AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s this now?” Vidalia came to the bar, wiping her hands on her apron, and picked up the flyer. Then she smiled. “Dang, he was sure confident I’d say yes, wasn’t he? I don’t know whether to be amused or ticked off.”
“Say yes towhat?” Mel demanded.
Vidalia lifted her gaze, narrowed it, and gave each of the girls a long, steady look. They knew enough to stay silent in the wake of that look, too. “I’ll thank you to take that tone out of your voice, young lady. I’m still your mother, and not only that, I’m fairly certain I could still whip your ass, should the situation call for it.”
Maya blinked in shock, then turned her head slightly, probably to hide a smile. She was a mother now, too. She got this sort of thing.
“Have a seat. I’ll pour us all some coffee, and we can talk like human beings.”
“Mama, you can’t possibly trust this guy who just showed up out of the blue and plans to open a competing–”
Vidalia pointed at a table, then turned to head into the kitchen behind the bar. The short order cook showed up at eight. Until then, the crowds were light enough that she could handle any cooking needed on her own.
She filled three mugs, fixed them all, knowing her daughters’ coffee fixin’s by heart, and carried them out to the table in two hands. The girls were sitting, waiting, and speaking to each other in urgent, hushed tones that silenced the second she returned.
Vidalia sat down. “So, I had lunch with Bobby Joe McIntyre today, and he asked me to play hostess for him on his opening night. Since I owe the man more than I can ever hope to repay, I said I would. The Corral will be closed on the 23rd in a show of support and friendship with the Long Branch. Objections should be put in writing, and filed in the trash can. I don’t answer to anyone these days and haven’t in twenty years, in case that’s slipped your minds.” She sipped her coffee and pulled the flyer closer, eyeing it and smiling. “It’s very flattering, don’t you think?”
“Mama,” Mel said, “Alex and I did a little poking around–”
Vidalia looked across the table at her daughter. “Alex and you did what, now?”
“Okay, Alex refused. I did it myself.”
“Did what yourself, daughter?”
“Don’t be mad.”
She’d come in here all bluff and bluster and now she was realizing just how far she had overstepped.
“I asked her to, Mom,” Maya said. “I’m worried about you.”
“So I checked into RJR McIntyre’s recent activities. The man’s net worth is in the billions. Most of it’s invested, but just recently he sold off almost everything. Converted it into cash and bought gold with every bit of it.”
Vidalia frowned. “What a billionaire does with his assets is kind of his own business, don’t you think, Mel?”
“Ma, when rich men start converting assets to cash and squirreling it away, it usually means they’re expecting to be prosecuted for something.”
“Oh, does it now?”
“I’ve never seen one that didn’t,” she said.
“Huh. Well, I’ll take that under advisement, Melusine. But it really doesn’t have anything to do with me, and even less to do with you. I’ll add that it doesn’t change my decision to help him open his saloon next week.”
“But Mom–”
“No more snooping, Melusine. That’s out of line and the both of you are old enough to know it.”
Melusine looked at her sister. Maya shrugged. “It’s only because we care about you Mom.”
“I accept that’s what it seems like from your perspective,” Vidalia said. “Would you like to know what it feels like from my end?” She didn’t wait for them to answer before telling them. “It feels like you don’t think I’m smart enough to make my own decisions. Like you don’t have any respect for the wisdom I’ve gained, raising five girls and starting a business almost singlehandedly. Like you think that when a woman hits fifty-something, she turns into a blithering idiot who needs a caretaker.”
The girls looked more horrified with every word she spoke, and she knew she had finally got through to them.
“We don’t think that at all, Mom,” Maya said. “I don’t ever want you to think we do.”
“Same here,” Mel put in. But for some reason it didn’t carry the same conviction. “I don’t think you’re an idiot. I just think when romance is involved, even the smartest woman can make a mistake.”
“If therewereromance involved, it would be my mistake to make. Not yours.” Vidalia pushed away from the table and stood up. “This conversation is over. I’ve got a business to run. You girls have a good night.”
