“You all hear that?” Becky Sue said loudly to anyone within earshot. “You treat my child like crap for my mistakes, I will put you in the ground…”
“Oh my gosh!” Heidi exclaimed. “She’s joking…”
“I am not,” Becky Sue volunteered cheerfully. “Dead serious. Real men don’t ignore their responsibilities – like Matt, nor do they offer to marry someone they don’t love – like Everett. No, in fact, my whole life has gone to pot except for you, sweet girl… and no one will ever treat you like they currently treat your mommy.”
Heidi’s mouth dropped open in shock at the bombshells being lobbed into the crowd directly over her table. This was her display, her new business, her employee, andthings were going south really quickly for all three of them within seconds.
“Cookies?” Heidi yelped out bravely. “Welcome toMeant-To-Be Caféwhere the cookies are sweet and the memories are even better. Come get your cookie samples…”
“And that witch of a mayor can hop on her broomstick…”
“Becky Sue, take five –now!” Heidi yelped, interrupting her. “COOKIES! PLEASE COME GET YOUR COOKIES,” she railed at the top of her lungs, her voice shaking with effort and frustration. Becky Sue huffed and walked away to cool off as several people walked over to Heidi’s table – for the gossip and the cookies – only to see a dark-haired man cut through the crowd, following Becky Sue.Interesting, the thought wildly as she greeted the first person.
“Welcome toMeant-To-Be Café… this is one of our specials,” she invited politely. “I’m Heidi Thompson, the manager and owner.”
Time passed,and Becky Sue returned to the table, apologizing profusely under her breath. Apparently, someone Becky Sue trusted had taken Taylor for the afternoon so she could work, if she still had a job. Of course, Heidi still wanted Becky Sue there, but the two of them would need to discuss a few things privately, behind closed doors. Becky Sue looked so stressed, so upset, that it was a little startling to see that the woman was trying to hide the circles under her eyes with cosmetics.
“I’m sorry I blew up,” Becky Sue whispered for themillionth time. “I’m just freaking out, and it’s not your problem.”
“Do you need to talk?”
“I need a break.”
“What’s going on?” Heidi asked – and Becky Sue shook her head as another person stepped forward to buy several cookies. They were honestly a hit. People were eating their cookies and returning for another one, or buying several at a time.
The Jamboree was a hit.
There was a piglet contest, someone was doing free hair braiding and pony tails laced with ribbons. Another table was helping patrons to make embossed leather keychains. Dottie had a contest going to see who could eat the hottest pickled eggs – and it was startling to see that there were a few jars lined up, marked with chili peppers. The woman had a culinary fetish obviously, because no one was taking the one with five peppers on the front of the jar – except her.
That was quite a spectacle. Everyone backed away from the table; a few were recording the ‘event’ on their cell phones, and when Dottie ate the egg, the town held its breath before a roar of applause went up.
It was an egg.
Heidi didn’t understand that, but then again – it wasn’t her thing at all, and she still had the mental scars of that first sampling of her homemade nuclear waste… and then Heidi saw Jack.
His eyes met hers across the road as they exchanged a smile, and he tipped his hat toward her. Just seeing him there made her entire day so much better. The streetlights strung over the cobblestone roads came on, casting a dim glow over everything as the tables began to be put away in order to make room for some music. A couple of guyscarrying guitars were sitting on the haybales that Matthew Baird had been standing on earlier in the day. They strummed, notes dancing on the air, as people started to melt into the street away from the chaos that was from the clean-up… and Jack walked toward her.
“How’d it go today?” Jack began – and then snuck a cookie, giving her a sheepish smile. “I might need to start a tab.”
“You never have to pay,” she chuckled, feeling the stress fade from her with just him being near. “Perks of being an officer.”
“How about you rephrase that as perks of being yours,” he countered, hesitating. “There are three of us on the team, and I don’t want anyone else taking advantage of you.”
“Just you?” she invited huskily, her voice low as she whispered to him.
“Someday,” he replied, not bothering to lower his voice. “But I do need to take Mimi some of these cookies. She didn’t come out today because she was feeling tired, so I bought a few things to take home. I hope you don’t mind, but I stashed them at the café.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Heidi replied, concerned. “Is she okay?”
“Yes. She’s fine, just a little tired and not exactly steady on the cobblestones. I bought her a walker last year, and she threatened me within an inch of my life if I put tennis balls on the legs.”
“Really?” she chuckled, sharing a smile with him. “She doesn’t seem the type…”
“Then you’ve never pushed her buttons,” he replied, flinching. “I’ve got a heck of a bruise on the back of my arm from her wrath.”
“What’d you do?”
“Opened my big mouth.”
