“Thank you, Cricket,” Anna Grace said when the short prayer ended. “I’ve never prayed out loud before.”
“Another lesson you’ll learn here.” Cricket served herself half the eggs and three pieces of bacon, then passed the plate over to Anna Grace. She poured herself a glass of juice, slid the jug over toward Anna Grace, and picked up a piece of the toast from a plate that was in the middle of the table.
“We never ate together except at dinners when we had guests.” Anna Grace followed Cricket’s lead and put the rest of the eggs and bacon on her plate.
Cricket hoped that Anna Grace learned to like this new world because, from what Tommy had said, this was the kind of upbringing he had had. If she didn’t learn to be independent, all the love she had for him might not be enough.
“If we eat like this every morning, I’ll need new clothes,” Anna Grace said.
“You’ll work it all off.” Cricket opened a jar of homemade elderberry jam and put a spoonful on her toast.
“I go to the gym after work at least three times a week, but I’m sure my mother will cancel that membership. She’s probably made a list of all the places she’ll need to call today.” Anna Grace finished off her breakfast and took a sip of her coffee. “Do you think I could make breakfast for Tommy by Sunday morning? And is it all right with you if he sleeps over on Saturday night?”
“You’re an adult. You don’t have to ask me whether your boyfriend can stay the night here,” Cricket said. “I’ll give you a crash course in something simple. We’ll make French toast and ham for supper tonight, and you can write down the instructions as we go. It’s fast and easy.”
“I hope so.” Anna Grace smiled. “I’ll go get dressed. I brought jeans and a shirt like you said to wear to the bookstore this morning.”
“Not before we get the dishes done and the kitchen put to rights.” Cricket finished off her coffee. “And Anna Grace, if you can read directions, you can cook. During our downtime at the store, why don’t you go through some cookbooks?”
“Do they have one called Cooking for Dummies?” Anna Grace asked.
“Maybe so,” Cricket answered. “I’ll wash. You can dry and put away, so you’ll learn where things go.”
No one ever texted or called Cricket early in the morning, so it startled her when her phone rang as she was washing dishes. She quickly dried her hands and pulled it from her hip pocket, scared that something might have happened to Lettie or Nadine. When she saw Bryce’s name, a wide smile broke out, and Anna Grace raised an eyebrow.
“Hello.” She carried the phone outside to the porch.
“Good morning! I dreamed about you last night, and wondered if I came out and helped with the garden right after work, if maybe we could get a couple of hours of fishing in tonight before it got dark?” he asked.
“I don’t see why not,” she answered. “Anna Grace and I are making French toast and ham for supper. We could make a sandwich out of ours and take it to the creek with us.”
“That sounds wonderful. See you then, if not before.” He lowered his voice. “So she moved in, did she? Lettie is betting Nadine that she won’t last a week, and she’s put ten dollars on it, so she’s serious.”
“Did you get in on that bet?” Cricket asked.
Bryce chuckled. “I’m in for five. I saw that woman in the store. She looks like she’s all fashion and makeup. What about you?”
“The jury is still out, but I might have to throw a dollar or two into the pot,” she answered. “See you after work.”
“Lookin’ forward to it,” he said and ended the call.
Cricket returned her phone to her pocket and went back into the house to find that Anna Grace had finished the dishes, put them away, and wiped down the stove top, the cabinets, and the table. “I’ve seen our cook do this, so I figured that was the rest of what you meant by cleaning up.”
Cricket smiled and nodded. She was going to put in five dollars on the positive side. If Anna Grace kept this up, Cricket might win the whole pot, but even if that didn’t happen, she felt like she’d already won the lottery when Bryce called.
* * *
Lettie and Nadine were in the drugstore before anyone else that morning. They sat down at one of the tables and ordered cherry limeades. Ilene had just gotten their drinks set down when Amos came in and joined them. Since Bryce wasn’t busy, he rounded the end of the pharmacy counter and sat down at the table with them, too.
“That was some party last night,” Amos said. “Ilene, would you be a doll and bring me a cup of coffee?”
“Comin’ right up,” Ilene answered.
“We was glad for a good turnout.” Lettie took a sip of her drink. “I think I need a bag of chips to go with this, Ilene.”
Ilene picked up a small bag from the end of the counter with her free hand and brought it to the table along with Amos’s coffee. “I hear we’ve got a pot going about Anna Grace making it for a week.” She laid a five on the table. “I don’t think she’ll make it until Monday, so put my money on that side.”
Lettie whipped an envelope out of her purse and added the bill to it, then wrote Ilene’s name on the outside. “If anyone bets for her, they’re going to win a lot.”
“This is so exciting!” Nadine said. “We haven’t had a good bet going like this in more than a year.”
Amos handed her two dollars. “Put me down for her not making it until Sunday. She’ll be back in Mary Lou’s good graces by church time Sunday morning.”
Lettie did the bookwork and then focused on Bryce. “Now, we want to know if you’re going to ask Cricket on a real date. So far, you’ve just done what you had to do to run from Anna Grace, even though it’s looking like you didn’t need to.”
“Already did,” Bryce said. “We’re going fishing tonight, and if she’s willing, I’m going to ask her to go with me for ice cream tomorrow night.”
Lettie smiled and winked at Amos.
“What’s that all about? Are y’all taking bets on me and Cricket?” he asked.
“We never tell the folks that we’re betting on,” Nadine said. “That would be cheating.”
The phone rang and Tandy motioned for him. “Doc just called to say he was faxing over a whole page of prescriptions for the nursing home patients.”
Bryce pushed back his chair, but he looked over his shoulder and noticed that Lettie had an envelope out. Amos handed her another bill. Bryce was too far away to see how much he was betting, but he figured they had a pot going where he and Cricket were concerned.
The afternoon went by in a flash. There was a constant flow of customers in the store, and the bar stools and tables were full most of the time. Bryce filled a hundred prescriptions before closing and had at least twenty on his counter to start filling the next morning. At five o’clock, he closed shop and rushed home to his apartment. He got all his fishing gear together and changed into his most comfortable jeans and a comfortable old T-shirt.
He whistled all the way down the stairs leading into the garage, pushed the button to open the overhead door, and loaded his gear into his vehicle, which was parked out on the curb. The radio came on when he started the engine, and the song playing put a grin on his face. Bonnie Raitt was singing, “Something to Talk About.” That was the song that Cricket had been singing at the beginning of the week when he met her for the first time. Just hearing the lyrics put a visual of her in those shorts with her midriff showing.