Chapter 56 Georgia
Georgia
We spend the Fourth of July baking festive treats at the Clementine before we head to Dad’s house for burgers on the grill.
He has a perfect view of the fireworks from his deck that sits above the treetops, and we gather there and delight in the
colorful explosions like never before. With Junie’s condition, the simplest things like fireworks and a juicy slice of watermelon
have a special magic.
Two days later, I step up to the long metal prep table in the Whitetail Episcopal Church kitchen, where we’ve been instructed
to gather for today’s pastry-making day. Given the number of pies we need for the fair, we plan to make pastries today and
then assemble the pies and bake tomorrow. I’m here today, but Junie and I will be absent for tomorrow’s festivities due to
her scheduled MRI. The sweet Silvers were quick to offer themselves as subs.
“Girls, come meet Sam,” Tina says.
Junie and I share an excited look and walk over side by side.
Sam is smiling (of course he is, with Tina interested) when I hold out a hand. He’s about a foot taller than Tina and his dark brown eyes match his complexion. He wears a golf polo tucked in, with a belt, and a polished pair of loafers.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell him.
“You must be Georgia,” he says. “Tina’s given me a profile on every Louise woman.” He reaches his hand out to my sister. “And
are you Junie?”
“Did she share the manual on how to handle us too?” Junie asks, laughing.
“Oh, I figured it’s only fair I should learn on the job like everyone else.” Sam winks.
He’s passed the first test: decent—or better—sense of humor. “Well, welcome,” I say. “Hope you like hairnets.”
“I’m an old hand at them,” Sam replies. “Don’t forget I’m in the industry.”
Just then the rest of the crew barrels in—Dad, Cece, and Eddie.
Dad and Eddie introduce themselves to Sam, and Cece greets him with a nod.
“Cece, did you two already meet?” I ask.
“You think I was going to let her get tangled up with another moocher? You know how it is between sisters.”
“Touché,” I say.
I pop the box of hairnets on the tabletop. “Here. Everyone line up and grab a net.”
“Do we haaave to?” Junie pats her fiery blowout. I know her hair is thinner. Because I know hair, but also because I’ve seen the locks
of it in our shared bathroom. In the trash mostly, but hints of it in the shower and on the floor. She cleans up after it,
but I’m not sure if it’s for the sake of being a good roommate or out of her own embarrassment.
“Certainly doesn’t come natural to us,” Tina says out of the corner of her mouth to Sam.
“Fine, I’ll go first,” Sam says. He pulls a single hairnet out of the box and pops it right on. “See, I didn’t burst into flames or anything.”
Tina immediately giggles, far too enthusiastically, as her cheeks light up in a shiny pink. “Oh, alright then!” She snatches
one and pops it on.
Cece crosses the room and takes her own without a word.
“Team uniform, huh?” Eddie says as he grabs his own. “Count me in.”
Once hairnets are in place, Tina assigns us in pairs to a baking station set up with flour, salt, shortening, and little bowls
of ice water. My insides flutter when she assigns me and Eddie to the same station. He cozies in beside me and whispers, “I
was hoping for you as my partner.”
Tina claps her hands and begins barking directions. I sure hope her expectations are realistic, because I think Dad is the
only baker among the group of us kitchen minions she’s assembled.
We begin mixing flour and shortening, Tina checking over our shoulders to make sure it’s blended.
“Next, add the shortening in small chunks, then pulse the food processor,” she announces.
“Where did you get all of these?” Junie asks.
“Where do you think? The Silvers,” Tina replies before going back to checking our work.
I look up at Eddie. “Ok, she’s telling us to drizzle the water in.” I’m nervous, and I feel a shake in my hands. I just can’t
tell if it’s because of my perfectionist nature that makes me want the pastry to turn out right—or because of the company
beside me.
“Want help?” Eddie asks, and he wraps his hands around mine before I can respond.
I feel the warmth rush into my cheeks, and I grin as we drizzle as a team.
“That’s enough,” Tina says.
We jump apart.
“Enough water.” Tina grins at us, one at a time. “As for the other stuff, have at it.”
Eventually Eddie and I turn out a batch of decent pastry. Once Tina tests the texture, we form it in a disk, wrap it, and
place it in the fridge—per Tina’s detailed instructions.
We keep at it for hours, and between the lot of us we make the number Tina wants. It’s enough to make the full batch of pies,
plus a surplus in case of emergency—or a bad batch she didn’t weed out. Dad and Sam take off early for a meeting about the
bank’s pancake breakfast. As it turns out, Sam offered to donate supplies for the cause. Cece and Junie finish their quota
quickly, and the two head home for extra rest. Even if her spirit is at max level, Junie’s body is beginning to sag under
the weight of treatment.
“Can I ask y’all to finish up here?” Tina asks. “Any extra supplies, you can stack in that open cabinet. Hand-wash your food
processor, and smaller items can go in the dishwasher. Just start it before y’all head out.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Eddie calls over. “You can count on us.”
Tina winks and mutters, “I sure hope so” under her breath as she turns and pushes out of the swinging kitchen door.
Eddie and I begin wrapping up the supplies. “Look at us, a regular old pastry powerhouse,” I say.
He grins back. “Well, we’ve always worked well together. This just might be the first time in hairnets.”
“Empire now expanded to pastry.” I throw a chef’s kiss.
He laughs. “Junie does that too, but I like it better on you.”
I prop a hand on my hip. “Just so you know, she took it from me.”
“Potato, po-tah-to,” Eddie says over his shoulder as he carries the dishes to the sink. “You two are more alike than you’ll
ever know. At least from what I’ve seen since I got back.”
I stop and consider the “since I got back” part. “I guess the fact that you and Junie weren’t really dating makes your whole ‘temporarily here’ thing make more sense. I was already mad at you for breaking it off with her once you decided to take off back to the action.”
“Hey there, no one said I was in a rush to go anywhere. What about you? Is Atlanta calling?”
I sigh. He already knows that the news of Junie’s illness changes everything, but he doesn’t know I’ve decided to stay. None
of them know that I’m not employed in Atlanta or that I’m not working remotely. I’ll be here for as long as Junie needs me. I cannot see a future in which she’s undergoing treatment and
I’m anywhere but by her side. But staying for real requires so much coming clean. That’s what I want, but the more I see the
family circle around a struggling Junie, I wonder if my laying that truth on them would be a load too much.
“I’m still figuring it out—but I want to be by Junie’s side through all of this.” I glance over at him. “You aren’t bored?
Hanging out around Whitetail, taking Junie to appointments?”
Eddie shrugs. “I like it here. I guess I thought there was so much more, so much better out there, back when we were competing
for top grades.” He shoots me a wink. “Don’t get me wrong: The hospital’s great, but other than that a lot of that life felt
like it belonged to someone else.”
His explanation sounds like someone breaking into my brain and reading off my experience like a script.
“Huh,” I say.
“Hard to relate?” He laughs. “I won’t be offended.”
“Actually, not completely,” I admit. “There’s nothing quite like being surrounded by my people here.”
I turn and start carrying the sealed flour and salt to the cabinet. Eddie carries the shortening container behind me.
“You’ll figure it out. You always do,” Eddie says.
There’s a moment when my lips part slightly, no more than a millimeter, and stay that way.
I consider saying the unsaid between us.
What it might be like if I told him that I truly and absolutely have yet to figure out pretty much anything, and the things I thought I had figured out have mostly become small disasters.
What would it be like if he knew that most things about my life—aside from my loved ones—are completely wrong? Aside from him.
The taste of the truth on my lips is delicious. And for a moment, in light of all the real and serious things we’re facing,
being entirely honest looks manageable, like we could leave my lies of omission as nothing more than small inconveniences.
I clap my hands together. “Should we tackle the dishes?” I don’t wait for an answer, and Eddie follows me to the sink where
I start the water. Soon it’s full enough, with a bubbly topping, and Eddie squeezes in beside me.
The warmth of just our arms touching resonates through me, and I let myself enjoy the feeling of being close to him. After
a few minutes of washing, Eddie clears his throat. “Look at me for a second?”
I turn, expecting a serious question, about the lab, Junie’s health, but he swipes some suds onto his finger and boops them
onto my nose. A laugh bursts from me and I follow suit, but I run my full hand through the bubbles and plant it on his head.
Then I take off, fearing retribution, and Eddie follows.
“You can’t possibly outrun me,” he calls out.
I don’t even really try, and I slow, letting him catch me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist. I giggle and wiggle,
pretending to try to escape him. In my writhing I end up turning, and when I stop, his eyes are fixed on my lips. Is he thinking
about kissing me? I am all the way thinking about us kissing.
He leans in and cradles my cheek. I feel warm and melty and if I were less buttoned up I’d groan a little. The basics of being
cared for by Eddie Rigsby fry my insides.
He’s closer, and I’m not sure if it’s me or him or both of us closing the gap.
Our lips brush together, and the thrill rushes through my middle. My hands wander behind him, and I pull him into me. I let myself, for the first time since we fell apart, want him. I know I don’t deserve him, I won’t ever; he is too good. But I never stopped wanting him.
I lean into the kiss his lips first suggested, and Eddie pulls me closer.
“Another thing we’re exceptionally good at,” Eddie says in a pause.
I smile against his lips, but only briefly before rushing back in because I hate the break it creates between us. I run my
palms up his back to his neck where I lock my fingers together, hanging myself on him right where I could stay for a lifetime.
Maybe in some way, I want to send him that message. Keep me.
Slowly Eddie’s hands run from my back to my thighs where he lifts me effortlessly. He breaks the kiss when he turns and sets
me on the prep table behind me. He stops and cups my face in his hands, and he pauses and takes me in, his eyes beholding
me like a thing of consequence, a thing worthy of his adoration. My eyes search his face. For what I can’t be sure. Probably
confirmation, proof, anything to protect me from the hope coursing through me as my insides beg this moment to stay. Not to vanish like it feels it might
devastatingly do.
I pull in a breath to ask him, to make some sense—but before I can speak his lips press back into mine. My mind goes blank,
and I let every fiber inside me unravel into the magic of us interwound. I heat from deep inside.
Maybe love doesn’t need to be put on a bullet point list after all.
Suddenly the kitchen door rattles, and we break apart. Looking up, we see it’s the cleaning crew.
I feel my face flush as I slip discreetly from the prep table and turn to head for the sink. “I can’t believe you just kissed
me while I was wearing a hairnet,” I say.
Eddie joins me at my side. “Means I really meant it.”