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Authors: Elizabeth Lee
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rest.”
Against my better judgment, I pulled out and headed home.
Chapter Ten
Ethelred Tomroy was the first one in after I opened the store. Miss Emma had been up to her ears in bookwork, and Bethany was off somewhere with Jeffrey Coulter, who’d come back from his property search and suggested a day in Columbus. Since Miss Amelia declared she wasn’t showing her face at the Nut House until things were a lot clearer, that left me, which seemed bad enough, and then here comes Ethelred.
“Where’s Miss Amelia?” Ethelred demanded, out of breath from climbing the three front steps. “I gotta talk to her. I don’t believe a word people are sayin’.”
Ethelred’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. “I hope to heaven you Blanchards got your wits about you and called Ben Fordyce. Ask me, these gossips got to be made to shut up. I’d threaten to sue the whole passel of ’em, it was me . . .”
“Why, Miss Ethelred.” I was filling one of the open counters with pecan gift boxes. I leaned back to eye the woman. “Thought you and Miss Amelia were enemies.”
Her wide mouth dropped open. “Enemies! Me an’ Amelia Hastings? You out of your ever-lovin’ mind, girl? Me and Amelia been friends since she came here, after your grandfather died over there in Dallas. I think I was the first one to welcome her to Riverville, comin’ from one of the oldest families, the way I do.”
“Well, all that competition . . .”
“That’s nothing but two friends trying to outdo each other. Amelia’s always winning those ribbons and I don’t, personally, think she’s that much better than me. Popularity contest is all it is.”
“Doesn’t seem that way right now.” I looked around the empty store. “Not like they were waiting on the porch to get in this morning.”
Ethelred frowned, eyes searching the usually bustling aisles. “Don’t go looking for trouble, Lindy. Everybody’s got other things to do.”
She stopped to straighten packs of candied pecans on the front counter. When she looked up, she squinted at me with one eye, like people do who are trying to get something out of you. “I’ve really got to talk to her. Think I’ll go on out to the ranch.”
“She’s resting right now.”
“I understand that well enough, but I gotta talk to her. About going with me somewhere tomorrow.”
“Sorry. It’s not a good time right now.”
She drew in her nostrils tight and fixed me with a mean look. “I’m going out there, Lindy. Don’t care what you say. She promised and, well, there’s no way around it.”
I threw my hands up, figuring Miss Amelia could tend to herself. Ethelred always did run right over me. It was all that stuff about respecting your elders no matter what bullheads they could be.
She was gone and I was thinking about closing up when the bell over the front door jingled again. I felt a shiver of dread.
Who next with questions about Miss Amelia?
That’s probably all I’d get today, I figured. People not so much interested in the Special Pecan Pies or cookies or boxes of nuts, but people looking for a tidbit of gossip to share with their neighbors:
You think she coulda done it? Musta lost her mind when Ethelred beat her out for that blue ribbon . . .
It was a relief to see Jessie Sanchez coming up the aisle at me. Her shirt was bright red, her wide skirt many colors. Her long black hair swung at her shoulders. My friend. Colorful. Sympathetic. Easy to be with. I truly hugged her and gave her the warmest smile I could muster. She smelled good. Like warm soap and books and just somebody who didn’t argue for nothing, didn’t gossip, and would make me laugh even when I was as far down as I was right then.
Jessie sank into the rocker with the red chair pads while I pulled a stool from behind the counter.
“Saw you in here when I was driving by. Miss Amelia all right?”
“She doesn’t want to come in anymore. Thinks everybody in town’s talking—and I suppose they
Against my better judgment, I pulled out and headed home.
Chapter Ten
Ethelred Tomroy was the first one in after I opened the store. Miss Emma had been up to her ears in bookwork, and Bethany was off somewhere with Jeffrey Coulter, who’d come back from his property search and suggested a day in Columbus. Since Miss Amelia declared she wasn’t showing her face at the Nut House until things were a lot clearer, that left me, which seemed bad enough, and then here comes Ethelred.
“Where’s Miss Amelia?” Ethelred demanded, out of breath from climbing the three front steps. “I gotta talk to her. I don’t believe a word people are sayin’.”
Ethelred’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. “I hope to heaven you Blanchards got your wits about you and called Ben Fordyce. Ask me, these gossips got to be made to shut up. I’d threaten to sue the whole passel of ’em, it was me . . .”
“Why, Miss Ethelred.” I was filling one of the open counters with pecan gift boxes. I leaned back to eye the woman. “Thought you and Miss Amelia were enemies.”
Her wide mouth dropped open. “Enemies! Me an’ Amelia Hastings? You out of your ever-lovin’ mind, girl? Me and Amelia been friends since she came here, after your grandfather died over there in Dallas. I think I was the first one to welcome her to Riverville, comin’ from one of the oldest families, the way I do.”
“Well, all that competition . . .”
“That’s nothing but two friends trying to outdo each other. Amelia’s always winning those ribbons and I don’t, personally, think she’s that much better than me. Popularity contest is all it is.”
“Doesn’t seem that way right now.” I looked around the empty store. “Not like they were waiting on the porch to get in this morning.”
Ethelred frowned, eyes searching the usually bustling aisles. “Don’t go looking for trouble, Lindy. Everybody’s got other things to do.”
She stopped to straighten packs of candied pecans on the front counter. When she looked up, she squinted at me with one eye, like people do who are trying to get something out of you. “I’ve really got to talk to her. Think I’ll go on out to the ranch.”
“She’s resting right now.”
“I understand that well enough, but I gotta talk to her. About going with me somewhere tomorrow.”
“Sorry. It’s not a good time right now.”
She drew in her nostrils tight and fixed me with a mean look. “I’m going out there, Lindy. Don’t care what you say. She promised and, well, there’s no way around it.”
I threw my hands up, figuring Miss Amelia could tend to herself. Ethelred always did run right over me. It was all that stuff about respecting your elders no matter what bullheads they could be.
She was gone and I was thinking about closing up when the bell over the front door jingled again. I felt a shiver of dread.
Who next with questions about Miss Amelia?
That’s probably all I’d get today, I figured. People not so much interested in the Special Pecan Pies or cookies or boxes of nuts, but people looking for a tidbit of gossip to share with their neighbors:
You think she coulda done it? Musta lost her mind when Ethelred beat her out for that blue ribbon . . .
It was a relief to see Jessie Sanchez coming up the aisle at me. Her shirt was bright red, her wide skirt many colors. Her long black hair swung at her shoulders. My friend. Colorful. Sympathetic. Easy to be with. I truly hugged her and gave her the warmest smile I could muster. She smelled good. Like warm soap and books and just somebody who didn’t argue for nothing, didn’t gossip, and would make me laugh even when I was as far down as I was right then.
Jessie sank into the rocker with the red chair pads while I pulled a stool from behind the counter.
“Saw you in here when I was driving by. Miss Amelia all right?”
“She doesn’t want to come in anymore. Thinks everybody in town’s talking—and I suppose they
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