Chapter 6
Chapter Six
I slapped so hard at my phone’s alarm, it dropped to the floor and kept playing ‘I Want To Do It All.’ It was supposed to get my ass moving in the morning; instead, it was pissing me off.
I’d seen Graham bare-chested and sweaty three times while he’d been painting the house Sunflower Yellow, and since then, my dreams had been beyond delicious.
I’m talking strawberry-gelato delicious.
We had just gotten to the part where my top and bra were off, and he was pulling me against that hot, sweaty chest, and I was about ready to explode.
But no… Teri Clarke had to freakin’ interrupt me! Telling me to do it all. Well, what did she think I’d been doing? I had been getting ready to do it all, for fuck’s sake!
I shut off the incessant singing and hauled my happy ass out of bed.
I could already tell it was going to be one of those hot and humid days that only Tennessee could deliver.
Right now, it was livable with the windows open, but come one o’clock, I’d be a sweaty mess, so it was definitely a double deodorant day.
I’d set my alarm earlier than normal because I wanted to make a special treat for Graham and give it to him when he picked me up for lunch today. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, going out to lunch. I mean, we’d had lunch together at least nine times.
Not a big deal at all.
Nope.
What’s more, it was a lunch date, not a dinner date. A daylight date. However…
Miss Laverne wouldn’t be there.
But we were going to be at a restaurant.
So, it was kind of a big deal. He’d promised me barbecue brisket, macaroni and cheese, with baked beans.
I had eaten just a small portion of Miss Laverne’s meatloaf last night, just imagining the barbecue we were going to indulge in this afternoon.
I didn’t think he’d be taking me to Down Home Diner even though it had the best barbecue in the state.
It would be too weird since Little Grandma would be watching us the entire time.
And I couldn’t imagine him taking me to Pearl’s Restaurant.
He had to be taking me to someplace in Pigeon Forge because he couldn’t take too much time for lunch, or could he?
Come to think of it, sometimes he’d be at the house for a few hours, making repairs where needed, like it didn’t matter how long he was gone.
Then there was the fact that I knew he sometimes covered for Dave Draper at the hardware store, and he’d gone over to Thatcher’s Automotive and pitched in when they had a complicated Harley build.
Just how did his employment at Onyx Security work, anyway?
That was something I would have to pin him down about at lunch, but in the meantime, I would just have to keep myself from eating half the food in the fridge before Graham came to pick me up. I went down to the kitchen in search of Miss Laverne, but she wasn’t there.
“Miss Laverne?” I called out.
“Up here, honey.”
I jogged up the steps to the bedroom she had converted into her quilting room. I was always assaulted by the rainbow of myriad colors strewn about whenever I entered her quilting domain. Today she was in the rocker in the corner doing some hand stitching.
“What are you working on?”
“Trenda asked me if I could work on something for her nephews, Holden and Zephyr. The boys don’t have grandparents on Aiden’s side of the family, and God knows that on the Avery side, Evie and Trenda’s parents aren’t worth a damn.
Evie was telling Trenda how she felt bad that her sons didn’t have any grandparents, and Trenda asked me to step in. ”
My heart melted. “Miss Laverne, that’s beautiful. Are they coming for a visit anytime soon?”
“Yes. Evie and Aiden are coming out here for a short vacation. Trenda is planning for a pool party at their house.”
I frowned. “Why not at Trenda and Simon’s house?”
“Aiden and Evie had a big house built outside of town. According to Trenda, it’s perfect for entertaining. Evie wanted it that way for her big family.”
“Is Piper going to be coming with them from California?” I asked, talking about the youngest Avery sister. I hadn’t seen her in years, and she used to be one of my closest friends.
“All of the Averys should be there. Even the oldest boy, Drake.”
I’d never met Drake, but I’d heard stories about him when I was growing up.
“This is Holden’s quilt. I’ve already finished Zephyr’s.
” She held it up so I could see. Holden had a big tree pattern stitched in the middle with trains and trucks stitched around the edges.
It was all done in shades of green. I picked up Zephyr’s, and his had a cloud with wind in the middle, and airplanes around the edges. His were all done in shades of blue.
“They’re going to love them.”
“Oh, I hope so.”
“They will,” I assured her.
I loved this woman. I’d seen some of her other quilts for the people she considered hers. Miss Laverne was part of the fabric of this town, pun intended. I wanted to be her when I grew up. Okay, I probably still wanted to be Little Grandma, but Miss Laverne was a close second.
“Have you had breakfast?”
“I had an orange this morning.”
“Why don’t I make you a little something while I’m baking?”
“Is Graham coming over for lunch?” Miss Laverne asked.
“No, he’s taking me out to lunch.”
“Oh yes, you told me that. You’re going to have brisket. This darn quilt has been taking up all the space in my brain. I’m trying to get it done in time for the party.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet everyone.” She smiled as she set aside the quilt and got up.
“What are you talking about? I’m not going,” I corrected her.
“What are you talking about? You’re my houseguest, and you’re going on a date with Graham. You’re a friend of Piper’s, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes,” I admitted.
“So, you’re going. Everybody’s going to be there.”
“But who’s going to watch the animals?”
“Roxie will figure it out. You’re going to need a cute bathing suit. One of those two-piece ones, do you have one?”
I bit my lip and shook my head. I hadn’t worn one since college. Miss Laverne caught on.
“You’re the same size as your cousin, Emmie; she’ll have one. She’s a little bit wild. I’ll call Emerance, and she’ll call Emmie. After all, that’s her namesake.”
Oh God. I was so screwed.
“I am so pissed at you. You’ve been home for over a month, and this is the first time you’ve come over for a visit.”
“I’ve texted you four times to meet up, and each time you had a date. Each time with a different guy.”
Emmie laughed. “I know, those dating sites are a blast.”
“I can’t believe you’re leading all those men on,” I shook my head as I sat on my cousin’s bed.
“What are you talking about? I set each one of them up with one of my friends—well, except for Earl. He brought an empty Coke bottle to dinner and continually spat out his chew. He was not friend-worthy.”
I shuddered.
“So, what’s up with you not having your own bikinis? You used to rock them?”
I watched as Emmie dug through one of her two dressers.
“I changed. I like one-piece swimsuits now.”
“You’re joking, right?” She asked as she looked over her shoulder. She threw two scraps of silver material at me. The bra hit me in the face.
I stared at the silver bikini with buckles on each hip and one strategically placed between the breasts. My brain had officially short-circuited.
Emmie turned around.
“I don’t know,” Emmie shook her head. “With your coloring, I think you need the one piece.”
“Yes! Yes! A one-piece. Definitely a one-piece.” I lunged off the bed and looked over Emmie’s shoulder, acting like she'd thrown me a life preserver.
She pushed through to the bottom of her drawer and pulled out what could generously be called a red swimsuit with white polka dots. It had more crisscross straps than a medieval corset.
“How the hell is this a one-piece?” I squawked. “It has less material than the bikini!”
“Oh, quit your bellyaching, my little lambchop. You need to try it on; then you'll see you're perfectly covered.” Emmie's grin turned wicked. “The next swimsuit is also a one-piece. But it's a thong. Want me to show you that beauty?”
“Good God, no! I am not wearing a thong-anything to Evie’s pool party.” She spun me around and shoved me toward her bathroom, her laughter floating behind me.
Fifteen minutes later, I was still wrestling with what appeared to be a very attractive string theory experiment. You'd think the problem would be that I was too big for the scrap of fabric, but no… I literally couldn't figure out what crissed and what crossed.
After approximately four hundred attempts, I finally cracked the code. I looked in the mirror and grudgingly admitted Emmie was right. Somehow, the strategic lacing had hoisted the girls up and locked them down. I could probably do backflips without a wardrobe malfunction.
Not that I planned to test that theory.
My absolute first priority was to find the biggest t-shirt in Tennessee to throw over this polka-dotted conspiracy. There was no way in hell I was going to wear this in front of Graham’s workmates, Miss Laverne, and Little Grandma. Of course, Little Grandma would probably just applaud.
My head shot up when I heard the banging on the door.
“I want to see.”
“In a minute,” I yelled.
“You can’t magic more material by taking longer. Get your cute tushie out here so I can see.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed as I opened the door.
“My God, Joy, you look gorgeous in this swimsuit. I would totally do you!” Emmie shouted.
“Please tell me your apartment has thick walls,” I begged my cousin.
“You’re lucky I didn’t call over my neighbor, Rex. He would become your new best friend.”
“Em, you’re killing me. Now do you have a cover-up that I can borrow?”
“Nope,” she grinned.
“Then I need something more modest. Auntie Gladiola is probably going to be there,” I wailed.
“And so are all of the Avery sisters. You know Maddie and Zoe are going to be rocking the bikinis. Then there’s me. You have to wear this, otherwise you won’t fit in. JoJo, my bikini is gold, with the cutest little tassels,” Emmie grinned.