my pork chops.” Bryce picked up the vegetables. “What time do you close the bookstore, so I’ll know next time I want fresh produce to get on over there and buy it?”
“We’re open until six Monday through Friday and from nine to noon on Saturday, but you are always welcome to come out here and get veggies,” she answered.
Was he lingering? she wondered.
Of course he is, that pesky voice in her head told her. He’s just moved to town. He doesn’t know anyone, and he’s going home to eat alone tonight.
“Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow when you come in for a limeade.” Bryce started for his vehicle that was parked next to her car in the driveway. “The ladies at the store told me you like limeades. I’m not psychic!”
“I’ll be there,” she called out.
He got into his SUV and stuck his hand out the window and waved.
She hurried into the house and grabbed her phone from the table. There were ten messages from Lettie and five missed calls from Nadine. She plopped down into a chair and scrolled through her contacts until she found Nadine Betterton and called her first.
Nadine answered on the first ring, but instead of saying hello, she started fussing. “Where have you been? I was about to get in the car and drive out there. You’re never without your phone.”
“You haven’t been allowed to drive in years, and I was in such a hurry to get to the garden that I forgot to take my phone with me,” Cricket told her.
“We’ve got the phone on speaker. You’ve got me, too, and I was worried about you, girl,” Lettie yelled.
Cricket had repeatedly told them that they should just talk in a normal voice, but they both thought they had to raise their voices when they had it on speaker.
“Did Bryce Walton come out there for okra and tomatoes? Is he still there?” Nadine asked.
“What did you think of him?” Lettie butted in before Nadine had finished the last word.
“He seemed nice enough,” Cricket answered.
“We’re inviting him to Nadine’s birthday party Thursday night,” Lettie said. “After all, he lives in our apartment building, and, that way, he can meet some folks. Did you know that he loves books?”
“He mentioned that he likes to read,” Cricket said, and then went on to tell them about falling in the mud.
“He must think you are beautiful if he asked if you were making a video for television,” Nadine said.
“Or he was being sarcastic,” Cricket told them.
“If he was and I find out about it, he won’t be invited to my party.” Nadine’s voice rose even higher.
“Wouldn’t Jennie Sue and Rick be happy if they came home to find you in a relationship?” Lettie sighed.
“Hey, they’re only going to be gone a couple of weeks,” Cricket said. “I just met the guy tonight, and he could be engaged or already in a relationship.”