Read Online Dear Carolina by Kristy W Harvey - Free Book Online Page A

realize that I needed to let go a little. Flying back and forth between Kinston and New York had seemed fun at first, but with a child, a working farm, a household to run, aging parents, an antiques store, a design business, volunteer projects, blogging, and a new coffee table book on the way, sometimes the bi-state schedule felt daunting. The idea that I needed to unload something from my very full life, simplify a bit, lingered like a yellow jacket on a can of Cheerwine. I caught myself thinking,
After all, I am about to be a mother again
. And, for the first time in a while, I realized that I trusted my gut feeling more than what I read on WebMD.

Jodi

    LETTING GO TOO EASY
    My whole life has been about putting up food and keeping it good and not wasting nothing. So it ain’t some big surprise that I’m not real big on change. When I heard some smart people at the garage talking about our “vanishing Americana,” it got me worrying. All them special things about America, like a roadside general store and an old Lucky Strike sign. A tobacco barn older than anyone livin’ and an album full of black-and-whites. All them stores is always updating, and I don’t think it’s right. We don’t have them fancy cathedrals and monuments or Stonehenge or nothing, but we’re letting our history run right down the tubes.
    â€œSeems to me like we need to hold on to our past,” I was telling Graham. We were sitting beside each other on the sofa, me all embarrassed because he and Khaki throwed me a surprise shower.
    Graham patted me on the arm. “I remember Khaki’s friend Stacey telling me that when she was pregnant she wanted to starta campaign to keep the polar ice caps from melting. And Khaki’s sister decided that she would raise the money to ensure that every person in the world had clean drinking water.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œSo,” he said, “I think it’s normal when you’re creating the next generation to start thinking about what you’re going to do to make the world a better place.”
    Marlene, she slutted over with that teased, brassy head of hers and interrupted, smiling at Graham like she’d just as soon eat him as look at him.
    â€œYou sure are looking good today,” she said, wiggling her fingers on Graham’s shoulder. He looked at her like she oughta be locked up and walked away. I swatted Marlene’s skinny leg and said, “My cousin is married, you tramp.”
    Her finger was working a poppy seed outta her teeth. “You don’t know if they’re happy.”
    That Marlene was always looking out for herself even if it meant killing you and then using your dead body to save hers.
    â€œHey,” she said. “I know it was a long time ago, but have you given any more thought to selling that Shaklee mess?”
    I pointed to my stomach. “No. I’ve sorta had this going on.”
    â€œOkay,” she said. “Well, that’s good ’cause I think I’ve found something even better for us to do.”
    Jesus must’ve sent Buddy over right about then; He must’ve known I couldn’t stomach an hour of Marlene’s scheming.
    â€œWell, hey there,” she said to Buddy, scooting closer to him on the sofa.
    â€œMarlene,” I said, “could you please go get me some punch?”
    â€œOh, I can get it,” Buddy said.
    â€œOh, that’s okay,” I said. “Marlene really wants to.”
    I didn’t want Marlene sitting beside Buddy, sinking them long red nails into his thigh and putting ideas in his head. My bellymight’ve reached dern near to Tennessee when I faced west, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t think a boy was cute. I might not’ve been in man-catching shape, but I still didn’t want
her
to have him.
    â€œThat friend of yours is something,” Buddy said.
    My heart fell all the way to South Carolina. He musta liked