Chapter Twelve
L ooks like we’ve got company,” Jasper said.
I sat down in the spare chair on his porch. “Sounds like someone is coming—but maybe they’re coming to see you, not me.”
“Ain’t dang likely.” He grinned. “Most of the folks that might drop by here are in the cemetery. I’ve outlived all my friends.”
“Hey, now!” I protested. “I’m still kicking.”
“You are family,” he declared and threw the tennis ball for Sassy to go fetch. For a man who was over ninety years old, he had a pretty good arm. Sassy took off after it and caught it midair just before it hit the fence.
“If I was still able to go duck huntin’, she’d be a good one to fetch.” His voice held a bit of wistfulness. “Me and Davis used to go out huntin’ ever chance we got. Granny could fix up a duck or some venison real good.”
“Did Gracie ever go with you?” I asked.
“She didn’t like the idea of killin’ anything.” Jasper took the ball from Sassy’s mouth and hurled it out through the air again. “But she would come out here and eat with us when Granny cooked, and she did like to go fishin’. Granny taught her how to mix cayenne pepper in the cornmeal to give the bass a little extra spice. She and I went out to the pond last spring and caught us a five-pounder. I cleaned it and she fried it up with hush puppies.”
I thought I heard a noise but couldn’t be sure if it was the doorbell or the wind chimes hanging on the front porch. “Did you hear that?”
“I’d say it was the doorbell. You going to answer it?”
Sassy brought the ball back to Jasper, laid it at his feet, and growled.
“Don’t worry, sweetie,” I assured her. “Very few folks use the front door or ring the bell. It’s most likely a delivery person. If it’s anyone who knows us, they’ll come around to this side.”
“You been shopping online again?” Jasper asked.
“It’s called retail therapy. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and poring through online sales helps me escape.”
Jasper picked up the ball and threw it again. “You could go to town and buy what you need. That way you would see people. Kids today are losin’ the ability to have decent conversations.”
“Yep, they are, but that would require that I put on shoes. I already did that with Mama, and that’s enough shopping for a while.” I held my foot up and wiggled my toes. “I bought a new trash can for the kitchen and a new nonstick skillet. I don’t reckon there would be many conversations around that, now would there?”
“Gracie has good cast-iron cookware. That’s all you need, Lila.” His tone was only a notch above scolding.
“Hey, is anybody home?” a feminine voice yelled. “Lila, are you back here?”
“What’s Gina Lou coming around here for?” Jasper asked.
“Who?” I asked.
“Gina Lou, the waitress at Annie’s,” Jasper said. “I’d recognize that nasal twang of hers anywhere.”
“Don’t know.” I shrugged and then called back, raising my voice, “Come on around to the backyard.”
She had barely made it to the gate when the headlights of more vehicles lit up the space between the house and the garage.
“Looks like we’re going to have a party,” Jasper chuckled. “You got plenty of beer, or do I need to borrow Gracie’s car and make a run into Poteet?”
“You aren’t driving anywhere!” I fussed at him.
“Afraid I might find me another dog?” he teased.
“Afraid that you might wreck the car,” I shot right back.
Sassy started for the gate when she heard the hinges squeak. I grabbed her collar just as she was about to run past me and held her back. “Hey, Gina Lou. Be sure the latch is tight when you shut the gate. What brings you out this evening?” I wondered if she’d brought friends. At least two more cars had pulled in.
“I didn’t know if you’d recognize me away from the café.” Her blonde hair flowed down around her shoulders, and that evening she was wearing a cute little sundress with strawberries printed on it. “I was in the neighborhood ...” She rattled the gate to be sure it was firmly closed. “No, that’s not right. I wanted to talk to you about Derrick and ask—”
“Did I hear my name?” Derrick put a hand on the fence and hopped over it without dropping a huge bouquet of lilies. When he realized Gina Lou was standing on Jasper’s front porch, he stopped in his tracks and glared at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She popped her hands on that tiny waist and locked eyes with him. “Warning Lila about scumbags like you.”
“Leave, right now!” he demanded, raising his voice.
“Hey, this is my property. You have no right to tell anyone to leave,” I said.
He turned his glare toward me. “Don’t believe a word this piece of—”
“What’s going on back here?” Richie Brewer asked as he opened the gate and came into the yard. Maybe everyone in town was coming to buy the farm. But I was a little glad to see that Connor wasn’t one of them.
“None of your business—and if you’re here to try to talk Lila into selling the place to you, it’s too late. I’m first in line,” Derrick growled.
“What for?” Richie asked. “All you’ll do is plow under the strawberries and plant marijuana as soon as Texas makes it legal.”
“Party has turned into a brawl,” Jasper muttered. “Want to take bets on who wins when the fightin’ starts?”
“I’ll put my money on Gina Lou.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You can both go home and forget that this property even exists. I’m not selling it to anyone.”
Derrick’s expression changed from angry to sweet in a split second. “These flowers are for you, darlin’. No strings attached. I didn’t send anything when Miz Gracie passed away, so I brought them tonight. They are almost as beautiful as you are.”
“You’ve used that line so many times that it’s worn out,” Gina Lou snapped.
“You”—he pointed his finger at her—“stay out of this, and go on back to whatever rock you live under.”
“Hey, now,” Richie barked, “that’s no way to talk to a lady.”
Derrick whipped around to face Richie. “She’s not a lady, and you can stay out of this, old man.”
“Derrick, you can take your flowers and go home. And don’t you dare talk about Gina Lou that way. Richie, I don’t need you to fight my battles!” I yelled over all of them.
“Lila, are you all right?” Connor asked from outside the fence.
“I’m fine!” I shouted. Now there were three guys in my yard, all bowed up like a bunch of fighting banty roosters.
“I brought pizza and beer,” he said. “I had no idea you had company. What’s going on?”
“None of your concern,” Derrick said.
“These two are having an argument.” Richie’s tone said that he was aggravated. “Lila has asked them to leave, but they won’t. I just dropped by to see if Lila had changed her mind about selling her property. I know that Everett’s lease runs out the first of the year, and I wanted her to know I’m still interested.”
Derrick shook the flowers at him. “And I told him that—”
“Don’t believe a word he says,” Gina Lou growled.
“I think the whole bunch of you better go,” Connor said as he came through the gate and set the pizza and beer on my back porch. “She’s asked you to leave ...”
My hands clenched into fists. Men and their chivalry. “I don’t need you or anyone else to fight my battles.”
“Hey ...” Connor held up his palms. “Let’s all take a deep breath and give Lila some space.”
Jasper went into his house with Sassy right behind him.
“Just because you are sleeping with her doesn’t give you the right to boss us around,” Richie said.
That put extra heat in my already scalding-hot temper. I pointed at him, then swung my finger around to include all three of them. But Connor snapped before I could speak.
“Hey, now! That was uncalled for, Richie.”
Jasper opened the door, gently closed it and the wooden screen door behind him, and stepped out to the edge of the porch. He licked his finger, stuck it up in the air, and said, “Gina Lou, you come on over here and stand behind me.”
She didn’t argue, simply obeyed.
Then he raised what looked like a small can of hair spray up in the air. “This here is pepper spray. The wind is coming y’all’s way, and I’m going to give you to the count of five to get the hell out of my yard.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Richie said.
“One . . . ,” Jasper said.
“Old man, I could tackle you and take that away from you before you can count to five,” Derrick declared.
“Two. Try it and we’ll see how you look with eyeballs that match your red hair,” Jasper growled.
“I’m leaving.” Connor cleared the yard and jumped the fence in only a few seconds.
“Three . . . four . . . ,” Jasper said.
Richie started across the yard at a slow pace. Derrick threw the flowers on the ground.
“Five,” Jasper said and sprayed.
I could hear Richie coughing and sputtering as he picked up speed and jogged away between the garage and house. The sound that came out of Derrick’s mouth sounded like something between a piglet caught in a barbed wire fence and an ambulance siren. He held his nose with one hand and ran toward the fence. He burst out of the gate and left it hanging open as he made his way to his truck.
“Now”—Jasper sat back down—“we’ll let that stuff blow on out of the yard while Lila brings out a kitchen chair for Gina Lou to sit in. Don’t let Sassy out. She’ll be real mad at me if she gets into what’s still floatin’ around in the air. In a few minutes, the wind will carry what’s left of the pepper spray away from us, and we’ll all enjoy that pizza and beer over there on Lila’s porch.”
“I meant it when I said I could fight my own battles,” I told Jasper.
“You didn’t have any pepper spray in your pocket, did you?” he snapped as he sat down in his chair.
“No, but—”
“Don’t fuss at me,” he interrupted. His eyes twinkled, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. “That was more fun than I’ve had since Gracie left me.”
I went inside his small house and wasn’t surprised to see that the place hadn’t changed much at all since the last time I was in it. The same wooden table with three mismatched chairs around it filled up one end of the room. The sofa was different but well worn, as was the recliner at the end of it. I picked up a chair and carried it out to the porch. “Didn’t see Sassy. She must be hiding in one of the bedrooms.”
“Most likely.” Jasper motioned toward the chair. “She’s smart, and I told her to stay put or else she would be sorry.”
Gina Lou sat down. “Why did you let me stay?”
“You didn’t come here to hoodwink Lila out of her property, did you?” Jasper asked.
“No, sir!” Gina Lou declared.
“That’s your answer.”
I eased down into the rocking chair. “Why didn’t you let Connor stay? Do you think he’s out to sweet-talk me out of my house?”
“Don’t know,” Jasper said, “but until I do, he can get his butt off my yard with the rest of ’em. Me and his grandpa have been friends for years, but I ain’t got a good solid read on Connor just yet.”
“From what I’ve heard, he’s a good person,” Gina Lou said.
“Did you think Derrick was a good person at one time?” Jasper asked.
“Good point,” Gina Lou said with a nod. “I guess now that the drama is over, I should tell you why I’m really here. Annie’s is closing on Friday night of this next week and reopening on Monday under the new management, but ...” She paused.
“The new owner isn’t keeping the staff?” I asked.
Gina Lou shook her head. “She’s bringing in her own people. I came to ask you if you might have some work for me. I used to clean houses and do odd jobs like yard work before Annie hired me when I was sixteen. She overheard you telling Sarah that you might need help cleaning that big house.”
“Didn’t college interest you?” I asked.
Gina Lou blushed. “Yes, but kids that come from my background don’t have the money for that. There are seven of us, and I’m the oldest. I moved out so my folks would have one less mouth to feed, and pretty often I help them out with my tip money.”
“What did you want to be?” Jasper asked.
“A teacher, maybe kindergarten or first grade,” she said. “I taught all my little brothers and sisters to read and do a little math before they even started to school. But that’s just a pipe dream.”
“Yes, I can use some help with the housework and the yard.” I hoped that I wasn’t being impulsive again. But it felt like something Gracie might have done. “I’ll pay you minimum wage, which is what you are getting at the café, right? And you can live here—free room and board should make up for the tips,” I said. “It’s a big house with four bedrooms, and I’m rattling around in it all day by myself. You won’t have rent or a food bill.”
“Are you serious?” Gina Lou asked.
“Yes, I am,” I replied. “When can you start?”
“I can move in and start work on Saturday. My rent comes due the fifteenth, so that will work out great,” she said. “I won’t have a lot to move. The travel trailer that I’ve been renting is furnished.”
“If you’ve got more than what will fit in your bedroom, there’s room in the garage to store the rest of your things,” I said. “Jasper, do you reckon the pepper spray has settled enough that we can go get that pizza and beer?”
“Yep, and I’m hungry. I hope it’s meat lovers,” Jasper said.
“A heart attack in a flat box, if it is,” I teased.
“Bring it on,” Jasper declared. “Sooner I get the business of dying over with, the sooner I get to see Davis and Gracie.”
“You might have to ask forgiveness for spraying those guys tonight,” I threw over my shoulder as I stood up and jogged across the yard.
“God told me it wasn’t a sin,” Jasper argued. “I asked Him if I should bring the pepper spray or the shotgun out to get rid of those varmints. He said the shotgun wasn’t loaded, but the spray was ready to go.”
At his age he might possibly have a hotline to heaven, so I didn’t argue. I picked up the large pizza and six-pack of beer and carried them over to his porch. I wiped the dust off the stump that was our table and set the pizza on it, passed out a bottle of beer to each of us, and then took my seat.
“Since you have a one-on-one working relationship with God, maybe you better say grace,” I joked.
He bowed his head, closed his eyes, and said, “For this food, we are thankful, Father. Bless it as you see fit. Amen.”
“That was short and sweet,” I said.
“God don’t expect us to give thanks for the green grass, the blue sky, and the crickets,” Jasper huffed as he picked up a slice of pizza. “He just wants us to remember to be grateful. It ain’t meat lovers, but I like sausage and bacon almost as good.”
“I’m so happy that ...” Gina Lou’s eyes filled with tears. “There are no words. Thank you, thank you so much.”
“Gracie should’ve hired a housekeeper years ago, but she ...” Jasper stopped midsentence and bit into his pizza.
“She what?” I asked.
“She was too independent for her own good.”
He almost gave away a secret. Maybe not the big one, but there was a reason Gracie wouldn’t hire someone to help her. It had to be connected to that time she had been told she could attend a party, but Davis and Jasper could only show up if they agreed to be the help. If I was right, she probably didn’t want to make anyone feel like her friends did that evening. I still wanted to help Gina Lou—maybe it was easier for me because I hadn’t lived here for a long time.
“ Thank you seems like so little, but it’s all I’ve got,” Gina Lou said. “I liked Miz Gracie. She was always nice to me when she came in to pick up takeout on Sundays after church.”
“We didn’t do that very often because Gracie liked to give Madge our business since Sarah worked there,” Jasper said.
My mind drifted back to the first sympathy card I had opened—the one that the retired teacher had written, about being so grateful to Aunt Gracie for helping her get through college.
The breeze picked up, and the new mint green leaves on the trees seemed to dance around like graceful ballerinas. If I had been superstitious like my mother, I would have been absolutely sure that Aunt Gracie’s voice was a sign.
Pay it forward.
Fall classes didn’t start until the end of August or first of September. By then I should know Gina Lou well enough to figure out if she was serious about becoming a teacher. If so, I could easily pay for her education, and depending on what path the rest of her siblings wanted to take, that might be something to think about, too.
“So, of the six kids still at home,” I asked, “how many are brothers?”
“The baby, Jesse, is eleven. I have five sisters scattered out over twelve years. The next one below me is eighteen and graduates in May. Then Mama had four more in the next seven years before she got her boy. They’re all real smart.” Gina Lou finished her slice of pizza and polished off her beer. “I should be going. I want to go by Annie’s and tell her not to worry about me, that I’ve found a job.”
“See you on Saturday, then?” I asked.
“What time should I be here?”
“No set time. You can use that day to get moved in and settled, and actually begin work on Monday.”
“Thank you, again,” Gina Lou said as she walked out across the yard and disappeared into the dark.
I picked up the last of the beers in the carton and took a step toward the house. “Good night, Jasper. Thank you for saving the evening.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said. “You are able to take care of yourself. I was just the one with the fire power. What are you going to do now?”
“Call Connor and tell him thanks for supper.”
“Why would you do that?” Jasper scolded. “He was right in amongst all the trouble that got stirred up tonight. He’s a good man but seems to me like all the local folks are way too interested in this property.”
“Maybe you are right,” I agreed and decided to wait until the next day to call him.