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“Is Matt going to get Nora?”
Lana snorted. “He’d take her in a heartbeat. But I don’t think so. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to court about it, but there’s really not a whole lot he can do. Eva is allowed to make bad choices, and she’s allowed to drag her daughter around while she does it.”
Wasn’t that so true? A person was allowed to make bad choices. And a lot of times those choices affected their children, and there wasn’t a single thing anyone else could do about it.
Of course, on one hand that was a good thing, because Jubilee certainly had made her share of bad choices, and her children had suffered, but hopefully she’d learned from those bad decisions and was ready to start making good ones.
But she had a more pressing problem at the moment.
“She’s moving out now? Like today?”
“She took boxes of stuff out of the basement and then drove away.”
“I... Wonder what she’s doing for the festival?”
“You can try calling her, but I got the feeling she wasn’t planning on being around for it.”
Jubilee tried to keep the panic from clawing up her chest. She was going to spend all of the committee's money to have a bunch of vendors and a bunch of seating and a stage, with no performances. No one scheduled to perform.
The first thing that her new hometown asked her to do, and it was going to be a miserable failure. Truly not her fault, but still, she was in charge.
“If you don’t mind? Could I have Eva’s number?”
She put the rolling pin down, realizing too late that her dough was rolled out lopsided and would never fit in a pie shell. When a person rolled out pie dough more than once it got tough, and she felt she’d not only ruined that, but possibly ruined the whole festival, too.
Her fingers trembled as she dialed the number that Lana gave her.
Swallowing hard, she realized her mouth was dry, and she thought about grabbing her glass of water, but she didn’t move. Instead in her mind she begged Eva to pick up. To pick up and tell her that everything was just fine.
“Hello?” Eva was out of breath.
“Eva. I’m glad I caught you.” Her voice sounded far more normal than she felt. “I just want to touch base about the festival.”
“Oh that’s right. I’ve been meaning to call you. I'm moving away from Strawberry Sands, and I’m not going to be able to do anything with the festival.”
Jubilee took a calming breath. “That’s fine. Can you just give me the contact info for the people that you’ve booked for Friday and Saturday night and I’ll go ahead and be in touch with them myself.”
“I’m sorry. I just haven’t had time to book anyone. I’ve been busy with other things. You know, moving, hello.”
“You...haven’t booked anyone?” Jubilee asked after a small pause. Like, as in hadn’t booked anyone. At all.
“No. Did you hear me? I’ve been busy. I’ve had things to do.”
“But... But it was our job.”
She wasn’t so naïve as to know that some people didn’t take their job seriously.
“It’s just a small town festival. Nobody cares. Trust me on this,” Eva said, disdain dripping from every word.
“Right.” Jubilee wanted to argue. She certainly had all the facts on her side. But, if someone didn’t think that was important for them to keep their word, there really wasn’t any point in arguing. She couldn’t win an argument like that when they weren’t even starting out on the same level. Before she could win, Eva would have to admit that small towns did matter, and that if she said she was going to do something, it didn’t matter what stuff came up, unless she was incapacitated in some way, she should have, at the very least, told someone and given the responsibility to someone else.
“Is that all you wanted?”
“Um. I guess. How’s Nora? I haven’t seen her for a day or two.”
“She’s fine. No need to be nosy.” Eva laughed. “Did Matt have you call, thinking that maybe I would change my mind and let him have custody if you ask?”
“No!” Jubilee said quickly. She didn’t want to sabotage anything Matt was trying to do by butting in, no matter how innocent. “I just care about her. She’s... Great friends with my daughters, and I think she’s sweet.”
