Mother’s Day Murder

Excerpt

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Chapter One

 

“Hey! Don’t I know you?” It was the first thing I heard before I’d been able to take a sip of the steamy hot cup of coffee I’d gotten from the Brewing Beans, the local coffee shop in Holiday Junction.

I’d not even gotten the toe of my shoe on the first step of the trolley before I heard the familiar voice.

“You!” The trolley driver shook her finger at me.

“Yes. I’m the new reporter for the.” I started to rattle off my new job at the Journal Junction the local newspaper.

“No. No. No.” The visor she wore on her head had blinking lights on it.

Of course it did. Everything in Holiday Junction was lit up, glittered, sparkled or shined. And if it didn’t, the residents of the small town made sure it did somehow.

“It’s me.” She took her hands off the trolley wheel. “Goldie Bennett!”

My eyes narrowed as I looked at her trying to recall any sort of memory of her but I was pulling a blank.

“You know Joey, Chance and Lizzy’s grandmother,” she said it like I should know these people. “Duh,” her mouth was open. “From the airplane. We were seatmates.”

“Oh.” The horrible memory popped into my head. “Yes. I’m sorry.” I held up my cup of Joe. “It’s still a little early.”

“It’s ten o’clock a.m..” she told me like she didn’t believe my excuse. “Different strokes for different folks,” she muttered and put her hand back on the handle before she said, “Are you riding or not?”

“Yes.” I took the last step up into the trolley, barely making it inside before she whipped the door shut nearly catching my heel, which would’ve hurt if it did get caught since I was wearing flip flops.

I eased down, careful not to spill my coffee, and put my briefcase in my lap.

“Well aren’t you going to ask about Joey, Chance, and Lizzy?” Goldie asked out of the side of her mouth as the trolley rattled down the Main Street before it hung a left down Peppermint Court, a row of really cute cottage style houses that not only had the feeling of living in the city but also a nice view of the dunes and sliver of the seaside.

“How are your grandchildren?” I was having déjà vu all over again from the first time I’d met Goldie. My hands started to tremble thinking about it.

No. She wasn’t terrible to sit by now that I knew what had come after. Of course I was in a different mindset when I stepped on the airplane that morning. I thought I was headed to my dream job in California as a big-time new reporter for a national news station. Little did I know when I sat down next to Goldie, I would excuse myself to get away from looking at photos of her grandchildren to go to the bathroom. I had to be in the zone for the shot at the big time but when I found a dead body in the airplane’s bathroom, my life took a turn that I never saw coming.

Just like this morning. I never in a million years thought I’d see Goldie again. At least she didn’t ask me about the body or worse, seen all the social media memes that’d been created of me after I’d gotten the brilliant, not so brilliant, idea to go live to show off my reporting skills since I was the only reporter in the locked down airport.

Reporter 101 tip, if you do go live on the spot make sure your eye make-up hasn’t bled down your face creating a stream of black tears. Not a look viewers want to see.

“You know, we are in full swing of tee-ball. Lizzy. Whooo-wee that Lizzy. She can rock a pink tu-tu better than any of them dancers down at the Groove and Go.” She whipped the trolley down a back alley before she took a right back on Main Street so we could head the opposite direction. “Elvin isn’t happy with her going down there because he said Tricia Lustig don’t need all the money,” she tsked. “You know they’ve got that Lustig Spring everyone goes on and on about.”

“Lustig Spring?” I wondered.

The trolley came to an abrupt stop. Goldie leaned to the right and grabbed the handle, pulling the trolley door open.

“Your stop.” Her chin swung over her right shoulder and she looked at me.

“Already?” I looked up and saw we were already at the office of the Junction Journal. I stood up about to take those steps off the trolley. “I didn’t know I told you where to stop.”

“Now, now, Violet.” She tsked again, only a little louder this time. “Everyone knows who you are in Holiday Junction. They can’t say that they really know you like I do.”

I stood on the side of the road staring back at her wondering exactly what that meant.

She slammed the trolley door shut and took off heading to the next stop.

Chapter Two

After I stepped off the trolley and watched as it pulled away, I shook my head along with any notion what Goldie had just insinuated about my reputation in this town so I could do the job I’d stayed in Holiday Junction for, a reporter at the Journal Junction.

In truth, there were two elder sisters, Marge and Louise, who owned the Junction Journal and from what I’d learned over the past couple of months since making Holiday Junction my home, they wanted to get rid of the paper and no one in their family wanted the dying rag.

Me. I was a journalist. It was in my veins and though my true longing was to be a big-time television reporter, I knew I could be satisfied with owning and operating my own newspaper.

For the time being.

Things in the industry changed so much and so fast, there was no better way to learn than to jump feet first. That’s just what I did. When the sisters had offered me a job, since I’d found myself without one due to a dead body or two, I honestly didn’t have a better offer.

I’d told myself then I’d look around and take my time while I stayed in Holiday Junction instead of tucking my tail and admitting failure by going back home to Kentucky. It’d been two months and here I stood outside of the practically dilapidated seaside house I’d talked Rhett Strickland into letting the Junction Journal lease since the office was in his aunts family home.

It was a hard sell for the aunts to buy my reasoning to move the paper but when I told them how much it would make for an easier transition when they did go to sell Junction Journal and the fact I’d be working all hours of the night since I had nothing better to do, I didn’t want to keep them up at night. Plus I wasn’t comfortable coming and going from someone’s actual home when I did go to work.

Rhett was an altogether different sell. He didn’t want to rent the place, he said he’d loan it for free because it did need a lot of work and he could do most of it even though he was coming up on his busy season at the Holiday Junction Airport where he worked as the one and only security guard to the one room building airport.

By busy season, I meant the flurry of holidays around the summertime. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July were just a few to name and the major ones I’d seen on the town council’s docket for upcoming issues where I needed to report on them.

That also meant I wasn’t able to go home for Mother’s Day which left Millie Kay Rhinehammer, my mama, in a bit of a tizzy, as we’d say in the south.

“Toto, we ain’t in the south.” I shoved the key into the lock of the front door of the house and did my best impression of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. “Nope. We are in the middle of nowhere USA.”

I stepped inside of the house, with my hand on the door handle I paused to look out over the seaside laying out in front of me.

The water shimmered with each slow passing wave and glistened with little twinkles of light as the sun hit it perfectly.

I giggled at just how different my life was now that I’d moved away from home where I was surrounded by mountains. Holiday Junction was like no other town I’d ever seen or known of in the states.

There were literally four types of different terrains in the small town. There was the seaside, the mountain side, the countryside and the town. It was definitely a place that filled my creative well which actually was what gave me peace during this transition in my life.

The seaside gave way to the small beach area and a long concrete sidewalk big enough for the street carts and vendors that had been erected since the temperatures had gotten warmer. There were also shops where tourists loved to visit.

My phone chirped deep in my journalist bag.

“Time to work.” I shut the door and headed inside to the one and only room that was actually completed with a desk and view of the seaside. I’d found myself many times over the last month staring out, coming up with all sorts of ideas for the Junction Journal and how I could save it.

Time would tell.

I put the bag on top of the old desk the sisters had let Rhett bring over for me to work and opened the zipper where I kept my phone tucked in one of the inside pockets.

“Hhmm.” My brows knotted. “What does Vern McKenna want?” I questioned since I had no business with him other than him being the Merry Maker, which no one knew about.

The Merry Maker was a unique undercover job in Holiday Junction. I shouldn’t’ve even know he was the Merry Maker and I’d like to think it was my journalistic instincts that’d uncovered this little secret but it wasn’t. He’d ended up telling me due to the fact I had done my own investigation into a murder a couple of months ago and pointed to him as a possible suspect.

Boy was I wrong.

Vern had an alibi, being the secret Merry Maker.

Holiday Junction loved holidays. The town went all out for every single one with a full parade, beauty queen and festival. It was the Merry Maker’s job to secretly name where the big festival finale would take place.

There was a large sign for each holiday, and wherever it was posted was where the big festival ending took place. For instance, the first holiday I had the pleasure of spending in Holiday Junction was St. Patrick’s Day.

A huge wooden leprechaun showed up at the end of Rhett Strickland’s street one day. No one knew how the Merry Maker did it, but somehow the Merry Maker—Vern in this case—would come up with the location and put up the leprechaun without anyone in the community noticing. Or they just acted like they didn’t notice.

Once the sign for the particular holiday was put up, the townsfolk in that particular area had to come up with the final send-off of the holiday.

With Mother’s Day approaching, I wondered if Vern was calling to ask me how I was going to cover the Merry Maker, or if I was going to spill the beans that he was the Merry Maker.

My lips were sealed. I wasn’t telling a soul Vern was the one who had the ability to sprinkle the joy around for the holidays.

Instead of checking the text, I would wait until after I got some research done about the Lustig Spring that Goldie had mentioned. It got my attention.

There were many things to explore in Holiday Junction, and I knew I’d not even scratched the surface of things to do. But the Lustig Spring and the reason for Goldie’s husband not wanting little Lizzy to take dance lessons from Tricia Lustig at the Groove and Go really had sparked my interest, and my gut told me to investigate.

I put the phone down and got out my laptop and paper and pen before I sat down.

The first thing Rhett did was install internet for me since we’d just recently taken the paper online, where residents could get the daily news. Things important to them were like the daily lunch specials at the local diner, today’s fresh coffee selections at Brewing Beans, any birth announcements, death notices, and photo opportunities with Mayor Paisley, who just so happened to be a Boston Terrier dog.

She was the most sought-after celebrity here in Holiday Junction. Since I currently resided in the Jubilee Inn, where Mayor Paisley kept office, I was blessed with the opportunity to know her full schedule.

“Today Mayor Paisley will be sitting for photos at noon before her one p.m. nap.” I tapped on my computer to update the online “today” section before I moved to the “sponsored by” part of the update. “Be sure to head over to Emily’s Treasures. Tell Emily you saw this in today’s paper.” The cell phone rang, taking my attention for a moment. I continued to finish so I wouldn’t lose my train of thought. “You will receive ten percent off your full purchase.”

The phone rang again.

“Good morning, Vern,” I answered without looking. “I’m sorry I haven’t called you back. I was a little late getting to the office. What did you need to see me about?”

“Vern?” Mama’s voice questioned.

My stomach dropped. I’d been so careful screening my calls from her over the last couple of days, I hadn’t even thought of looking down at my phone to see who was calling.

“And why is he texting you?” There was concern in her voice. “I told your daddy there was going to be some pervert out there trying to hit on you and you needed to come home where you have family and friends who love you. Look out for you when some man tries to hit on you. Texting you at all hours of the night and day.”

Mama always assumed the worst when it came to me and taking care of myself.

“Mama, I wish you’d go see Betts Hager. She’d love to have you on the Bible Thumper—um, the prayer team.” Mama had nothing to do now that I was gone. I was their only child, and she’d made it her job to tell everyone back in our hometown where I was going to be and what channel I was on and made sure everyone tuned into my local broadcast.

Now that I didn’t live there for her to keep those tabs on me, she’d spent the better part of her waking day calling me, texting me, and emailing me when she couldn’t reach me the first two ways.

“I don’t want to be in no prayer meeting. I’ve got my own prayers to worry about rather than mix it up with other people’s problems.” Mama sounded out of breath. “Are you sure you won’t be coming home for Mother’s Day?”

“Mama, you know I love you so much. I miss you and I wish we were together, but I simply can’t be home. I’m under a huge deadline.” I typed “Lustig Spring” into the Google search engine and was surprised at all the hits it got. “I promise I will get back before summer ends.”

There were some birds chirping in the background, and I wondered if she was on a hike in the Daniel Boone National Forest, where my hometown was located. My stomach clenched again hearing the familiar sounds of home.

“Summer ends?” Mama cried out. “That’s just not soon enough, Violet Rhinehammer. I’m your only mama, and one day you will regret this.”

“Now, now.” I hated when she used her southern mama guilt on me. “You are the one who taught me to follow my dream.”

“I didn’t mean for you to follow it out of town,” she cried out.

I pushed myself back in the chair and got up. All the information I was about to dive into about the Lustig Spring made me excited. I knew there was a story there I wanted to visit, which was going to require all of my time.

This meant I needed to get off the phone with Mama.

“And you also taught me to be the independent woman with my own job, career, and future.” I walked to the back of the office, which used to be a kitchen, and looked out over the landscape where the mountains stood tall in the distance.

There was a knock at the door of the office.

I jerked back to look over my shoulder, wishing I’d had a glass door to see who was on the other side.

“Mama, I’ve got to go. I promise I’ll call you back.” I clicked off as Mama was saying something. I walked back to the front door. “I sure hope it’s not Marge or Louise,” I said under my breath since I’d yet to have anything prepared for them this morning. “You’ve got this,” I told myself with confidence, knowing it was something my mama would’ve told me.

I rolled back my shoulders and smiled before I flung the door open.

“Remember how you just said I taught you to be independent?” Mama stood on the other side, the sound of waves lapping behind her. “I’m taking my own advice. Your daddy and I are getting divorced.”

I didn’t know what I was shocked about most. Mama standing right there in front of me or her news about my parents’ future.

 

 

Chapter Three

“You’re what?” I completely overexaggerated my question after I’d hurried Mama into the office, not even giving two cares in the world on how she’d gotten Rhett Strickland, of all people, to give her a ride.

That would be addressed for another time.

“Have you lost your mind?” Of course she had. “Mama, are you sick? Ill? Been diagnosed with dementia? Early onset of Alzheimer’s?”

Mama made herself right at home in my office chair. She elegantly, as she always had, eased down into the chair and crossed her ankles with her hands folded in her lap. She looked the southern lady part as she did not fit in with the citizens here in her monogrammed three-quarter-length sweater, shoulder-length blond hair with a hint of gray around the scalp, and her makeup as perfect as if she’d just left the makeup counter at a high-end department store.

Not a hair out of place, and none of her pink lipstick had bled into the tiny wrinkles around her mouth.

I leaned in a little closer to her face.

“Did you get Botox or filler?” I jerked back. She simply stared at me. No expression whatsoever. “You’re having a midlife crisis in your sixties!” I pointed to her before my hand found its way over my mouth as I tried to take back some of the accusations I’d thrown at her.

Something I’d never done before.

Total disrespect.

“Violet,” Rhett choked out. “I think it’s time for some food. Why don’t you take your mom to one of the food trucks in Holiday Park? All the Mother’s Day activities are starting today, and I think she’d love to go.”

“That sounds lovely.” Mama perked up. “I am a little hungry. I tried not to eat too much at the airport after I’d gotten an Uber ride all the way from Normal to Lexington.” Mama spoke directly to Rhett. “It’s about a two-hour drive, and sometimes I get a little nausea on all the back roads.”

I tugged my shirt down at the hem and sucked in a deep breath.

“Can I talk to you privately?” I told Rhett—not asked him, told him—with a gesture of my head toward the back of the office.

“Don’t be long. We don’t want my sugar to drop,” Mama called out when I turned and walked down the office hallway to where the kitchen once was located. “Did I tell you that I’m prediabetic? That’s what the doctor said.”

I could feel the tension rising up in me with each step before I turned to face Rhett, fully expecting to be out of Mama’s capacity to hear us.

“How on earth did you find her?” The muscles spasmed furiously in my jaw as I tried to whisper.

“It’s your mom,” Rhett said like I didn’t know. He smiled, deepening his dimples I had to work hard at not noticing. His dark hair against his olive complexation didn’t help matters. “She was so excited when she got off the airplane and asked me, the security guard, which way to the Jubilee Inn.”

“Let me guess, you rescued her like you did me the day I stepped off the airplane.” Not that the airport was big. In fact, it was one room, and when you departed from the airplane, you had to walk down a set of rickety steel steps.

I could only imagine Mama’s horror when she saw the steps and the airport.

“Wow.” Rhett’s nose curled just enough for me to see he wasn’t happy with my reaction. He ran his hand through his hair. His short sleeve rose slightly toward his armpit, and his bicep formed. “I guess when she told me who she was and if I knew her daughter, I thought you’d be happy to see her. From the way she talked about surprising you, you’d think she was expecting a daughter who was happy and loved her.”

“Lower your voice.” I batted the air. “She’s got supersonic hearing.” I gnawed on my bottom lip, my forehead wrinkled, reminding me of Mama’s recent work on her face. “And she looks so much younger than she really is. Plus she informs me she’s divorcing my dad.”

“She did leave that little detail out.” He gave a wry smile. “But she told me all about you growing up in Kentucky and how you were destined to become a star.”

Mama must’ve told him some doozy of tales, and from the amused look on his face, I did not want to know.

“Listen, she only wants to spend Mother’s Day with you. That’s why she’s here.” Rhett reminded me of the holiday.

“I told her I was working and couldn’t come home. She should’ve known I was busy.” I was making excuses for myself to feel better about shoving her off. “I sent her a card and had ordered flowers to be delivered.”

“She delivered herself. Why don’t you just take her to the park and talk to her?” He shook his head. “What on earth is possibly keeping you here this morning? From what my aunts tell me, you’re doing a great job, and the online edition is already prepared for weeks in advance.”

“There are several sponsors, and I did just update the ‘Happening around Holiday’ section.” I felt I was missing something to put into the paper, but my mind was so jumbled I couldn’t remember.

“See, you can go and enjoy her. It’ll give you some headspace to think about what her visit looks like, get some insight on what she’s thinking with your dad, and maybe get a game plan.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “In the meantime, I’ll go get her checked in with Kristine at the Jubilee Inn.”

“You make it sound all so great, but trust me, it’s not great. Mama has a way of making people uncomfortable.” I put it mildly. “Have you ever heard of the southern ‘bless your heart’?”

His head tilted in confusion.

“In the south we say ‘bless your heart,’ only it really isn’t blessing your heart. It’s a bit sarcastic.” I tried my best to explain, but there was still a deep look of confusion on Rhett’s face. “Oh look there, it’s not a compliment in most cases. It’s what one says when they are referring to someone pitiful.”

“Oh.”

Mama had a way of doing the whole “bless your heart” to where people had no idea what hit them.

“The best way to respond to Mama when she blesses your heart is to give a sympathetic nod. It stops her dead in her tracks.” Here I was, trying to explain to Rhett how to treat Mama as if Mama was going to stay in Holiday Junction and have interaction with him on a regular basis.

Then it hit me.

“You’re right.” I reached out and grabbed his bicep. I gulped when both of us realized I’d been so bold to give him physical contact after we’d kinda shared some moments when I’d decided to stay.

I’d done a really good job distancing myself from him and finding alternative places to be when his family would invite me to gatherings. He knew it and I knew it, but it was unspoken.

From what I’d been told, Rhett Strickland was the most sought-out bachelor in Holiday Junction, and from my experience in the past, those were the men you stayed far away from.

“I can entertain Mama for the day and get her back on a flight tomorrow.” Slowly I removed my hand, pretty darned pleased with my plan that wasn’t a real plan until I got that flight booked.

“No flights out until Monday.” He made air dots with his finger. “Like a week from today. Monday is today.”

My shoulders slumped, my head dropped, and my long hair fell forward.

“Yeah. I forgot the airport only flies out on Mondays.” That was something I actually appreciated about the small town. The slow lifestyle and not all the tourists coming and going like they did in my hometown.

Of course there were tourists here, but they were low-key. Something Mama was not.

“I guess I could take her to see the Lustig Spring. I have been researching it.” Now I had to plan a full week’s worth of activities, and Mama would be expecting such grand events. “I guess I could take her to Emily’s Treasures.”

“What about all the weeklong festivities? The parade, the cooking classes this week, the movie night.” Rhett rattled off all the activities I’d been talking about in the paper. “She looks like she’d just love to spend time with her daughter.”

“I guess you’re right. I have been trying so hard to keep the Junction Journal relevant and if you’ve not noticed, I love a little order in my life and not surprises.” A weak smile formed and when he noticed, his smile grew huge.

“That’s the girl.” He gave me the good ole halfhearted and loose fist nudge on my arm. “Does she chug beer like her daughter?” He winked, sending a little tickle to my insides.

“No. Don’t remind me and don’t tell her,” I warned, poking him in the chest. “The last thing she needs to know is how I got snookered on my first night here.”

“Snookered?” He snorted. “You were drunk.”

“Not my finest hour.” I did like the fact I’d beaten Fern Banks, the local beauty queen in the St. Patrick’s Day stein competition. “Did I mention I’m competitive?”

“I know you.” He stood a little too close and looked down at me with serious eyes. “Why don’t I take you and your mom out to dinner tonight?” His soft-spoken voice was like a sweet musical tone that vibrated every nerve in my body.

“We’d love to!” Mama had her very stylish fanny pack buckled around her waist and a white visor now on her head. “I can’t get all that sun on my face.” She gave the bill a small tug but not enough to mess up her hair. “I’m ready to go to Holiday Park like he suggested.”

“I told you she had supersonic hearing.” I shook my head and walked over to give her a hug.

“On the way over you can tell me all about you getting snookered,” she whispered in my ear.

“It was nothing, Mama,” I told her after we’d left the office and decided to stroll along the beach and take the path that led up to Holiday Park. “I was trying to fit in and get all those murders solved quickly, remember, so I could get to my interview in California.”

It was really simple. I’d found a dead body on an airplane, and I had the interview of a lifetime with a big-time news station in California. The pilot had to make an emergency landing, which put me smack-dab into Holiday Junction. The NTSB wasn’t going to let us leave until they felt confident. The dead body turned out to be a murder, and only when everyone on the airplane had been absolved of the crime were we going to leave Holiday Junction.

Just like a good investigative reporter, and due to the fact I was on a mission to land my dream job, I did my own investigation, and that meant hobnobbing with the locals. That included the beer drinking competition. Fern wasn’t that nice of a person to begin with, so I did go to the extremes to win. It took me days to recover, and I’d not had another drop of alcohol since.

Today could possibly end that streak.

“We don’t need to talk about that.” I had to change the subject to her big news about her divorce from my dad. “Not that I want to believe what you said, but are you really divorcing Daddy?”

“Is it really that terribly shocking, Violet?” Mama had taken me by the elbow as we slowly walked down the sidewalk. The waves lapped up on the beach, making the young children playing in their wake run giggling up to their parents, who were enjoying watching their children play.

I remembered doing that when I was a little girl and my parents took me to Florida every year for a summer vacation.

“Your father and I haven’t been married in the sense of how a marriage should be in a very long time.” She told me something I had no idea about. “I can tell by how you tensed up you don’t want to know the details, and well, there’s nothing to tell. After you left for college, we just drifted apart. From all the marriage counseling sessions we had, we found out it was normal for some marriages.”

“Why didn’t you try a hobby together?” I asked. My heart had lodged in my throat, and no amount of swallowing was making it go back behind my ribs where it belonged.

“We did, honey. We tried everything. We took dance lessons, cooking classes, even joined a couples book club, but we realized we just didn’t have anything in common. Not that I’m looking for someone in my life to give me a boost of excitement, but I realized I don’t have many years left on this earth. Forty if I’m lucky.”

I snorted.

“What?” she asked.

“Forty more years, you’d be one hundred.” Did I really have to do the math for her?

“Which means that I’ve got to get crackin’ if I want to have the best time for the rest of my life.” Mama had become someone I didn’t know.

It made me wonder, had I really ever known Mama? I mean, she did raise me, and she was Mama.

Mama.

I looked at Mama while we walked. Her lips were flapping, but the thoughts in my head were louder than her speaking to me. All I saw when I watched her was her mouth moving. It hit me. Mama was a person just like me. She wasn’t just Mama, the woman who brought me into this world and many times told me I wasn’t too big for a whoopin’ when I got sassy. But outside of those traits, she was a person who had feelings, cares, needs.

Just like me.

“Mama.” I led her down the sidewalk past all the vendors and slightly tugged her away from gawking at one of the shops in particular. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“That’s nice, honey.” She patted my hand that had found its way into the crook of her elbow as I gently guided her more toward the sandy side of the sidewalk and not the street, where the place of business she was rubbernecking to see was a jiggle joint.

“I have never really looked at you as someone other than my mama.” I was really trying to accept her feelings and wanted her to know, but she clearly was not paying me a bit of attention. “Mama!” I stopped and stomped. “Are you listening to me? I’m trying to tell you something.”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry.” She turned. Her eyes pinched, but there were no signs of wrinkles. “What is it?”

“Now that I have your attention, I was just saying how I’ve never really looked at you as a person. Just like me.” I smiled at her, and my heart lifted with the knowing that a piece of home, a slice of comfort, was right here in front of me. I filled up with gratitude and felt sorry for Mama. “I have never even thought about how you and Daddy keep your relationship going. I know for me, I want passion, love, surprises.” As I heard myself say those things, I realized my daddy was none of those.

He was routine, liked good ole beef and potatoes, and rarely liked to leave his couch. Mama was none of those things. If I dug deep enough, I did recall Mama was the one, not Daddy, who had told me to get out of Normal and get a career, have my own money, and enjoy life.

“I’m sorry I never paid attention to what was really going on in your heart and life.” I sensed a connection between us. “I guess I have you to thank for me leaving town to follow my dream, and I hope I can help you get through and support you for whatever you need.”

“Good.” Her voice was flat and unaffected by the speech I’d just given her. “Let’s go get a drink.”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me across the street and right into the jiggle joint before I could even protest.

end of excerpt