Chapter 26
“My favorite memory as a little girl was driving through Poetry and then over to Terrell to see all the Christmas lights and decorations,” Willa Rose said and whipped her head from one side of the road to the other all the way from Spanish Fort to Nocona.
“I don’t want to miss a thing, but I’ve got to admit none of them are as fancy as the Paradise. ”
“My folks took us all around Bandera and down to San Antonio to the River Walk to see it all lit up every year. Now, that’s a town to visit during the holidays.”
With his deep Texas drawl, Willa Rose could have listened to him read Moby Dick , and that was a compliment because she had tried to read it twice and didn’t get past page fifty.
“Since you enjoy driving around and looking at lights, how would you feel about getting some fast-food burgers at the Dairy Queen?” Tripp asked.
“That wouldn’t take as long as a sit-down meal, and then we could drive over to Saint Jo to see all the Christmas decorations.
They tell me that the square is pretty impressive during the holidays. ”
“I would love that.”
“Then that’s our new plan,” he told her.
“Are we really on a date?” she asked.
“If you call a cheeseburger with bacon, fries, and a chocolate shake a date, then yes, we are. If you call it two friends who are raising a baby together on an evening out, then you will make Bernie very happy.”
“I guess Bernie is going to be angry, or maybe she’s been playing the two of us all this time,” Willa Rose said.
“I don’t think so.” Tripp could easily visualize the expression on Bernie’s face when she confronted him. “She thinks you are going to stay, but now she believes that if we got together, it would be for Nicky, not for us.”
“I wonder if that’s why my mama didn’t say yes to my dad all those times he proposed,” Willa Rose said.
“Because she liked hamburgers?”
“No, because she had to be sure that he wasn’t looking for an instant family and that he really loved her for herself.” The fact that Tripp had never said the words pricked her heart.
Neither have you, the niggling voice inside her head reminded her.
A guy is supposed to say them first, she argued.
In what world? the voice asked.
She brushed the thoughts away and pointed out the front window. “We’re coming into town, and it really is lit up like Christmas, but not as much as the Paradise.”
“I don’t image there’s a town in the whole county that can top the Paradise.”
“Maybe not in all of north-central Texas.”
“But not in the whole state,” Tripp said.
“My dad used to say that the astronauts could probably see San Antonio from outer space. That reminds me of something the old gentleman who taught me about leatherworking said when his wife passed away. They had been married sixty years, and he didn’t seem to be nearly as saddened at losing her as I thought he would be.
I asked him why, and he told me that everyone dies two deaths.
One when their body is tired and leaves this earth.
The second is when everyone stops telling their stories.
With that in mind, when I remember something either of my parents said or a story that they used to tell… ”
“That’s a variation of what Ernest Hemingway supposedly said, something like: ‘Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.’ But how did you get that out of astronauts seeing a city lit up from outer space?”
“What my dad said about it, and what old Gus told me about remembering those who have passed away. If I remember their stories, their spirit is still alive. Do you remember things that your mother said?”
Willa Rose smiled at all the memories she had of her mother, and at the times when she still popped into her head to give her advice or argue with her. “Yes, I do, and I like what Gus told you. That’s a comforting thought.”
Tripp turned left and found a parking spot in front of the Dairy Queen. “Gus read all the time, so he probably just paraphrased what Hemingway said.”
“What do you read?” she asked.
“I’m an eclectic reader—so the answer would be everything from Faulkner to the back of the cereal box. How about you?”
“Mary Jane Simmons and your sister, Ursula, here lately. If they don’t have anything new on the market, then I like historical romance,” she answered. “Don’t give me that look. Men could learn a lot from reading steamy books.”
He opened the truck door and asked, “When did you start reading that kind of book?”
“When I was twelve. I found one that Erica left behind.”
“What did your dad say about that?”
She chuckled. “We had a five-page rule. Before you ask, it went like this: and then he kissed her, turn five pages and keep reading.”
“And you followed the rule?”
Willa Rose giggled out loud. “Oh, hell no, but I did feel guilty a few times.”
“That surprises me.”
“What?”
“Both that you went against what Hank said, and that you felt guilty,” he answered and slid out of the truck, closed the door, and jogged around the front to help her out of the vehicle.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she quipped as she put her hand in his. “Why would you be surprised at me being a rebel or repenting?”
“You seem more like a woman who was born knowing her own mind.” He kept her hand in his and led her into the café.
She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Lot of good that did me. I was dead set against moving to Spanish Fort, and even more so against liking you or any of the Paradise family. Yet here I am.”
“And happy?” He opened the café door for her.
“Yasmin told me to choose a path when I came to the fork in the road,” she answered. “My dad used to tell me that I couldn’t ride two horses with one ass, so the advice is pretty much the same. I refuse to have regrets concerning the path I chose.”
The aroma of burgers cooking wafted out to meet them when he ushered her inside. “You didn’t answer me. Are you happy?”
“Define ‘happy.’” She grinned.
“Does living here bring you joy?”
“Yes, it does,” she answered. “And so does the smell of burgers.”
“I guess that puts me in my place about making you happy,” he said.
“You are buying me what I love, so that says a lot.”
“Well, well, well!” Bernie said from a nearby booth. “What is going on here?”
“Is she everywhere?” Willa Rose whispered.
“It’s date night,” Tripp answered and tipped his hat toward the ladies. “Evening, Gladys and Vera. What are y’all out doing this evening? Lights or last-minute shopping?”
“Yep to both,” Bernie answered. “But first we are having supper. Y’all beat me to the punch by sneaking your first date in on me.”
“Were you about to set us up on a date together?” Willa Rose asked.
Bernie cut her eyes around at her. “Busted. I was going to play a trick on y’all and set you up on a blind date together after Christmas. You would have been so shocked to see that you were meeting each other for dessert and coffee, and with my blessing.”
Willa Rose raised both dark eyebrows. “Oh, really? Did you just now dream that up?”
“No, she’s been telling us about her plans since that fiasco with those terrible kids and you decided to stay in town,” Vera vouched for her.
Bernie removed a bill from her purse and handed it to Tripp. “That’s the last of the bets paid in full.”
Tripp slipped the hundred in his pocket. “How much did you lose?”
“If I told you, that would be breaking bookie/client confidentiality,” Bernie told him.
“I’m not sure that exists,” Tripp argued.
“It does if I say it does, and I always had confidence in you, even if you almost became my first failure.” Bernie chuckled. “Now, go on and put your order in. Unless you are stalking me.”
“I am not,” Tripp said.
“Before you go…” Vera focused on Willa Rose. “I want to compliment you on that great Christmas program. Having it in the barn was a stroke of genius.”
“Thank you, but it was a team effort between the folks at the Paradise and the carnival folks,” Willa Rose said.
“Where’s the baby?” Gladys asked. “Are you bringing him to services on Sunday? Vera and I will be watching the nursery. Mary Jane is letting us use the living room in the Paradise to keep the littles in.”
“Ivy is watching him for us tonight,” Tripp answered.
“Mary Jane is a good woman to take that girl into the Paradise. I hear that Ivy is fitting right into the family,” Vera said.
“Mary Jane has a heart of gold, and Ivy has been helping me organize the antique store, too,” Willa Rose said. “But Bernie, I have a question before we put in our order. When did you change your mind about me and Tripp?”
Bernie took a long drink of her sweet tea. “I figure if you can’t fight ’em, join ’em. I put up a good fight, and y’all have jumped every obstacle I’ve thrown at you.”
“Are you taking credit for me and Willa Rose?” Tripp asked.
“Yes, I am. I do not fail in my missions. And if you don’t believe me about fixing y’all up together, just ask Ivy. I asked her to save the Friday after Christmas to babysit Nicky, and I was even planning to pay her for y’all.”
“I’m still not so sure I believe you, Aunt Bernie,” Tripp said.
“I don’t give a damn whether you do or not.” She grinned. “I led you both on a merry chase and loved every minute of it. Now get on with your date night. I’ve just got one more thing to say to you, Tripp…”
“I’ll believe that when I don’t hear you bossing me around,” he told her, “but go on.”
“I think you are trying to buffalo me right now. You wouldn’t be taking any woman, much less Willa Rose, on a first date to a fast-food joint, no matter how good the burgers are.”
“I’m a cheap date,” Willa Rose argued. “And a bacon cheeseburger is on the list of my favorite foods.”
“I don’t admit it when I’m wrong, so I’ll just say, we’ll see ,” Bernie said with a grin.
“Y’all enjoy the lights,” Willa Rose said as she tugged on Tripp’s hand and led him up to the counter to order.