Chapter 23
As Brodie finished putting the last pancake on the platter on Monday morning, Pepper pulled Aunt Bernie into the kitchen like a miniature Adirondack dog hauling a sled all by his tiny self.
She was fussing at him to slow down the whole time that he stretched the leash to the limit.
If it broke, Brodie could see Bernie flying across the room to the far wall.
He had never thought the little feller had that much strength, but then when it came to chasing the family cat, Pepper was only slightly smaller than a Saint Bernard—at least in his mind.
“Who’s leadin’ who?” Joe Clay chuckled.
The dirty look that Bernie shot Joe Clay made him laugh out loud. “Y’all looked like a cartoon coming out across that yard. Take a look.” He held out his phone.
Bernie glanced at the video he had taken and frowned. “If you ever show that to anyone else, I will put a hex on you. My hair is a mess, and I look terrible.”
“Too late,” Mary Jane said. “He let me see it while you were taking the leash off Pepper.”
Bernie shook her finger at him. “No one else. Not a soul, do you hear me? I could lose my reputation as a matchmaker if you put that on the internet.”
“Well!” The twinkle in Joe Clay’s eyes contradicted his fake sigh. “I guess I could delete it if that’s the case.”
“Thank you,” Bernie said. “Now, let’s get breakfast started and talk about what happened yesterday.”
“What happened?” Mary Jane feigned ignorance.
“I’m tired of playing games with you two. What made everyone in such a good mood anyway?”
Brodie carried the platter of scrambled eggs and sausage links to the table. “Well, for one thing, Hettie did not have a heart attack.”
“That’s not good news,” Bernie fumed. “Will someone please say grace so we can eat, and Brodie can fill me in on all the details. Everyone made a quick run for their vehicles after the ambulance took Hettie away. Did she lose her mind?”
“What makes you ask that?” Knox asked.
“The way she was praying one minute and yelling at Audrey the next made me wonder if maybe Parker needed to do an exorcism right there in the church,” Bernie answered. “Somebody pray, please, before my food gets cold and I drop dead myself from worrying about what really happened.”
Mary Jane said a quick prayer, and as soon as she said amen, Bernie locked eyes with Brodie. “Well?”
“That’s a deep subject.” He smiled and handed the plate stacked high with pancakes across the table to Bernie.
“Don’t you get funny with me,” she scolded.
“Evidently, she wanted to go out on a win against you, Bernie, so she faked a heart attack and left town with her friend Bitsy,” he answered.
“A win?” Mary Jane asked.
Brodie told the tale from start to finish and hoped the whole time that it would be the last time he had to go over it. “And that’s what happened.”
“I will gladly let her think she won,” Bernie said, “but that was cruel of her to accuse Audrey like she did. I wouldn’t do that to a single one of my nieces—not even Clara, and I liked her least of all of them for the most part. We’ve kind of made up now, but she’s still not my favorite.”
“My apartment is going to be ready to move into by next weekend,” Tripp said.
“Are you trying to change the subject?” Bernie growled.
“Yep, how did I do?” Tripp flashed a grin across the table toward her.
“You did great,” Mary Jane answered. “I can’t believe that Easter is coming soon. The girls and I have a date tonight to stuff candy in hundreds of eggs. Audrey is welcome to come to help if she doesn’t have other plans.”
“Okay, okay, I get the hint,” Bernie snapped.
“We will talk about Tripp moving out of the Paradise and stuffing Easter eggs for Sunday afternoon. I’ll let this thing with Hettie stew a while before I bring it up again.
On a different note, I love to see all the little kids out there in the backyard with their baskets.
I missed so much when the nieces were growing up, but I’m trying to make up for it now.
I’ll be here to stuff them plastic eggs tonight, Mary Jane.
Have you got plenty of candy? I can always make a run to the store if you need me to. ”
Brodie could have kissed Mary Jane for helping get the spotlight off him.
***
Audrey waited until after work Monday to call her aunt and was about to hang up when Hettie finally picked up. “What do you want?” she growled. “Have you already moved that Callahan man into the house now that I’m gone?”
“No, I have not,” Audrey answered. “I don’t want anything. I just called to tell you that I miss you and love you.”
“Don’t bother begging me to come back and take care of the house and cook for you,” Hettie snapped. “I might consider it if you lay your hand on your grandpa’s Bible and promise to never see or talk to anyone from the Paradise again, but anything short of that, and you can stay away from me.”
Audrey fought back tears and giggles at the same time, which seemed totally weird. “I can’t do that, but I do hope you are happy in the retirement home. If you decide to stay there, I can bring over the rest of your things and the rest of that case of whiskey I found in your room.”
“Don’t you dare go through my things,” Hettie raised her voice higher with every word. “If I decide to stay, I’ll come get my stuff.”
“What if Brodie is here when you do?” Audrey asked. “Are you going to be civil to him?”
“I will not,” Hettie declared. “Don’t you dare let him sleep on my bed, with or without you, and I don’t believe you. The minute I was out of the house, you probably moved him in.”
“If we were cohabiting,” Audrey said, all hope of a nice, peaceful conversation gone out the window, “it would be right here in this house in my bed, not yours. The tornado took his place, and there’s no way we can both sleep in that little cot-sized bed in the trailer.
If you need to come after the rest of your belongings, please let me know in advance so Brodie and I can both be out of the house. ”
The phone screen went dark. Audrey tossed it over on the other end of the sofa and paced the floor for a few minutes. Then she picked it up and called Brodie. “If I’m going to have the name, I might as well get the game,” she muttered as he waited for him to answer.
“Hey, are you done for the day?” Brodie asked.
“Yep, how about you?”
“On my way to the Paradise right now,” he answered.
“You owe me a fried chicken dinner,” she said. “I thought I’d collect tonight.”
“I’ll order it now, so it’ll be ready to pick up as soon as I grab a quick shower,” he said. “Thirty minutes?”
“I’ll be waiting on the front porch,” she said and headed for the kitchen.
Half an hour was exactly what she needed to make a small Texas sheet cake for dessert. She muttered about the way Hettie had acted the whole time that she whipped up the cake and slid it into the oven.
“Why doesn’t she want me to be happy?” she asked.
She’s old and wants her way , the annoying voice in Audrey’s head answered.
“I can agree with that,” she said with half a giggle.
When the cake was done, she poured the icing on it and put the dirty bowls and the pan she had used into the dishwasher. She had only been sitting on the porch swing for a few minutes when Brodie parked in the driveway.
“When are you going to get that truck to a body shop?” she asked when he opened the driver’s side door.
“Soon as Tripp gets his out of the shop,” he answered. “Are you ashamed to ride with me?”
“Not if you brought fried chicken,” she said with a smile.
He held up a large paper bag and sniffed the air. “Do I smell chocolate?”
“Yes, you do,” Audrey answered, and held the door open for him. “Come right inside and we’ll have supper and finish it off with chocolate cake.”
Brodie followed her through the living room and into the kitchen/dining area. “This place is laid out exactly like my house was,” he said.
Audrey took two plates from the cabinet and cutlery from a drawer. “No surprise there. From what I see around town, a lot of the houses that were built at the same time as this one are pretty much the same.”
Brodie set the sack on the table and removed containers of fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, and hot rolls. “What would you do different if you could build a house any way you wanted?”
“Kind of like you have to do after the storm took your place?” she asked.
“That’s right,” he answered. “My brothers and I were putting together a design for a new house, but now that Tripp is going to live in the old barn and Knox is buying the old store for his construction business, I’m not sure what I want to build.”
“I’d start with”—she said as she set the plates on the table, then turned and placed her hands on his chest—“a long, steamy hot kiss from the sexy organic farmer who lives next door to me, and then we’d discuss the design for his new house.”
Brodie took her in his arms, tipped up her chin with his fist, and lowered his lips to hers for several fiery kisses. “What number is this date?” he asked breathlessly when she pulled back.
“I’m not sure, but I’m two ways about what I want next. I’m starving, so I need sustenance for a make out session, but at the same time, I want to skip the food and…”
“We’ve got all night,” he whispered, “or until you tell me to go home, whichever comes first.”
She tiptoed and kissed him one more time. “Then let’s eat, but we’ll save the cake for later.”
“Dessert before dessert?” Brodie teased.
“For an organic farmer, you ain’t so dumb,” she smarted off.
“Thank you, darlin’.” He grinned and held out a chair for her. “You never did answer my question about what kind of house you would want.”
“Sweet tea?” she asked before she sat down.
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered.
She filled two glasses with ice and tea and carried them to the table, then sat down. “I would want a ranch house that could be added onto as needed. Someday I want a big family, so it might have to have more than one addition. What about you?”
He passed the chicken to her. “That sounds good to me. How many dates do we have to go on before we can start designing a house like that to be built over on my land?”
She laid two pieces on her plate and then gave it back to him. “Probably a hundred and fifty.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “What number is tonight’s date?”
She tapped her chin with her finger. “Maybe eighty. I lost track during those hot kisses.”
“I like the way you count.” He grinned.
“I never was real good at math,” she smiled back.
“Would another kiss or two or ten make that number shoot up to a hundred?” he asked.
“It’s worth a try,” she answered.
She missed Hettie, but a sense of total freedom washed over her when Brodie had kissed her. She could say what she wanted, flirt with him, and possibly even more later on that evening without any repercussions from her aunt.
“But,” she went on, “I’m not sure I know how to make out in this house.”
“You never brought a boyfriend home to meet your grandparents or even Hettie?” Brodie asked.
Audrey shook her head. “Grandpa and Granny threw a fit if I even flirted with the summer help. I can’t imagine ever asking a boyfriend to come for supper. And Hettie… Well, enough said there.”
“We had a little taste of making out before we sat down to supper,” Brodie reminded her.
“I bet Grandpa is twisting in his grave, and Hettie is packing up her things to come back here to scream at me,” Audrey said.
“Let’s lock the doors.”
“And turn the lights down low,” she answered with the lyrics of a song that started out that way.
“I’m game, but only if it’s been enough dates,” Brodie said.
She finished off the last bite of food on her plate, stood up, and took him by the hand. “I don’t need music or candles, but I do need you, Brodie Callahan.”
She locked the back door and then the front one before she led him down the hallway to her bedroom. She didn’t even bother to close the door but wrapped her arms around his neck and started a string of kisses as she walked backward to the bed.