“Thanks, Dad. You’re the best!”
Kennedy started to say he hadn’t agreed—then clamped his mouth shut again. He didn’t have to say no. The moment he invited her, Grace would do that for him.
“No problem,” he said. “Just don’t be disappointed if she can’t come, okay? She might have other plans.”
“She doesn’t have other plans,” he replied confidently. “She hardly knows anyone here. And she really likes me.”
It wasn’t her affinity for Teddy he was worried about. It was her lack of affinity for him.
As soon as she stepped out of the shower, Grace tried George’s office number. She’d tried calling him twice already, but Heather, his secretary, said he hadn’t come in yet. He usually hit the office at eight, so it seemed odd that his secretary didn’t know where he was at ten o’clock, but Grace assumed he must’ve had a court date he’d forgotten to mention.
“George E. Dunagan’s office.”
“Hi, Heather. It’s Grace again. Is George in yet?”
There was a slight hesitation. “Um, I’m not sure. I’ve been on the phone.”
Being on the phone meant she couldn’t see him when he walked in? “Could you check, please?”
“Ah, sure.”
“Thanks,” Grace said, perplexed by the strain in his secretary’s voice.
There was a long pause but finally George came on the line.
“Grace?”
She sighed in relief. “George. There you are. I was beginning to think you’d been abducted by aliens or something.” She laughed, but he didn’t join in.
“What’s up?” he said.
She straightened, trying to figure out what had changed. “Nothing, really. I just wanted to check in with you. We haven’t talked for a few days.”
“I’ve been busy.” He didn’t elaborate. “How’s Stillwater?” he asked after a moment of awkward silence.
“Okay, I guess.”
He covered the phone and spoke to someone else.
“Madeline talked me into breaking into an auto repair shop last night,” she said because she knew he wasn’t listening.
“That’s nice,” he said when he came back on the line.
Grace moved over to her dresser, where she’d put a picture of them having dinner for her birthday. “George, what’s going on? You’re acting so distant.”
“Listen, Grace, I’ve got another call, and it’s one I have to take. Can we talk later?”
A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. George had never treated her so coolly. Why wasn’t he pressing her to come home early? Why wasn’t he asking if he could drive out and spend the weekend with her? He’d always done that sort of thing in the past. “Is there something I should know about?” she asked.
“I can’t explain right now. I’ve got a lot going on.”
She couldn’t imagine how he could be any busier than usual. And he’d always had time for her before. But she let him go. “Sure,” she said. “You’re okay, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine,” he replied and hurried off the phone.
He was fine. He’d said so himself. So why was every nerve screaming that something was wrong? George had always been so steady, so resolute. He couldn’t have changed his mind about wanting a relationship with her, could he? Not when she needed him most….
Grace was still staring at the phone when Teddy knocked. She’d been expecting him, but after talking to George, she wasn’t sure she wanted company—until she opened the door and Teddy promptly presented her with a dandelion.
“I picked it for you,” he said proudly.
She smiled. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.” Somehow his sweet gesture made her feel better. Nothing was really wrong between her and George. Eventually, they’d marry as they’d planned all along and have a boy just like Teddy.
In any case, she had enough to worry about without stressing over George. The reverend’s Bible was floating around somewhere.
“You all ready to open the shop?” she asked.
“Yeah!”
She was almost as excited as he was. Selling Evonne’s handmade soaps, lotions and preserves was one way to feel close to her again. “Do you have your grandma’s permission to be here?”
He glanced at the Nibley for Mayor signs on her porch, the ones she’d been meaning to put in her yard, then scuffed one toe against the other. “Yeah.”
She sensed he had something else to say, but he didn’t come out with it. Every time she asked about his family, he clammed up. She guessed his home life was so bad he didn’t want to discuss it. “Teddy?”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“I want to meet your parents.”
“This weekend?” he said hopefully.
“Today.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “But my mom’s gone and my dad’s at work. So can it wait till after we set up the stand?”
She didn’t see why not. “Of course,” she said, and a warm feeling lingered in her heart as she waved the boy inside. How such a random pair of lost souls had managed to find each other, she didn’t know. But it seemed fitting that they’d met at Evonne’s. “Come on, we’ll start bringing out the peaches.”
“Do you think we’ll make lots of money today?” Teddy asked, setting his lawn chair as close to Grace’s as he could.
Grace studied the fruits and vegetables and other things they’d laid out for sale. At the last minute, Teddy had asked if they could bake a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. Grace wouldn’t have done it, except he’d said he’d mow the lawn in exchange for any that were left over at the end of the day, and she wanted him to have them. She suspected there’d be quite a few extras. Folks had to be missing Evonne’s peaches and tomatoes they’d grown up eating. But Grace wasn’t sure that something she’d made would appeal to the people of this town. Especially considering one of the theories that had circulated—that she or her mother had poisoned the reverend.
“Maybe a few bucks,” she said with a shrug.
“Who do you think our first customer will be?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, but it didn’t take long to find out. Almost as soon as the words were out of Grace’s mouth, a white sedan pulled to the curb and Mrs. Reese, one of her former high school teachers, got out.