Back for Seconds (3 page)

The kids nodded, but still looked uncertain and out of place. Joely turned to Granny Faye. “I could sure use one of those,” she said, referring to the hug. Granny Faye was all too happy to accommodate.

“I have some hot chocolate,” Lillian announced as she put her arm around Nash. “Any takers?”

Both kids looked to their mother, who shook her head. “It’s getting late and it’s been a pretty exhausting day.”

What she couldn’t say was that she was tired of wearing a smile and pretending everything was okay. She wanted to have a proper breakdown, and she couldn’t do it in front of the kids.

With nary a bit of grumbling, both Nash and Kari headed upstairs to their new rooms. They had barely gotten out of sight before the tears finally fell. Lillian pulled her daughter into a hug. “Oh, honey,” she crooned. Granny Faye patted her on the back as they stood there together in a strong circle, holding her up.

Finally they ended up on the sofa and Granny Faye disappeared to the kitchen. She returned with a small tumbler of whiskey, which made Joely laugh through her tears. “Getting me drunk, Granny Faye?”

“Sometimes it helps,” she told her.

Joely nodded and sipped the amber liquid. It burned as it went down her throat, which oddly felt good. She needed it to burn. She wanted it to hurt. It took the focus off of her shattered heart. Granny Faye sat on her other side. “So what now?” Lillian asked.

Joely’s lip quivered. “I don’t know. What else is there?”

Lillian brushed her daughter’s hair back. “Life,” she answered softly. “Sometimes you get this amazing chance to start over. Best not waste it.”

Joely leaned on her mother’s shoulder, cradling her drink in both hands. She finally made it to her own room a little after eleven that night. She stood at the edge of the queen-sized bed. How big it looked for just one person. More tears fell as she changed into a long nightgown and crawled between the sheets. She stared at the ceiling, feeling more alone than she’d ever felt in her life. When Hannah joined her a little after one o’clock in the morning, she was quick to cuddle her close, reassured by her warm little body pressed up tight against her.

Then, and only then, did she finally drift to sleep.

The next morning, both Lillian and Faye had headed back to the restaurant for the early shift. People came from far and wide for Granny Faye’s homemade biscuits. The breakfast crowd kept the place jumping seven days a week and Granny Faye never missed one day. Te house in Old Elmwood was quiet that Sunday morning when Joely padded to the large country kitchen for a very necessary cup of coffee. She found a note for her on the refrigerator. Lillian had taken Kari to the restaurant with them.

It was just as well. Joely still felt like a raw, exposed nerve. She wasn’t ready to go another nine rounds with her petulant daughter. She wanted to scream that none of this was her fault. She hadn’t asked to have her life uprooted. It was Russell’s fault… but Russell wasn’t around to deal with the consequences.

Typical.

Despite her understandable bitterness, her mother had already warned her not to drag her kids into her marital conflict. “Don’t make them take sides,” she told her. “They’re going through enough.”

So Joely suffered silently, which was also typical. She’d had a lot of time to think about things in the last week and a half, and it always seemed to go back around to that same, recurring theme.

She returned upstairs to get Hannah ready for the day. Joely was pleased to find that her youngest looked much better. Her face was no longer ruddy from crying and the light had come back into her bright blue eyes, the ones she had inherited from her father.

Fortunately Joely was completely crazy about Hannah, so she wouldn’t hold that against her.

She knocked on Nash’s door next. His voice was muffled and sleepy as he said, “What?”

“Time to get up,” she called through the door. “Breakfast in twenty.”

He finally trod into the kitchen a half-hour later. By then, Joely and Hannah were sitting at the breakfast nook overlooking the backyard. Without saying anything, he joined them at the table, spooning food into his plate without offering one word.

She studied him as he ate with his head downcast. Hannah tried to engage him in conversation, but he wasn’t cooperative. Joely had been worried about him for a while. He’d been this way since he turned twelve. She had wanted to take him to a therapist, but Russell had dismissed her concerns. “He’s just a boy, Joely. They aren’t prone to mood swings and temper tantrums like girls. Just because he doesn’t act like everything is the end of the world doesn’t mean that something is wrong.”

Joely hadn’t really believed him then, and definitely didn’t believe him now. Nash just had his whole world turned upside down. If he couldn’t find a way to express those feelings, Joely knew they’d just build up and explode one day. Hopefully he wouldn’t head too far off the rails to do it.

She sighed as she opened the Sunday paper to the classifieds. She needed to find a job and stat, so she could provide a somewhat stable environment for her kids. Unfortunately none of the jobs in the paper were for a homemaker. With twelve years away from the workforce, she felt woefully unqualified to do any of the jobs listed, which weren’t many. Of those she either had too much experience (i.e. would do more menial work for less pay) or too little experience (i.e. wouldn’t qualify for the good money she needed.)

She ended up on the Internet, but those prospects weren’t any better. This was going to be a lot harder than she planned.

Granny Faye headed home a little before noon. Unlike Lillian, who was there practically from open to close, Granny Faye set her own hours. She could work breakfast and dinner only if she wanted, with an afternoon of rest in between. Lillian, however, could stay there 24 hours a day every day. The restaurant was her baby. She worked tirelessly to make it a success. Joely envied her ambition.

Meanwhile it was all Joely could do to make her kids’ favorite homemade cinnamon rolls. Hannah had requested them and Joely couldn’t deny her. Besides, she felt more productive in that kitchen pounding out the dough than she had felt all morning scouring ads for jobs that didn’t quite fit. She regularly baked her feelings into her food, which explained why there was a little more junk in her trunk. She often gave food away because she made more than anyone could eat. It often helped her pass the time, but it also produced something she could see, touch and taste. That was inherently rewarding.

Granny Faye brightened the minute she came through the side door from the garage. “It smells like heaven in here! What are you making?”

“Cinnamon rolls!” Hannah declared with a huge smile. She was covered head to toe in flour, having the time of her life helping her mother with her task.

Granny Faye tickled her sides before she gave her a loud peck on the cheek. “You better save me one.”

“I’ll save you two,” Hannah promised as Joely put the last pan in the oven.

“Where’s Kari?” Joely asked.

“She wanted to stay at the restaurant with Lillian. We figured it wouldn’t do her any harm to learn some of the family business.”

Joely nodded. She glanced down at Hannah, who was a proper mess. “We’ve got thirty minutes until these are done. Why don’t you head upstairs and clean up?”

Hannah nodded and climbed down from the stepstool on which she was standing. Joely waited until her little bundle of energy had disappeared out of sight before she turned back to Granny Faye.

“Kari’s still mad at me, isn’t she?”

Granny Faye began to clean up the mess on the counter. “She’s just mad, period. You’re going to get the brunt of it because you’re the one who’s here.”

“Because that seems fair,” Joely sneered.

Granny Faye just shrugged. “Life’s not fair, honey. If that’s what you’re expecting, you’re in for a long wait.”

Joely sighed and leaned against the counter. “I just don’t know what to do. They’re all so mad at me. And I get it. I really do. I’m mad too.”

“And there’s no one there for you to yell at,” Granny Faye concluded.

Joely nodded. “Yeah.”

“Give yourself some time, honey. You can’t fix everything overnight.”

“No kidding. I can’t even find a job at this rate.”

“We told you. Come down to the restaurant. We’d find something for you to do.”

Joely patted her grandmother’s arm. “I appreciate that. I really do. I just… I just want to do this on my own.”

Granny Faye gave her a knowing look. “You just don’t want to do dishes,” she corrected.

Joely chuckled. She surveyed all the dishes she’d dirtied preparing her cinnamon rolls. “You know me too well.”

“That I do,” Granny Faye confirmed with a curt nod. “Now get out of here so I can clean this pigsty.”

Immediately Joely felt guilty. “No, I made the mess. I should do it.”

“Yes, you should,” Granny Faye retorted. “And if you don’t get out of here right now, I just might make you.”

A half-hour later, the white kitchen was sparkling clean and Granny Faye, Joely, Hannah and Nash all sat together, eating warm, gooey cinnamon rolls as big as their fists.

“These are wonderful,” Granny Faye praised. “How come you didn’t tell me you could cook like this?”

Joely licked away some warm icing with her tongue. “Because you’d put me to work at the restaurant,” she answered with an impish grin.

Granny Faye nodded without shame. “With food like this, you’d be a huge hit.”

Joely just shook her head. “I have kids, Granny Faye. I can’t spend every waking moment of my life at that restaurant like you and Mom. I just want a job where I can clock in, clock out and come home.”

Granny Faye shrugged. “Suit yourself. Sounds positively boring to me, though.”

“Hello, is anyone here?” a male voice resounded from living room. The British accent was immediately recognizable. Joely reached for a napkin immediately, just a hair before Xander Davy entered the kitchen with her daughter. “It smells heavenly in here,” he praised as he looked at Granny Faye. “What kind of magic are you cooking up now, Granny Faye?”

“Wasn’t me,” she said before pointing at Joely.

“May I try one?” he asked her, and she blushed as she nodded. He took a fork from the center carousel and cut a huge chunk from one of the massive rolls. “Mmmm,” he said immediately as he savored the bite. “This is fantastic. Have they already offered you a job at the restaurant yet?”

“Repeatedly,” Joely answered with a smirk. “They can’t afford me,” she added.

“I can believe that,” he said as he sat at the table to finish the roll.

Kari was silent as she followed his lead, grabbing a plate from the cabinet and a soda from the fridge. She barely got back to the table before Joely took the soda can away from her daughter. Instead she poured her a glass of milk from the pitcher on the table. Though she was mortified by her mother’s behavior, Xander sent Kari a teasing smile and a shrug. It made her blush as she concentrated on the roll in front of her.

“So what brings you by, handsome?” Granny Faye asked.

“Lillian asked me to run Kari home after the church rush, since I was heading back into town anyway.”

“How was your first day at ‘work’?” Granny Faye asked her. Kari just shrugged.

“She was brilliant, of course,” Xander praised. “Lillian had her greeting patrons at the door. I guess you could say she learned from the master.” He turned to Kari. “Keep that up and they won’t be able to afford you either.”

Joely watched the interaction closely. She didn’t know what to make of this man just yet, but so far he had done little to impress her. Sure he was good-looking, but he seemed to know it. Men like that just put Joely off. She had lived with an arrogant, self-absorbed sonofabitch for seventeen years. She’d had her fill, thank you very much. Joely rose from the table, collecting empty plates to take them to the sink. She could feel his eyes follow her, and she cursed herself for blushing like some silly schoolgirl.

“I tell you what,” Granny Faye declared, “I’ll catch a ride back to the restaurant with you. It’ll just take me a minute to get ready.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed immediately with a smile. “Gives me time to finish my roll.” Granny Faye excused herself, calling Hannah to follow so they could clean up together. Xander looked at Nash, who was trying his hardest to be invisible. “I love your shirt,” Xander said, referring to the graphic from a popular video game. “Do you play?”

Nash spared him a glance before he finally nodded.

“It’s taking me forever to beat that game. Have you gotten to that level where you have to fight the dragon in the cave protected by zombies?”

Nash only hesitated for a moment before he  nodded again.

“You’re going to have to show me how that’s done, mate,” he said. “It’s driving me bloody crazy. Maybe some time I could come over and you could help me out.”

Nash stared at this weird stranger for a long minute before he shrugged. Xander turned to Kari. “Was that a yes?”

She blushed even deeper and nodded. He glanced up at Joely, who had returned to the table for more dishes. “Talkative bunch,” he teased with yet another wink.

Joely turned to her children. “Why don’t y’all go get cleaned up, too?” she suggested. “Maybe we can get some pool time in this afternoon.”