Chapter Two #4
Gracie let her mother have the last word and went straight to the kitchen.
The one secret that Gracie held close to her heart and had never told anyone was about what had really happened that night.
Her mother just thought she had only gotten drunk and broken curfew.
She didn’t know that Gracie had come close to losing her virginity to a good Catholic boy.
When she’d said no at the last minute, he threw racial slurs at her and wound up leaving the party with Sabrina.
If her two best friends had known, Tina would have murdered Brandon Massey that night and Walker would have helped her bury the body.
Gracie opened three cans of whole tomatoes and ran them through the blender, then poured them out into a big bowl and tossed in a quart of jalapenos and three huge onions. When that was liquefied, she poured the mixture into the bowl with the tomatoes and added the spices.
Her mother entered the kitchen, picked up a long-handled wooden spoon, and nudged Gracie to the side. “You will be careful, won’t you?”
“Yes, Mama,” she answered.
“You are a teacher now. A good, respectable job. Why can’t you be friends with Faith?
She’s married to a preacher. Even though I don’t agree with her choice, he is a man of God.
Or maybe Reesa, whose husband is going to be our next mayor.
You should marry a nice boy someday who was raised in our faith.
” She threw that last sentence in like always.
Marry a nice boy. Have lots of children. Go to Mass every week, or better yet, twice a day. That should be included in the Holy Bible as the Epistle of Elana Ruiz.
“We’ll see, Mama,” Gracie answered.
The first customers arrived before Elana could fuss at her anymore. Gracie vowed that if her mother pursued this every single day, she would stop coming in to help through the lunch rush. She might even change her decision to not teach the six weeks of summer school.
“Take a seat anywhere,” Gracie called out as she gathered up an armload of menus. “I’ll be right with you.”
Speak of the devils, she thought when she realized she would be waiting on Sabrina, Reesa, and Faith. “What can I get y’all to drink?”
“Gracie, darlin’, I hear that Tina is back in town and living in the same boardinghouse with you and Walker,” Reesa said. “We want answers to what is going on. Are y’all having a threesome like you did in high school?”
Gracie gritted her teeth, but she managed to keep the fake smile on her face as she laid a menu in front of each of them. She had never spit in someone’s food before, but there was always a first time. “What can I get y’all to drink?” she repeated.
“Maybe some apple moonshine,” Reesa said in a sticky-sweet tone as fake as Gracie’s smile. “Isn’t that your favorite?”
“Not anymore,” Gracie said. “I learned my lesson about that stuff years ago. We are only licensed to serve beer, not hard liquor. We have imported and domestic, so I can get either for you.”
“I’ll have sweet tea,” Faith said. “And please bring queso with the chips and salsa. But honestly”—she lowered her voice—“why did Tina come back to town? We just want to know how to pray for her.”
“You’ll have to ask her. Any other appetizers?”
Reesa studied the menu for a long time and then said, “No, that will be enough. Were you glad to see school end for the summer?”
“Always, but then I’m just as happy to get back to school in the fall.”
“Are Tina and Walker together? Is that why she came back to Benson?” Sabrina pressured.
“She’s only been here two days,” Gracie replied. “I don’t think that’s enough time for anything romantic.”
“Hey, a leopard does not change its spots,” Reesa smarted off. “And we all know that she would . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Anger rose up like wildfire in Gracie’s soul.
She could have pinched Reesa’s nose right off her face for her smugness—but then, she had always been like that.
Talk about a leopard changing spots. Reesa could be the poster child for that advertisement.
“Tina was, and still is, my friend, and you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.
Faith wants sweet tea. What do you other two want? ”
“Don’t get snippy with us,” Reesa growled. “We can always go somewhere else for lunch.”
“Yes, you can,” Gracie said.
“You were always so nice that we wondered why you hung out with Walker and Tina.” Faith’s tone was sweet enough to give Gracie cavities. “You’ve changed since you went away to college and came back home.”
Not really, Gracie thought. You didn’t know me then and you still don’t. I’m the same person, just a few years older.
“Thank you,” Gracie said. “Now, drinks for the rest of you?”
“I’ll have sweet tea,” Sabrina answered.
“Make it three.” Reesa shrugged.
Cleo’s words came to mind: Choices beget consequences.
Did that mean Gracie wasn’t supposed to put a laxative in their tea? Or was Cleo giving her the green light to stir it right in there?
She retrieved the salsa, queso, and drinks, pasted on another fake smile as she delivered them, and asked if they had decided on what they wanted to order.
“I’ll have the chicken enchiladas with flour tortillas, and cheese sauce, double beans, a side of guacamole, and some cilantro,” Sabrina answered and handed her menu to Gracie.
“A chimichanga with extra red sauce and a side of guac.” Faith held up her menu for Gracie to take.
“A taco salad with extra sour cream.” Reesa held her menu out but let it slip. It fell, hit her glass on the way to the floor, and dumped half a glassful of tea, plus ice, onto Gracie’s feet.
The cold liquid seeped through the cloth of her shoes, and her toes immediately felt sticky. The other two women giggled.
“Oops,” Faith said.
“Leave it to Reesa to make a mess,” Sabrina said. “She’s always been clumsy.”
Reesa giggled. “Have not.”
Faith laughed with her. “Have too.”
“Why don’t y’all grow up,” Gracie growled.
Reesa pushed her chair back. “We don’t need to eat here. Let’s go have lunch at that new place in Vega.”
Sabrina stood up and deliberately knocked her glass over, adding even more ice and tea to the puddle on the floor. “We probably won’t be back. I don’t know how your folks keep this place open with such lousy help.”
“If you get tired of working here, give me a call,” Reesa said on her way out the door. “My housekeeper quit last week, and I know I pay better than you are making here.”
Elana came out of the kitchen, halting Gracie’s biting response, and stared at the mess. “What happened out here?”
“Three grown women that you think are saints came in and acted like spoiled brats,” Gracie answered. “They did this on purpose and then left owing us for the tea. And your favorite of the bunch, Reesa, told me that I could work for her as a housekeeper. How’s that for good girls?”
“I would have never . . .” Elana gasped.
“Now you see why I’m not friends with any of them. They flaunt their money and are only sweet to people they want something from. They have never grown up—at this point in their lives, they probably never will.”