Chapter Twenty-One
Mae opened her purse and brought out a battery-operated fan that fit around her neck. “If it gets any hotter, you are going to have to put a can under my lawn chair to catch the grease as it pours out of me.”
“Don’t talk that way,” Tina scolded. “Not everyone is five feet two and a hundred and twenty pounds.”
“Amen to that. I would love to be short and thin, but with parents that were both over six feet tall, I didn’t have a chance,” Cleo said as she dug around in her tote bag until she found her fan and situated it around her thin neck.
“This won’t help all that much, but it will make me think I’m cooler.
Did you kids get all the paperwork caught up? ”
Tina bit back a chuckle. “Almost. It’s a never-ending job.”
“Enough to get us through until Monday,” Walker added and changed the subject. “There’s only one shade tree in the area. Are y’all going to set your chairs there?”
“That’s the plan,” Mae answered.
Tina closed her eyes and relived the time she and Walker had spent in the motel room—every touch of his body next to hers, every whispered word, and every emotion that flowed through her heart.
She was enjoying the experience until Walker laid a hand on her on the shoulder and jerked her back to the present.
“Are you sleeping?” he asked.
“No, just woolgathering,” she answered.
Mae opened the truck door and hopped out onto the ground. “Well, it’s time to hustle so we can get a place under the shade. Tina, you can bring the tote bags, and, Walker, you can get the cooler.”
Cleo was already outside when Walker helped Tina out of the vehicle. “I was going to be a gentleman—”
The older woman cut him off. “We don’t need any special attention. We been getting in and out of vehicles since we was kids.”
“But it was right nice of you to think of us,” Mae said over her shoulder as she hurried toward the gate.
Tina slung a tote bag over each of her shoulders and grabbed a lawn chair in each hand. “Do they really want the shady spot to set up their chairs, or do they want to beat Iris to that spot?”
Walker nodded to his right. “Probably a little of both, but that’s Iris’s car over there, so they might change their minds if she’s already claimed their homestead for the night.”
“The fight will be on. Do we have enough energy left to pull them apart?” Tina asked.
He picked up the cooler and the remaining two lawn chairs. “I’ll do my best, but this time we could walk slowly and let them get to the shade tree before we do.”
“Do you think they’ll ever be friends again?”
He shook his head. “This fight is what keeps all three of them living. There have been several times in the past years when I thought one or all of them would sell out and go to an assisted-living place for the elderly.”
Tina shortened her stride to match his. “You really are going slow.”
“Yep, if they want to fight, we should let them this time. There’s no mud puddles, so they can pull hair and scratch all they want.”
Tina didn’t care what Iris did, but she couldn’t imagine coming back to Benson to find another family living in the big two-story place. “I hope they never leave the house.”
“The last time I wondered whether they might leave was before Gracie moved in,” Walker said. “But then there was the incident with the goat eating the roses, and all that revived them. Then you came home and they got another second wind, and now they’re younger than ever.”
“Do you think they’ll go into a depression when Gracie leaves?”
Walker set the cooler down at the gate and put a couple of bills into Lillian’s donation box. “Not when they still have us to boss around.”
“Thank you. All the money goes to the volunteer fire department fund,” Lillian told him. “As dry as it is right now, we will need all the help we can get if a wildfire breaks out.”
“It already did,” Sabrina said right behind Tina. “It even has a name, and since it came to Benson, it’s managed to cause all kinds of disasters.”
Tina whipped around and bent slightly so that she was nose to nose with Sabrina.
“And what is this evil creature’s name? I would love for you to say it out loud in the presence of witnesses so that the person you are referring to could sue you for defamation of character.
Or better yet, knock you square on your bubble butt. ”
Sabrina gasped and took a couple of steps back.
“I’ve screenshot everything you’ve said about me, and if it doesn’t stop, I’m getting a lawyer,” Tina declared.
“I’m not leaving Benson. I’m here to stay, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.
But to do that, you would have to move out of your parents’ home and get a real job, and we all know there are reasons that you can’t do that, don’t we? ”
“And what would those be?” Sabrina growled.
“Do you want all of them, or just the top ten?” Tina asked. “I know how to stir up crap on social media as well as you do.”
“But it wouldn’t be true,” Sabrina snapped.
“Fake news is more exciting than the real stuff, and two can always play the game.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Sabrina’s eyes widened and she laid a hand on her chest.
“Don’t. Test. Me,” Tina said.
Sabrina fished her phone from the hip pocket of her shorty shorts and was already texting when she went through the gate.
Walker picked up the cooler. “Did you really save all that crap?”
“Nope, but she doesn’t need to know,” Tina answered. “Lillian’s thumbs are a blur. What would you bet that she’s texting Cleo?”
“I’m not taking that bet,” Walker chuckled.
Sure enough, Cleo had her phone to her ear and was frowning when Walker set the cooler on the ground and popped open two chairs. She put the phone back into the pocket of her skirt and smiled at Tina. “Right proud of you.”
“Iris, we need to move away from here,” Sabrina whined from the other side of the tree.
“Them hussies ain’t running me or you off,” Iris declared.
“We ain’t leaving, neither,” Cleo announced loudly.
“I’m sick to death of even living close to you two,” Iris growled. “And now you’re ruining my holiday.”
Mae raised her voice. “Then move!”
“No one would buy my place, not when they’d have to live with y’all right next door,” Iris spat.
“I will buy it from you and not even haggle over the appraised price,” Mae said.
Iris stood up with a groan and walked around the pecan tree to stand in front of Mae. “I’ll have it appraised Monday morning and get my lawyer to draw up the papers. I’m sick nigh unto death with having to deal with all y’all. I should have done this years ago.”
“Are you serious?” Cleo asked.
“I am, but that ugly rooster goes with the deal,” Iris said. “I’m going to buy a place in Vega, and Sabrina is moving in with me to help me when I get old. I was going to put the house on the market next week anyway, but if you want it, I’ll sell it to you.”
“When you get old?” Mae chuckled.
Sabrina shot around the tree with her eyes wide. “We should talk about this, Iris.”
“What’s there to talk about? I’ve been telling you for years how much I hate living beside these two, and you’ve said that we should both move away and get a new start.
” Iris pointed her finger at Sabrina and tilted her chin up several notches.
“You are too old to live with your folks, and Faith says you can have the secretary job at her husband’s church. ”
Sabrina gasped. “But . . .”
Iris shook her finger at Sabrina. “No arguing. We will do fine living together, and I’ll help you find a rich husband.”
“I . . . I can’t just . . . ,” Sabrina stammered.
Iris looped her arm in Sabrina’s and tugged at her. “It’s time you learn to take care of yourself. I don’t like living alone anymore, and we’ll be company for each other.”
Tina almost felt sorry for Sabrina—almost! Her soul seemed to leave her body. Her face went white. Tina wondered if she should call 911, but decided to wait at least half an hour.
Cleo and Mae both tried to contain the giggles, but it didn’t work.
Iris stopped and glared at them. “What’s so funny?”
“You and Sabrina living together,” Cleo answered between hiccups. “You don’t know jack squat about young people.”
“We go to church every Sunday together, but we’ll be changing our membership to the one where Faith’s husband preaches,” Iris argued.
“I can’t do that,” Sabrina moaned.
“Yes, you can.” Iris gave her arm another tug and led her to the other side of the tree. “We’ll be good for each other.”
“What goes around comes around,” Walker whispered.
Tina sat down in one of the two empty chairs. “I couldn’t wish that situation on my worst enemy, and Sabrina doesn’t even get to wear that crown.”
Walker claimed the last chair. “Are you thinking about helping her out of the mess she’s gotten herself into?”
“I think I am, but, darlin’, I have an ulterior motive.
” Tina raised her voice slightly. “You do realize that Sabrina likes to stay out late and she hates to get up early. She doesn’t even go to work at her dad’s insurance office until noon.
She can’t cook, and she doesn’t know how to run a washing machine or a dishwasher.
And you can forget about her helping you with the flower beds, because she might break a nail.
Why don’t you just buy a house close to Faith’s church?
She’s the one who is a fantastic cook, and from what I hear, her flower beds are lovely.
I bet she’d even let you be Grandma to her kids.
I’m sure they are angels since their daddy is a preacher. ”
“Good Lord! This is Sabrina’s comeuppance. Don’t help her out of a bad situation,” Cleo barked.
“She’s right,” Sabrina whined. “I had planned on hiring a maid, a gardener, and a cook after Brandon and I got married.”