He reached out a hand, and she put hers in it. The tingle didn抰 shock him that time.
At first Jessica didn抰 notice Stella and Lulu in the Dairy Queen ice cream place, but pretty soon she could feel the heat of someone抯 eyes on her and turned to see Stella glaring at her.
揑gnore them,?Wade said out the side of his mouth as he stepped up to the counter and ordered a double dip of chocolate mint.
揑抣l have a chocolate brownie sundae with the whipped cream and the cherries on top,?Jessica said. Then she whispered, 揑t抯 hard to ignore someone who is shooting flames at me.?
The lady brought their order and Jessica reached in her purse, but Wade quickly laid a bill on the counter and said, 揔eep the change.?
揟hank you, but棓 Jessica started.
揊riendship has no buts,?Wade told her. 揕et抯 go sit in that booth over there.?He pointed to the other side of the room from Stella.
揘ope,?Jessica said. 揜isa doesn抰 let that woman control her life, so I抦 not going to, either.?She marched across the room and stopped at Stella and Lulu抯 booth. 揋ood evening, ladies. Did y抋ll decide you needed something cold after this blistering-hot day??
揥e always come here for ice cream after Wednesday night church services.?Lulu抯 face turned scarlet in a deep blush. 揑 shouldn抰 even eat ice cream when I抦 trying to lose weight, but I always drive Stella to church, and she likes to come here afterwards.?
揂re you following me just to make me miserable because of what happened at the old church last night??Stella asked through gritted teeth. 揑f you are, you can go home to your honky-tonk and tell my daughter that I抦 still working hard to make it impossible for y抋ll to ever open that place.?
揃less your heart,?Jessica said.
揈xplain yourself,?Stella growled.
揑 feel sorry for you. What we抮e doing has already been researched by my lawyer, and there抯 nothing you can do about it, Stella. I don抰 like you. You抳e been mean to my friend and her girls, and it will take a lot for me to ever forgive you,?Jessica said. 揘ow, my ice cream is melting, and it would be a sin to let even one bite of this beautiful sundae go to waste while I was talking to you. So again, bless your heart, and I hope you take that exactly like I mean it.?
揥ell!?Stella huffed. 揝hame on you for talking to your elders like that.?
揝hame on you for treating your only child like she抯 dirt,?Jessica said with a fake smile on her face. 揘ow, Wade, I抎 like to go over to the other side of the place after all. I want to enjoy my ice cream, not watch it melt from the hot, glaring eyes of these women.?
揧es, ma抋m,?Wade chuckled and led the way to an empty booth across the room.
Jessica slid into the seat and dug deep into her sundae. 揝ometimes, my temper gets the best of me. I抦 sorry if that offended you, but I抦 not sorry that I said it.?
揌oney, if I hadn抰 had an ice cream cone in my hand, I would have clapped for you. I agree that the way Stella is behaving is a shame,?Wade said.
揝omeday she抯 going to be sorry.?Jessica filled her mouth with ice cream, but not even the cold could take away her hot anger.
揗y mama used to say that sometimes it抯 too late to do what you should have been doing all along,?Wade said and then bit into the top scoop of his mint chocolate ice cream cone.
Jessica took another bite and noticed that both Stella and Lulu had their cell phones out. It didn抰 take a rocket scientist to know that tomorrow, folks all over town would be gossiping about what she had told Stella and would be wondering if she and Wade were dating梠r maybe even sleeping together. To paraphrase what Rhett Butler had said in the Gone With the Wind movie Jessica had watched with her mother several times, frankly, she didn抰 really give a damn what any of them thought.
Chapter Thirteen
Three weeks seemed like forever in one way. In another, the time had gone by so fast that, looking back, Haley had trouble believing it wasn抰 just yesterday that Jessica had come home and they had all met out at the church parking lot. She flipped through a magazine that morning as she and Mary Nell waited in the waiting room for a nurse to stick her head out the door and call her name.
Name?
She laid her hand on her stomach and thought about what she should name the child. Should the whole team vote on it like they had when they named the bar last week? No, the name should be her choice, and hers alone. That decision made, she turned her thoughts toward her own name. Had her sister given it to her, she wondered, or had her mother? Frannie must have filled out the birth certificate, because Vanessa Haley did not sound like a name her mother would have chosen after naming her own child Frances Irene.
揂re you nervous??Mary Nell asked.