“Sink or swim!” Tandy said out of the side of her mouth.
“You’re joking, right?” Bryce asked.
“Not in the least.” Tandy patted him on the back. “Mary Lou wanted her daughter to marry a doctor, but she’s decided that a pharmacist will do since Anna Grace has passed the thirty mark.”
Bryce wiped sweat from his brow. “But I only just got here yesterday. You’re pranking me.”
“I wish I was.” Tandy removed her glasses and cleaned them on the tail of her blue scrub top. “I can never locate my glasses in the morning, and when my kids do find them, they leave smudges on the lenses. Someday I’m going to get contacts.”
Bryce wasn’t interested in Tandy’s smudged glasses or her four kids right then. He wanted her to tell him that she was hazing him. “Prank? Yes?”
“Prank. No.” Tandy twisted her brown hair up and secured it with a long clip. “Lettie Betterton called me last night and told me to warn you.”
“But…how…what…” Bryce stammered.
“This is a small town,” Tandy said. “Everyone knows what everyone is doing, who they’re doing it with, and where they did it. We only read the paper, which comes out today by the way, to see who got caught. Anna Grace won’t be subtle, and she won’t take no for an answer. Mary Lou has made up her mind, and when she does, it might as well be set in stone. Nobody crosses a Belle, except Lettie, Nadine, and Cricket. Oh, and Cricket’s sister-in-law, Jennie Sue,” Tandy whispered. “They never come in here for coffee in the morning, so you’ve probably got about five minutes to think up a reason not to do whatever she wants you to do. That is, unless you like what you see.”
Bryce’s neck itched with heat that was fast traveling up from his collar to put a blush on his cheeks. Lord have mercy! He had been a science geek in high school and in college. He’d never been one of those guys that the girls pursued and had no idea how to handle such a thing.
He’d been in town only a couple of days, and he had been brought up not to lie. What was he going to say if she asked him to dinner or to a party? Would not accepting her invitation ruin his business? He sure wished he had time to call his mother, or even his grandmother, and ask them for advice. Even though Bloom Drug Store was the only pharmacy in town, it wasn’t all that far to Sweetwater where folks would have a choice of several places to fill their prescriptions. What if he lost all kinds of customers because he refused to fall down at Anna Grace’s feet and kiss that big turquoise ring he could see sparkling on her finger? No wonder the previous owner gave him such a good deal on the drugstore—the old guy probably got sick and tired of playing small-town politics.
Tandy picked up a bottle of spray and a dust rag. “Ilene is taking her sweet time getting their coffee. She’s trying to give you time to get your ducks in a row, so to speak.”
“Bless her heart and thank you for the warning and for explaining to me about the Belles.” Bryce let out a long breath of air and tried to think of plausible excuses. His mama and daddy had taken him to church every single Sunday from the time he was born until he went to college. Then he went home on weekends that first four years and drove them to church. He sent up a silent prayer asking God to help him out of this big mess.
Before his prayer ended, Lettie and Nadine pushed through the glass door at the front of the store and headed straight back to one of the little bistro tables with the four chairs around it.
“Mornin’, Ilene,” Nadine called out. “Me and Lettie will have our usual. Neither of us wanted to cook breakfast this morning.”
“Two honey buns and two cups of hot chocolate coming right up,” Ilene said.
Anna Grace slid off her bar stool and started toward the back of the store, where the pharmacy was located. There was something about her pasted-on smile and the look in her eyes that let Bryce know Tandy and Ilene were not pranking him.
“Hey, Anna Grace, I heard that you and your dentist boyfriend broke up last week,” Lettie said.
“Is your poor little heart just plumb broken?” Nadine asked.
“No, I broke up with him,” Anna Grace answered.
“Well, honey, if you get down in the dumps, I suggest you watch a good movie. Me and Lettie like all the Home Alone movies when we’re feeling blue. They make us laugh,” Nadine said.
Anna Grace’s smile faded, and she tilted her chin up a notch. “I’m sure that little movie would appeal to old folks like y’all, but I’m just fine. Like I said, I broke up with him, so my heart is just fine.” She focused her attention on Bryce and pasted her smile back on. Her high heels on the tile floor sounded to him like .22-caliber bullets heading straight for his heart—or maybe for a spot between his eyes. He needed to think fast, come up with a plan, but his mind was totally blank.
“Hello, I’m Anna Grace Cramer, and I’d like to welcome you to Bloom. We’re having an informal little cocktail party at our house tonight, and we would just love it if you would join us.” Her smile seemed sincere, but it sure didn’t reach her eyes.
“Hey, Bryce,” Lettie called out, “didn’t you tell Cricket that you would help her gather vegetables tonight? She’s kind of swamped since Jennie Sue and Rick are out of town.”
Anna Grace whipped around, and Bryce could only imagine the go-to-hell looks she was giving his two elderly landladies.
“Yes, I did.” Bryce crossed his fingers behind his back like a little boy who had told a lie. “I’m sorry, Miz Anna Grace, but I have plans.”
“Some other time then. Maybe I can pick you up tomorrow night, and we’ll go for ice cream?” Anna Grace pressed.
“That’s my birthday party night.” Nadine raised her voice.
“Sorry again,” Bryce said with a smile.
“Then don’t make plans for Saturday night. We’re going to Sweetwater to the Community Theatre. That’s the opening night for the newest musical they’re doing this summer. I do love musicals, don’t you?” she asked.
“Not so much, and I’ve already asked Cricket to go fishing with me that night. Why don’t you just leave your number with Ilene, and when I have some free time, I’ll give you a call?” Bryce hoped that the sassy Cricket wouldn’t shoot him when he told her they had plans for at least three evenings that week. Thinking about her telling him that she was taking a mud bath put a broad smile on his face.
“I’ll be looking forward to your call.” Anna Grace’s tone was suddenly as cold as ice. When she got back to her bar stool, she whispered something to her mother, and the two of them left without even waiting for their coffee.
“You’re welcome.” Nadine grinned at Bryce.
“Thank you,” he said, coming around from behind the counter and joining them at the table. “That woman is pretty brazen.”
“Yes, she is but not as much as her mother,” Lettie said, “and Mary Lou always gets what she wants.”
Ilene brought coffee and warmed honey buns to the table for Lettie and Nadine. “Thank goodness y’all didn’t want to cook breakfast this morning.”
“And that you called us, so we were prepared,” Tandy added from the checkout counter.