Chapter 4
The sun had dropped behind the trees out in the backyard that evening when Willa Rose finally eased down on the sofa in her new house.
Endora had brought over cookies and brownies.
Audrey had put milk and lunch meat in the fridge and a loaf of bread and bag of chips on the cabinet.
With all the help from the Paradise family, everything was unpacked except for the boxes marked PERSONAL in her bedroom.
Even the bed was made and ready for her to crawl into later that evening.
“I’ve never known support like this. Not even my church family would have chipped in and gotten so much done in such a short time,” she murmured.
A hard rap on the door brought her to her feet with a groan.
“Daddy, you don’t have to knock,” she scolded when she opened the door.
“That knock was done with the toe of my boot. I needed you to open the door so I could carry supper in.” He glanced down at the box in his hands.
“Tertia sent a lasagna, a loaf of fresh bread, and a pecan pie over so we wouldn’t have to cook tonight.
Tripp is bringing the rest of it in for us.
I thought we could share it for supper. I’m starving, and I imagine you are too.
I invited Tripp and Bernie to join us for supper.
She brought me the food, so it only seemed right to ask her.
She’s parking her truck out front, and Tripp is carrying in the rest of the food.
” He set the box on the kitchen table and looked around.
“This is amazing. Who would have thought we’d have such a welcome?
You’ll have to come see my little apartment. It’s just perfect.”
***
Tripp opened the back door of his truck, picked up the second box, and turned to find Aunt Bernie right behind him.
“We need to talk before we go in there.” Her tone reminded him of the days when she was so against Brodie and Audrey’s relationship—something between scolding and downright anger.
“What’s going on?” Tripp asked, suddenly feeling a little of Knox’s fear of redheaded women—no matter what age they were.
“Willa Rose is not for you, and this is not reverse psychology. I’m as serious as a judge having a heart attack.
That woman is only going to be here until summer.
I can see it in her eyes, and she might even convince Hank to go back to that Poetry town with her.
Neither you nor Knox are to flirt with her,” she warned.
“Why?” Tripp asked.
“Because I swear to God on Parker’s Bible that I refuse to see you marry someone and leave these parts.
It would break Mary Jane and Joe Clay’s hearts.
I will give up my front seat in heaven for a back seat on a hot barbed-wire fence in hell before I allow such a thing.
” She shook her finger at him. “We will go in here and eat with these folks, and we will be sociable. I want Hank to stay, but there will be no flirting.”
“Yes, ma’am, and thank you,” Tripp said. “I have too much on my plate right now to even think about a relationship.”
“Now that you have some help in the store and we’ve got that settled, it won’t hurt for you to get your toes in the dating pool.
You’ve been here almost a year and haven’t been out nearly enough.
So you are out of practice, but I’ve got several women who would be perfect for you—maybe not marriage material, but some that would do for a fun date or two. ”
“But not until after the holidays. Even with Hank’s help, I’m too busy and, for that matter, too tired to date,” he said.
“We’ll see about that.” She knocked on the door.
Tripp didn’t know if he’d been saved or condemned. One thing for sure, Bernie would still be trying to match folks together when she got to heaven, so if anyone in the whole county even thought that death could help them escape, they had better back up and think again.
“Meals on Wheels has arrived,” he said when Hank opened the door and motioned them inside.
“Looks more like Meals in Box to me.” Hank chuckled.
“Come on into the kitchen,” Willa Rose called out. “I’ve just finished setting the table. Does everyone want sweet tea?”
“Yes,” Hank and Bernie said at the same time.
“Same here,” Tripp answered.
Most women, including his mother, would have been totally flustered at having people show up the first night in their new place, but Willa Rose appeared to be calm and collected.
Bernie could be wrong about her not staying in Spanish Fort, and if she did, maybe the old gal would turn her attention to plying her matchmaking skills on Willa Rose instead of focusing on him.
Dinner conversation had never been Tripp’s strong suit, but then most of the time he had lots of people around him.
Or at the very least, Knox and Brodie were close by to take up the slack.
He was a fish out of water with only four people around the table that evening.
Thank goodness Bernie was there to ask questions, even if she did shoot more than one dose of evil eye across the table when no one was looking.
Tripp tuned out the small talk for a while, but when Bernie kicked him under the table, he gathered in his wandering thoughts and listened.
“Was your wife from Poetry?” she asked Hank.
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “She was a waitress at my favorite café near Chaparral, New Mexico, just north of El Paso. She had a cute little brunette-haired daughter, Erica, who was about five years old. Vada wasn’t one bit interested in leaving that area, so it took me a year to convince her to marry me and move to Poetry. ”
“Did she like it there?” Bernie asked.
“Oh, yeah. She fell in love with the town and the people right fast. What about you, Bernie? Have you always lived here?”
“I grew up around these parts, left right after high school, and just moved back a couple of years ago,” she answered. “So, tell me more about yourself, Willa Rose. I understand that you were a schoolteacher.”
“That’s right, but I quit my job a year and a half ago. Mama needed full-time care.” From the set of her mouth and the quick eye roll, it was evident that she didn’t want to talk about herself.
“It was an adjustment for me to leave my job and move to these parts,” Tripp said, hoping to come to Willa Rose’s rescue. “I worked in my dad’s oil business, wore suits and ties, and pored over accounting books most days.”
“I figured you had worked in leather your whole life,” Hank said.
“I tinkered with it and wanted to put in my own shop in Dallas, but…” He shrugged.
“My mother had other ideas for me, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.
Then she and my father both passed away, and we three brothers sold the business.
Brodie wanted to make a trip up here to see his biological father, Joe Clay, and we found the organic farm.
That was his dream. Mine was a leather shop, and Knox has been a carpenter for years. ”
He stopped and waited in awkward silence for another question and hoped it wouldn’t be something he had to answer. He had just said more words than he usually did in a week—unless it was about his leather work. He could talk about that subject about for hours.
“I’m glad you wound up here,” Hank said with a smile. “If you hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have a job. Now, changing the subject. We saw a carnival in Nocona when we drove through it. Isn’t it late in the year for that?”
“The town sponsors a big parade on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to usher in the holidays. At the end of the whole thing, Santa comes in on a fire engine and there’s the whole picture taking with the kids and handing out sacks of fruit and candy.
And there’s a carnival. It will stay until the day after Thanksgiving.
Then it will break down and travel to Oklahoma where it stays until spring,” Bernie explained.
“Remember how much you loved carnivals when you were a little girl, Willa Rose?” Hank asked. “I don’t know which you liked best: the cotton candy or the Ferris wheel.”
When Willa Rose smiled, her eyes lit up.
“I loved both, but I was a little brat. Erica hated heights and she didn’t like to get her fingers sticky.
So, I would eat cotton candy while I rode just to torment her.
Mama would tell her how brave I was, and how she needed to face her fears.
When we got back home, she would get her revenge in all kinds of ways. ”
“I never knew that,” Hank said.
Willa Rose reached over and patted him on the cheek. “Erica got the blame for a lot of things because she did them right out in the open or else I tattled, but I instigated some of them behind everyone’s backs. We were normal sisters.”
Tripp chuckled. “I got to admit to the same thing with Brodie and Knox. They were always so fearless that I was jealous of them. I caused some fights in my youth too. I bet if you asked any of the sisters, they would tell you the same story.”
“I can certainly relate,” Bernie said with a nod. “My twin sister and I never really got along, although we mended fences before she died.” She pushed back her chair and stood up. “It’s getting late, and my dog Pepper is probably whining to get outside, so let’s get these dishes done.”
“No way,” Hank said with a firm shake of his head. “You brought supper, so it’s only right that Willa Rose and I take care of cleanup.”
Tripp was of two minds about the evening. One side was glad that it was over. The other could have stuck around, although he wasn’t sure why he felt that way. “Thank you for inviting me. We’ll see you tomorrow at noon for Thanksgiving dinner, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Hank walked them to the door. “That Sunday dinner was awesome, and I don’t just mean the food.”
“They tell me that tomorrow is even better,” Tripp said.
The moment he and Bernie were off the porch, she huffed. “I was hoping to get Willa Rose to talk more about herself so I can fix her up and get her out of here. She’s bad news, Tripp.”
“Bad, good, or in between, you don’t have a thing to worry about,” Tripp assured her.