Jasper #2
Hell, I wasn’t female, or a middle schooler, and her words still inspired me.
When she finished her speech, she opened it up for questions and I took that opportunity to step into the hall.
While I’d been spellbound by Delilah, I’d missed three calls from Lacey and one from Delilah’s mom.
With a sense of trepidation, I dialed Lacey first. If something was going on, I’d rather hear it from her than have to deal directly with Delilah’s mother.
“There you are. I’ve been trying to reach you.” Lacey didn’t even bother saying hello.
I braced myself for something bad. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a problem. I just sent you a text with a screenshot.”
“Hold on a sec.” I pulled my phone away from my ear and opened my texts. An image of Delilah and her mother sitting at a table filled my screen. “I don’t get it.”
“Do you see where they are?” Lacey asked.
“A restaurant?” I zoomed in on the photo. Looked like the inside of that place over in Swynton. My heart dipped. “When was this taken?”
“Last night. And Adeline is having a heyday telling everyone that Ido can’t come up with anything good enough to feed Miss Lovin’ Texas, so she had to go to Swynton for dinner.”
I let out a soft chuckle. “Come on, Lacey. That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe to you and me. But not to Adeline. Where were you last night? Were you with them? Please tell me you didn’t take them across the river to Franklin’s for a special dinner or something.”
“No, I was at home. Delilah’s mother showed up and surprised her, and they must have gone out for a bite. Maybe she wanted privacy since everyone here in town knows who she is.”
“Well, everyone in Swynton now knows who she is, too, and they’re not wasting any time sharing their side of things. Can you please gently remind Miss Lovin’ Texas about the longstanding rivalry between the two towns?”
“I think you’re making a bigger deal out of this than—”
“They mentioned it on the local radio station. I fully expect it to get picked up by the paper, too. If there’s anything she needs, anything at all, you’re her contact. If she wants takeout from Franklin’s that’s fine. But please don’t let her cross the river again.”
“Okay.” Students began to file out of the auditorium doors. “I’ve got to go. Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”
I hung up and waited for a break in the mass exodus so I could get inside.
Just when I seemed to make progress in one area, something else popped up that needed my attention.
With a little less than two weeks until Delilah’s time in Ido came to an end, I needed to make sure she experienced the best we had to offer, while keeping my heart out of the equation.
Delilah
“Thanks again for talking to the students today.” The principal shook my hand one more time. Finally, Jasper was able to take me by the elbow and lead me through the front doors out of the school.
“That seemed to go well.” I carefully slid my sunglasses into place. I’d been able to cover up the bruise well enough, but it was still tender. “What do you think?”
“I think your talk was amazing. Were you really bullied in middle school like that?”
I let out a breath. “Sure was. I looked like a stork. All legs, big teeth. I towered over most of the boys and the girls all hated me because I did pageants.”
“I never would have guessed.”
“That’s why I want to do something that helps young women.
Through my training with the pageant community, and especially Monique, I learned that feeling good about myself had to come from inside.
If you wait for other people to give you external validation, you’re wasting your time.
” I pulled out my phone as I got settled in the front seat of the truck.
“Hey, I talked to Lacey while you were answering questions.”
“Anything I need to know about? Is something wrong?” I lifted my gaze to meet his.
He glanced to his feet. “I guess someone snapped a picture of you and your mom out at dinner last night.”
I turned my attention back to my phone. “Oh no. Why is my picture plastered across the home page of the Swynton town website?”
“It’s Adeline. She’s saying you couldn’t find something decent for dinner, so you had to turn to Swynton instead.”
“That’s ridiculous. We only ended up there because my mother wanted a drink and I remembered you saying something about there being a bar over in Swynton.”
“So, it’s my fault?”
He might have meant it as a joke, but I didn’t take it that way. “It’s no one’s fault. Why is it such a big deal if we grabbed dinner somewhere?”
Jasper rolled his shoulders back. “In case you haven’t noticed, Adeline’s got a bit of a sore loser complex going on. I think she’ll take every opportunity she has to discredit Ido.”
“And my mother’s request for a top-shelf cosmo has put us in the center of a turf war?” I wanted to ask if that was all it was, or if his past dealings with Adeline had anything to do with the rivalry between them.
“Looks like it.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea she’d spin it that way.”
“Lacey was hoping that you might be able to stick to Ido’s side of the river while you’re here. Just to avoid giving Adeline any future ammunition.” He squinted at me, like he was uncomfortable making the request.
“Of course.” I reached out to give his arm an encouraging squeeze. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about that.”
“If you need anything, just let me know.”
“I will. You’ve done so much already. Between your family and you carting me around everywhere . . .” I wanted to say something that would communicate how much I’d enjoyed my time with him. But before I had a chance to come up with something more eloquent, my phone rang. “It’s Stella.”
“Go ahead.” He started the truck as I answered.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?” Stella asked, her voice just shy of a high-pitched panic.
“I’m leaving the middle school. I had a talk scheduled here this morning.”
Stella had been sleeping off her late-night wine and whine fest when I left earlier that morning.
Which meant I hadn’t had a chance to grill my mother about the weird run-in with Suzy.
All I’d managed to get out of Stella last night was that she knew Suzy from way back when.
After that, Stella refused to talk about it.
With everything else going on, I was willing to give my mother a pass. But only for a day. Two at the most. I’d never seen Stella act so strangely. There was something going on, something my mother didn’t want to tell me about, which made it even more important that I figure it out soon.
“When is Franco going to be in town?” I asked.
“This afternoon. He messaged me an address of some warehouse he found to set up his shoot. I need you to meet me there in half an hour.”
“Okay. What do I need to bring for wardrobe?”
“I’ve got it. He wants you all in white so we can focus on the makeup. We could use some muscle, so bring that cowboy with you.” Stella seemed to be back to her old self, barking orders like she hadn’t spent most of the night before in the fetal position on the bathroom floor.
“I don’t know that Jasper will be up for it.” I peeked at his profile from the corner of my eye.
“Whatever you need, I’m there.” He nudged his chin my direction.
With a shrug, I put the phone back to my ear. “He’ll be there. We’ll see you in a bit.”
“What was that all about?” Jasper asked.
“Stella said they might need some help moving Franco’s equipment. Do you have anything going on this afternoon?”
“Nope. Where you go, I go.”
I returned the smile, wishing that could be true forever. My phone pinged with an incoming text. “Crap on a cracker.”
“What is it?”
“Stella just texted me the address where we’re supposed to meet the photographer.”
“And?”
“It’s in Swynton.”
Franco wasn’t thrilled about the last-minute change in plans. I could tell by the exaggerated air-kisses he gave me when we met up at Lacey’s wedding warehouse. Thankfully, Jasper had been able to coordinate with the mayor, and we had access to the space as long as we needed it.
“What’s all this?” Franco stood at the edge of the screened-in tent where the butterflies flitted around a bunch of potted perennials that Lacey must have brought in for them. “You didn’t tell me this place came with built-in props.”
“Those are very important butterflies.” Jasper stepped between Franco and the zippered front of the tent. “They’re already promised to a bride for her wedding this weekend.”
“That’s a shame.” Franco swayed, his hands moving through the air as graceful as always.
“I’m picturing you all in white with hundreds of butterflies resting on your dress.”
“Why don’t we get the shots Monique suggested first?
If we have time, maybe we can talk about incorporating some of your other ideas.
” I stood behind Franco and shook my head at Jasper.
There was no way I’d let the photographer wipe out the butterfly collection.
Not after it had cost me a bruised hip to gather most of them.
“Fine.” Franco shifted into “go mode,” which meant he started bossing everyone around. “Delilah, go get ready. Stella, I’m going to need you to pitch in with styling today since I don’t have my assistant.”
“Can I do something to help?” Jasper asked.
“Sure. Can you grab my lights from the back of my SUV? Just be careful with them.” Franco tossed his keys to Jasper.
I changed, then spent the next two hours pursing my lips, thrusting out my hips, and letting Stella and Franco move my arms and legs into a variety of poses.
While Franco reviewed the shots, I took the opportunity to grab a bottle of water and check in on Jasper. “How are you holding up?”
“I had no idea getting a picture for an ad could take this long. Isn’t it just one shot?”
“You should see what happens when we’re doing press for a pageant.” I slid a straw into my bottle of water so I could take a sip without messing up my makeup. “If there’s something else you need to do, you don’t have to stick around.”