“I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” Anna Grace gasped. “I don’t know how much you’ll charge me for all that, but I do have a little bit of savings, so I can pay you.”
“Nope. I’ll give you minimum wage for working here in the bookstore forty hours a week. I’ve been thinking about hiring some help so I can take a few hours off now and then anyway, but the rest of it is free for the help you’ll be giving us in the garden and helping me clean the house. You might even pull a few more dollars in if you offer to clean Jennie Sue’s house, or Lettie and Nadine’s for the rest of the summer. We only work half a day on Saturday and we’re closed on Sunday at the bookstore,” Cricket told her. “And trust me, I can’t believe I’m offering this any more than you can.”
“When would I start?” Anna Grace asked.
“I’m going to a party tonight at Lettie and Nadine’s. I’ll leave the front door open. If you’re there when I get home, then you’ve started. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make up your mind. If you’re not there, then I figure this was a prank, or that dollar bills mean more to you than love. But Bryce is off-limits, no matter what you decide. Not because I’m in love with him or want to be a pharmacist’s girlfriend, but because he’s much too nice of a man for the likes of you if you throw Tommy over and give him back that gorgeous ring for prestige and money,” Cricket said. “And another thing—jeans and T-shirts are just fine for work in this place. You can leave all your fancy suits at home, too. Who knows? You might be able to save up enough money by the end of summer for you and Tommy to drive out to Vegas and get married there.”
“I just might see you out at your place later.” Anna Grace smiled.
“I can honestly say that I hope not,” Cricket told her, “but it’s up to you. I’m not easy to live with, and I speak my mind. You won’t bully me ever again, or I’ll kick your skinny butt out in the yard.”
“I’ve lived with my mother for more than thirty years,” Anna Grace said. “That doesn’t sound too bad at all, and I can never repay you or thank you enough for this offer. There’s just one problem. Daddy says if I ever leave, I won’t even have a vehicle. If he’s serious, then he’ll send someone to take my car or else make me give him my keys. Mama will be mortified, and Daddy doesn’t like it when she’s not happy.”
“If you need a ride, call me.” Cricket didn’t figure she’d ever get that call. “You can ride to work with me, and if you want to go somewhere in the evenings, there’s an old work pickup truck out at the farm. It doesn’t have air-conditioning, and you’ll have to put your own gas in it.”
Tears began to stream down Anna Grace’s face. “Not one of the Belle daughters would ever offer to do all this for me. They’d all be too afraid of my mother and their own mamas.”
“Honey, Mary Lou had better be afraid of me. I’m determined that no one is ever going to make me feel inferior again.” Cricket had actually stretched the truth, because, deep down, she felt rather plain and chubby in Anna Grace’s presence.
“You haven’t dealt with my mama,” Anna Grace said, “but I’m not going to argue with you. Can I have your cell phone number?”
Cricket picked up a business card for the shop, wrote her number on the back, and handed it across the table. “Welcome to the world of the poor and proud.”
Anna Grace pulled a tissue from a box and wiped the tears from her face. “I’m going to call Tommy and talk to him on the way back to the office. Thank you again, Cricket. I damn sure don’t deserve this, but I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”
She pushed open the door just as Lettie and Nadine were about to open it. She stepped aside and allowed them to enter, then went on her way.
“Am I seeing things?” Lettie asked. “Was that Anna Grace leaving this store without a black eye or bloody nose?”
“Yep, and I still don’t know if she tried to pull a prank on me, or if what she said was real, but I think I shut down the joke if it was one, and I made her feel like crap.” Cricket went on to tell them what she had said and done.
“Holy hell!” Nadine sputtered. “What are you going to do if she shows up at your house tonight with her things in tow?”
“Teach her how to work and how to cook and clean,” Cricket said. “Jennie Sue gave me a chance when I treated her like crap, so I’m paying it forward.”
“This is like that one book we read a few months ago, or was it years ago?” Lettie drew her dark eyebrows down and tapped her chin with her bony finger. “Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, but I remember that someone said that the heroine was letting the villain define her actions. You just proved that Anna Grace doesn’t have any power over you anymore. I’m right proud of you, girl.”
Nadine shook her head slowly from side to side. “Man alive, you’ve got your job cut out for you if you think you can teach that girl a blessed thing in just three months. She’s probably never even pushed the button down to make toast.”
“Don’t I know it,” Cricket agreed. “She doesn’t even know how to work a microwave.”
“I want pictures of her the first time you take her out in the garden and teach her how to cut okra.” Lettie headed for the coffeepot. “That’d be something even more bizarre than aliens.”
“Oh, no!” Nadine grabbed her chest. “If she does this, she will be at your house on Saturday when you’re supposed to go fishing with Bryce. Do you think she’s just initiating—no that’s not the right word—” Nadine pursed her lips. “Insinuating—that’s the word—into your life so she can get next to Bryce? Is this just a ploy to be a pharmacist’s wife after all?”
“I warned her about that,” Cricket said. “If it is, she’s going to find herself landing out in the yard flat on her butt, and I hope it’s good and muddy when it happens.”
“I’ll help you,” Lettie said. “Just give me a call, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Let me drive and we’ll be there in five,” Nadine declared.
Cricket just hoped that she never had to make that call.
Chapter Five
Rather than get dressed for a party, Bryce would have liked to put on his overalls and go out to the farm to spend the evening with Cricket. Time with her was refreshing to his soul. Even from the beginning, she didn’t put on airs or try to cover up what she was thinking, and he liked that in a woman. But tonight, he would be going down the stairs from his apartment into the garage, and then into Lettie and Nadine’s house to celebrate Nadine’s ninety-fifth birthday. He’d known them for only a few days, but he already wanted to grow up and have the kind of attitude about life that they had. One that said he loved life and living, and that he was so confident in his own skin that he didn’t give a rip what people thought of him.
On his way out the door, Bryce picked up his present—a box of fancy chocolates that he’d bought at a local gift store. He’d called his mother to see what he should take, and she’d suggested a bottle of wine, but his grandmother said a box of candy was a better gift since he didn’t know if Nadine liked wine or, if she did, what kind.