The Barefoot Summer Read online

  “Don’t think about time. Think about us sitting outside in the hallway on metal folding chairs. To me, it feels like we’re in trouble,” Amanda said.

  Jamie smiled. “I was so shy, I never had to sit in the hallway. My teachers are probably still in shock that I grew up to become a teacher myself.”

  “Humph! Don’t try to put that bullshit on my plate. The way you bowed up to me at the funeral, and with your temper, I ain’t believin’ a word of that,” Amanda said.

  “I was shy in high school. I learned to stand up for myself in college. How about you?”

  “I was not a model student, so I did spend my fair share of time sitting on a chair just like this or in detention hall. I liked the latter much better.”

  “Why?” Jamie asked.

  “Most of the time they assigned a teacher who’d rather be doing anything else but watching a bunch of unruly kids, so they’d leave the room. We’d break out the cards and I won enough money playing poker to buy after-school Cokes.”

  “Really?” Jamie gasped. “I figured you for a shy little thing like Kate and I were.”

  “Not until later, after Aunt Ellie got me straightened out in the church.”

  “Amanda?” Victor poked his head out the door. “We’re ready for you.”

  “Wish me luck,” Amanda said.

  “You don’t even need it.”

  “Thank you.”

  Amanda had dressed in her best maternity slacks and shirt, styled her curly red hair in a twist, and applied makeup. The job might not bring in the money that she’d made at the bank or even the clothing store, but it would be perfect for a single mother with a child. And Bootleg was a better place to raise a baby than in an apartment right in the city.

  “Please have a seat,” a lady she recognized from the church said.

  The wing-back chair that Amanda sank into was a whole lot more comfortable that the metal chair out in the hallway. She waited while they shuffled through her résumé and recommendation letters she’d gotten from the bank, Aunt Ellie, and Wanda.

  “I am Andrea Drysdale, the president of the Board of Education,” the woman said. She introduced three of the other five members, finishing, “You already know Victor, who has highly recommended you for this position.”

  Amanda nodded at each of them. “I’m pleased to meet you all. You all know how I came to be in Bootleg, right?”

  “We do,” Mrs. Drysdale said and then lowered her voice. “And off the record, we’re glad to hear that the man who conned Iris is dead. We aren’t going to let anything that he caused or did influence our decision. Do you have any questions about this job?”

  “Could I stretch the yearly salary into twelve payments so that I would have a summer paycheck? Do I work in the summer months, and if so, could I bring my baby with me?”

  “Yes, most secretaries do like to have their checks in the summer. Though you will still work during that time. You can choose either the month after school is out or the month before school starts for your break. If you choose to work all three months, you will be paid extra. And you can bring your child during those months,” Andrea answered.

  “If you stay organized through the year, there won’t be much to do but answer phone calls in the summer,” Victor said. “Anything else?”

  Amanda nodded and asked, “You have taken into consideration that the earliest I could start to work would be mid-October? And that right now they still suspect me and Jamie and Kate of murder?”

  “We have and have made arrangements with a retired teacher to take the job for the first six weeks,” Paula, the elementary school principal, answered. “And all that other business will take care of itself, we have no doubt. So?”

  “Yes, I’m interested.” Amanda’s heart kicked in an extra beat as she fought the urge to do a wiggle dance in her chair.

  “Amanda, we are offering you the job. We have the contract drawn up. The salary comes with health insurance. You will have to add dental and vision, but that will all be decided later when you put your baby on the policy,” Victor said.

  “Oh! Then you are hiring me right now?”

  “Yes.” Victor grinned. “Are you accepting?”

  “Yes, I am. Where do I sign?”

  Kate waited on the porch with Hattie and Gracie that evening. She was every bit as antsy as Gracie, and nothing helped. Not ice cream or playing games or counting stars or trying to figure out how far the moon was kept them from wondering what was going on at the school.

  When Jamie parked her van, Hattie raised a hand into the air. “Well, praise the Lord, they are home. I called Victor twice and he won’t tell me anything. All he’ll say is that it’s classified. The old coot. I’ll get him back.”

  Kate tried to read Amanda and Jamie’s body language, but they didn’t give a single thing away until they reached the porch. Jamie opened up her arms to Gracie and said, “You ready to move, kiddo?”

  Gracie torpedoed herself into Jamie’s arms. “This is just what I wanted, Mama.” She planted kisses all over her mother’s face.

  “So you got the job?” Kate exhaled loudly. “Amanda?”

  “I will start work six weeks after school begins.”

  “And you will let me babysit, right?” Hattie asked. “I’ll come right here to the cabin so you don’t have to take the baby out in the weather.”

  “Hattie, you are an absolute godsend. I’m so lucky to have you. They said if I work through the summer, I get extra pay.” Amanda beamed. “I’m hoping that when I wake up, this not a dream. I can even take the baby with me in the summer.”

  How could Conrad have treated these two women the way he did? Kate could understand why he was such a son of a bitch with her. He’d married her for money and when he didn’t get it, he rebelled like a petulant child. But Jamie and Amanda hadn’t been born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, and they damn sure didn’t deserve what he had put them through.

  “Is it real? They won’t change their minds?” Gracie whispered.

  “We are really going to live here.” Jamie hugged her again. “I promise. We should call Mama Rita. I think you should tell her.”

  Gracie squirmed out of her mother’s arms and danced around the porch. “Can we tell her right now?”

  Jamie handed her the phone. “Don’t hang up when you get done. I want to talk to her, too.”

  Kate hugged both Amanda and Jamie. “Congratulations to both of you. To all three of you, really—Gracie wanted this as much as you did.”

  “I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what you could do at the school.” Hattie glanced over at Kate.

  Kate patted the elderly woman gently on the shoulder. “I have a job in Fort Worth.”

  “But I can see in your face that you’d like to stay here. My mama used to tell me to never close a door until you see what’s on the other side of it,” Hattie said.

  Kate had heard that before, but it really sank in that warm summer evening. She didn’t really have two doors before her like in that old television show. A beyond-comfortable lifestyle had been given to her, one that she knew and could do. She imagined an extra door in her office. If she chose to step through it into a very different office, would she have regrets? But if she didn’t, wouldn’t she always wonder?

  “Don’t ever look back and wonder if you might have been happier if you’d chosen another pathway to walk,” Hattie whispered.

  Before Kate could answer, her phone pinged. She glanced down at it to see a message from Waylon. Shall we send them flowers tomorrow?

  She smiled and sent one back. Already done and balloons for Gracie.

  The next one said, Pretty sure of yourself. Call me when things quiet down?

  She sent him a smiley face symbol.

  “That was Waylon, wasn’t it? I can tell by the expression on your face,” Hattie said.

  “I’d make a poor poker player.” Kate smiled.

  “When it comes to Waylon, I can read you like a b
ook, girl.”

  Kate was so jealous of Jamie and Amanda that evening that it was a wonder she wasn’t the same shade of green as the Hulk. They knew what they wanted and went after it. Kate knew what she wanted, but a nagging fear kept her from being willing to make a change. Pure insanity. She’d been in Bootleg less than a month. Not long ago she and Conrad’s other two wives were at his funeral. That was not enough time for her to even consider a drastic change.

  Decision based on the heart. Hattie’s words stuck in her mind. The only time that Kate had done that, she’d wound up married to Conrad.

  Be honest, the voice in her head argued. You weren’t paying a bit of attention to your heart in those days. That was one time your mother was right.

  Kate pushed the voice away. “Hey, I’ve got a bottle of chilled wine waiting, and Hattie brought over a sinful chocolate cake.”

  “And I can have milk with my cake, right?” Gracie was still wiggling in excitement.

  With an arm around Gracie’s shoulders, Kate whispered, “Out of a stemmed wineglass, so you can pretend.”

  Dear Lord, what have I done? was the first thought in Jamie’s mind that Saturday morning when she awoke. The thrill of getting the job had passed, and the reality of actually moving from the city to Bootleg set in. All through the process of making up her mind and then signing the contract, she’d thought she was making the right decision even if it did seem rushed. But that morning she doubted herself. She moaned and immediately checked to be sure that she had not wakened Gracie.

  Her child was gone! For a split second she panicked, and then she heard her out in the house laughing with Kate. Jamie hopped out of bed, and something fluttered in her peripheral vision. She whipped around to find Gracie’s balloons straining against the strings holding them down. Right beside them was her bouquet of daisies. The congratulatory card was unsigned, but there was no doubt in her mind that Kate and Waylon had sent them.

  “Stop it!” she scolded herself, not the balloons. “You made this choice. Now plow ahead without regrets.”

  She sniffed the air and caught a whiff of warm maple syrup, bacon, and coffee mixed together. Pancakes and coffee sounded like a right fine way to start the day.

  Neither Amanda nor Kate looked a bit better than she did.

  “Did we do the right thing?” Amanda asked.

  Jamie sucked in a lungful of air and said, “Of course we did. It’s normal to second-guess such a drastic change.”

  “Not as radical as if Kate said she wasn’t going back to Fort Worth,” Amanda said.

  Jamie poured coffee into her mug. Maybe not, but to her it was every bit as big a decision as any one Kate would make. And now with the cabin undecided, she might have to rent another place and move furniture.

  Kate motioned toward the stove. “Amanda left pancakes for you, and the syrup is warm.”

  “Still nesting, are you?” Jamie glanced at Amanda, remembering her days in that mode just before Gracie was born.

  “Yes, and weeping at commercials, too. We’re discussing whether or not we’ll ever get married again,” Amanda said.

  “Not me,” Jamie said. “What I’ve been through is enough for me without having to adjust to married life all over again.”

  Although, if she was honest, she’d never really done much adjusting with Conrad. He’d popped in and out occasionally, only staying a week at a time. That wasn’t much of a marriage.

  Amanda sighed. “It seems like all that happened years ago, instead of just a month.”

  “Don’t it, though?” Jamie set her mug on the table and went back to get the plate of pancakes. “Where’s Gracie?”

  “She’s waiting on the porch for your Mama Rita. So, say the perfect man came along and you fell in love with him. Would you change your mind?” Amanda raised an eyebrow toward Jamie.

  She poured syrup on the pancakes and thought about the question for a full minute. “I’d have to do double time on the trust issue. He’d not only have to be good to me but also to Gracie. And believe me, if it happens, I will have him investigated,” Jamie said. “If he finds out and don’t like it, he can hit the road.”

  “That’s exactly what I said. I may even hire two separate investigators to make sure it’s done right,” Amanda said.

  “Did you ever . . .” Kate hesitated long enough to take a sip of coffee.

  “Ever what?” Jamie asked.

  “Think there was something too good about the whole dating process with Conrad?”

  “You mean like it was too perfect?” Amanda asked.

  “Exactly. Did you ever have an argument or a fight with him over anything, especially that first year?” Kate asked.

  Jamie shook her head. “That is strange, isn’t it? He always got his way, but then he was only home a week out of a month, and I didn’t want to make that time unpleasant.”

  That should have raised a warning flag. No arguments. Making things so perfect for him so he’d be happy. God, what had turned her into a submissive little wife like that?

  “Me, either,” Amanda said.

  “He was a master of manipulation,” Kate said.

  Oh, yes, he was, and so damned good that I didn’t even see it until now.

  “And not all that great in bed,” Amanda agreed with a nod. “It had to be all about him, since I only got to be with him a few days. I won’t fall for that crap again.”

  The heat started on Jamie’s neck and moved around to her cheeks, darkening her light-brown skin to scarlet. “You, too, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Kate and Amanda said at the same time.

  Kate held up a palm. “But only for about six months for me and the same for Amanda. Mine was by choice and hers by death. You had to put up with him longer than either of us.”

  “That just makes me the bigger fool.” Jamie sighed.

  “You don’t get to carry that burden alone,” Amanda told her. “We’ll share that one three ways. At least you were thinking divorce. I was looking forward to a vacation with him right here in this cabin. God, I was so stupid.”

  Jamie nudged Amanda with her shoulder. “And you don’t need to carry that burden alone, either.”

  Gracie’s squeals vibrated through the house before anyone could say another word. “She’s here! Mama Rita is here!”

  Jamie left her coffee and food and headed for the door in a semijog with Kate and Amanda right behind her. Gracie had bailed off the porch and thrown herself in Rita’s arms and was attempting to tell her everything she knew in the seconds before Jamie joined them in a three-way hug.

  “Did you see the stagecoach? Me and Lisa get to ride in it at the ranch on Monday and we get to have a picnic and”—she lowered her voice—“I’m going to ride one of them horses or maybe a four-wheeler if the horses are tired from pulling the stagecoach.”

  “I didn’t see a stagecoach, but I did see a Ferris wheel.” Mama Rita winked at Jamie.

  “And funnel cakes? Did you smell them?” Gracie put her hand in Mama Rita’s and led her to the house. “Come and see my room. I got balloons yesterday. I know that Kate and Waylon sent them, because Kate was smiling real big when they came. Did you have breakfast? We’ve got extra pancakes and bacon on the stove.”

  “I’m waiting for funnel cakes,” Mama Rita answered. “You can give me a tour of the house and the deck while everyone gets ready.”

  Gracie skipped along beside her great-grandmother, chattering the whole time about the cabin.

  “She does love it here,” Mama Rita said to Jamie from the side of her mouth. “You made the right decision.”

  “Want to move with us?” Jamie asked, half in jest.

  Rita chuckled. “Not this year, but I can see this as a lovely place to retire.”

  Jamie laughed. “Mama Rita, you are seventy-five years old. You’ve been retired for years.”

  For her to even say that she might move to Bootleg someday was huge. Jamie hugged herself, and all the doubts from that morning disappeared. Mama Rita a
greed with her choice and that made everything right again.

  “In my family, we don’t really quit until we are eighty, and then we keep at something until at least ninety,” she said as an aside to Kate before she gave Gracie her full attention. “Now what is this about a fishing dock, Gracie? Will we have time to go see it before we go to the festival? I’m going to be your cheerleader in the contest and we are going to win.”

  “I’ve been practicing with Hattie and I think I might win.” Gracie pulled her great-grandmother into the house.

  Kate smiled. “I reckon we’d better get dressed in a hurry, or we’ll all be in trouble and have to stay home while Gracie and Mama Rita go to the festival.”

  Jamie laughed. “You are starting to sound like a country girl.”

  “Well, thank you,” Kate said. “And I don’t mean that with a smidgen of sarcasm, either.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Old folks brought their lawn chairs and staked out a place to watch the parade that Saturday morning. The temperature was inching up toward three digits when the sirens from the Bootleg Volunteer Fire Department’s big red truck sounded off. A few umbrellas popped up, providing shade, and Kate glanced around to see if any vendors were selling them so she could purchase one for Gracie and Lisa to share. But there were none.

  Could it be that was her sign? Jamie’s words continued to echo in her head. She should resign from the oil business and buy a vendor’s wagon to travel around the state with all kinds of umbrellas. Every town had a festival, and everyone wanted a little shade in the hot summer. She smiled at the silly thought.

  The Bootleg High School band, all wearing street clothing and crazy fishing hats instead of their usual uniforms, marched behind the fire truck. Twice the band stopped and performed a fancy two-step routine that garnered catcalls and applause from the crowd.

  She took a picture of the band with her phone and then took several up-close snapshots of Gracie. Maybe she’d scatter pictures of Gracie throughout her new home, wherever it turned out to be.