Frank was bent over her mother’s Caddy and raised up slowly with a hand on his lower back. He’d always been tall, thin, and lanky, but right then she realized how much he’d aged in the past couple of years. Working for her mother would age anyone. Hell, he and Mabel had practically raised her. Wrinkles were etched into his long, slender face, and his hair had gone completely gray.

He raised an eyebrow. “Where are you goin’? Mabel told me about your troubles, child. You should stay here where people love you.”

“I can’t live like this, Frank,” she said.

“Wait till Dill gets home, honey. He’ll straighten out all this between you and your mama. She’ll come around and let you have bacon.” Frank grinned. “Don’t remember you ever goin’ through a rebellious streak as a teenager. Why now?”

“It’s more than bacon. I’ll gladly drive the old work truck.”

Nicky came in from outside and tossed his work gloves in the old truck. “I’ve got to go to the feed store to get a load of fertilizer, so I’ll be glad to give you a ride to Bloom, but the bus don’t come through for another few hours.”

“Thank you.” Jennie Sue threw her suitcase into the bed of the truck.

He brushed his dark hair back with his fingertips. His face was angular with just a hint of a chin dimple, and his muscles testified that he worked hard at his job.

“Now, exactly where do you want to go to wait for the bus?” He opened the door for her before getting into the truck himself, then put on a pair of wraparound sunglasses and started the engine.

“The Main Street Café,” she said. “You’ll pass it on your way through town.”

“Been there lots of times. Love their breakfast. Best pancakes in the state.”

“Thanks.” The idea of warm syrup over buttered pancakes almost erased the bitter taste of the argument.

The old truck rattled to a stop in front of the café. Nicky hopped out, retrieved Jennie Sue’s suitcase, and set it on the sidewalk as she got out of the truck. She picked it up and headed for the first open booth in the café, set it on the seat across the table from her, and picked up a menu stuck between the ketchup and the napkin dispenser.

“What can I get you? Well, my goodness, I didn’t even recognize you, Jennie Sue,” the waitress said.

“Hello, Elaine. I hear that you own this place now. That right?” Jennie Sue asked.

“Yep, it is. Bought it last year when my husband got killed in a car wreck. The settlement wouldn’t support me the rest of my life. All I’d ever known was cleaning house, cookin’, and raisin’ a couple of kids. Figured I could run a café, so here I am. My mama watches my two boys, and Cricket Lawson stayed on as part-time help,” she said.

Jennie Sue glanced over the menu. “I’m sorry to hear about your husband, but good for you for takin’ control of your own life. And you’re blessed to have family to help you.”

“I couldn’t do it without them,” Elaine said.

“While we were drivin’ here, Nicky said I should get the big country breakfast, so I’ll take that and maybe a big glass of milk.”

“No coffee?”

“Nope, just drank several cups,” Jennie Sue answered.

“Then it will be right out.”

Elaine hadn’t changed much since high school. She’d been a few years ahead of Jennie Sue and had always been super sweet, but she’d never quite fit in with the popular girls. She’d worn her dark hair long in those days, but now it was short and she’d gained probably twenty pounds. Jennie Sue wondered if Elaine’s mother ever fussed at her about the extra weight.

“Well, well, well! Are you leaving us already? You only got here yesterday.” Lettie shoved the suitcase over and sat down across the table from Jennie Sue. Short, as round as Mabel, and sporting a kinky hairdo that had gone out of style years ago, Lettie hadn’t changed since Jennie Sue was a little girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jennie Sue answered. “How have you been, Miz Lettie?”

“Elaine, I’ll have a big stack of pancakes and two orders of bacon,” Lettie called out across the café.

“Got it,” Elaine yelled.

“So where are you going?” Lettie turned back to Jennie Sue.

“To find a job,” she answered.

“What kind of skills and experience do you have?”

Elaine crossed the floor and set Jennie Sue’s breakfast in front of her. “Millie will bring out your order shortly, Miz Lettie.”

“No rush. Just send me a cup of coffee, and I’ll be happy until it gets here.” Lettie waved her away with a flick of the wrist and turned back to Jennie Sue. “Now, you were about to tell me about your work experience.”

Jennie Sue picked up the saltshaker and applied an unhealthy dose to her eggs. “I have no experience, but I do have a business degree. The only thing I’m good at is keeping a clean house and organizing fund-raisers and parties.”

“Hmm.” Lettie pursed her lips. “So why didn’t you have a housekeeper up there in New York?”

“Percy was never pleased with the way they cleaned.”

“Was?” Lettie asked.

“Been divorced for over a year.”

“Oh, really?” Lettie cocked her head to one side.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Me and my sister, Nadine, lost our housekeeper a couple of weeks ago. The lady that worked for us cleaned for me on Friday and Nadine on Thursday. You interested?”

Charlotte would probably go into cardiac arrest if Jennie Sue became nothing more than a maid for her archenemies. But hey, it was a job, and Jennie Sue damn sure knew how to clean a house so well that it would pass judgment in the courts of heaven.

“I might be interested if you could point me in the direction of an apartment or a rental house of some kind that wouldn’t be too expensive,” Jennie Sue answered.

“I got an apartment over my garage. It’s pretty small, but it’ll work for a single person. I’d be willing to rent it to you furnished. You’ll clean for me on Friday each week, but the last week in the month, you won’t get paid. That’ll be your rent,” Lettie said.

Jennie Sue could imagine Charlotte throwing whatever she could get her hands on at the wall when one of the Belles called her with that bit of news. Even if she was angry with her mother over trying to mold her into another Wilshire woman, she couldn’t do that to her mother—or could she? How else would she be independent?

She picked up a piece of crisp bacon with her fingers and took a bite while she thought about the offer. It was a job that she could do. It was a place for her to live. She didn’t have to live in a shelter or sleep on a park bench. However, her mother would never speak to her again, and the rumors would be so hot that they might burn down the whole town of Bloom.

Elaine arrived with Lettie’s pancakes and set them in front of her. “Sorry it took so long. Got a phone call, so the first ones I made were too brown. I wouldn’t even take those things home to feed to the kids’ hound dogs.”

“Thanks,” Lettie said and then turned her attention back to Jennie Sue. “I hated to see her husband die, but it’s the best thing that ever happened to her mama. The woman was fairly well wastin’ away after Elaine’s daddy died. Now she keeps Elaine’s kids, and she’s got a brand-new lease on life.”

A surge of jealousy shot through Jennie Sue.

Lettie lowered her voice. “Elaine’s doin’ a good job of runnin’ the café and raisin’ them boys.” Lettie glanced out the window and frowned. “Sweet Jesus! There’s Amos. Sometimes I think that man is stalkin’ me.”

Amos pushed his way into the café and dragged up a chair to Lettie and Jennie Sue’s table without being invited.

“Hey, Millie, bring me a plate just like Lettie’s,” he yelled across the empty café.

“Will do. Coffee?” she asked.

“Yep, black as sin and strong as Hercules.” He grinned. “Now, what are you ladies discussing?”