Before anyone else could say a word, Risa抯 old truck came to a halt in front of the porch, and the twins beat her and Haley out into the parking lot. All four of them grabbed bulging grocery bags from the truck bed and hurried inside.
揇on抰 let him start putting it up without us,?Lily yelled.
揥e want to watch it,?Daisy said as she brought up the rear. 揂nd where did you find those things??She nodded toward the pews.
揌iding in the barn,?Oscar repeated with pride.
Zach, the sign guy, as Oscar referred to him, hopped out of his flatbed truck and waved. 揧抋ll ready for this??
揧ou bet we are,?Wade said. 揅an I help you??
揑 never turn down help,?Zach answered. 揑 plan to use the two supporting poles that are already in place. They抮e metal and set in concrete, so the first thing I抣l do is take this old one down. Then I can sure use an extra set of hands to keep this new one steady on the jack until I can get it bolted down solid.?
Wade laid a hand on Jessica抯 shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. 揧ou and the girls decide what kind of lettering you want on the pews while I do this little job. Things are sure working out for us, aren抰 they??
揝eems like it.?Jessica sat down on the end of one of the pews.
揇ecide what??Lily and the rest of the team joined them on the porch.
揥e抮e thinking of having our logo put across the backs of these pews and leaving them out here on the porch.?She waved a hand to take in both benches. 揥e need to decide what kind of lettering we want, so Zach can get busy on them.?
Risa sat down beside Jessica. 揟hey抮e church pews. My suggestion is that we use the fancy lettering that抯 on the mirror behind the bar. Kind of blends the church with the bar, doesn抰 it??
揗aybe we could add a couple of palm trees on either side,?Lily said. 揟hat would really make it look like a tiki bar.?
揂nd on the other bench we could ask Zach to put some longhorns across the top of the lettering,?Daisy suggested.
The twins, Haley, and Mary Nell all took a seat. Lily whipped her phone out of her pocket and found some art for everyone to look at. Oscar meandered out to the spot where Zach and Wade were putting up the sign.
Haley pointed to clip art of a palm tree. 揗aybe Zach could spread the actual logo out a little more so that it covered most of the back rather than making it the same size as the etching on the mirror and fix the palm tree so that the leaves kind of laid over on the end of the lettering.?
揧es,?Lily agreed, and went on to find artwork for the horns.
揇oes sitting here make y抋ll think about singing hymns??Jessica shivered despite the heat.
揘o, it makes me think about how far we抳e all come this summer,?Lily said.
揑t doesn抰 bother you that you can抰 keep in touch with your cousins??Risa asked.
揘ope,?Daisy answered. 揥e抳e been so busy with our new friends and our music that we抮e okay with that. How about you old girls? Y抋ll regretting your decisions about living here and making a bar??
揙ld??Risa raised an eyebrow.
揙lder than we are,?Lily said with a grin.
揘o regrets here,?Risa said.
揙r here.?Haley laid a hand on her still flat stomach. 揘ot a single one.?
揘ot me,?Mary Nell added. 揕ife is good.?
揧ep, it is,?Jessica added.
Mary Nell pointed toward the sign going up out there at the edge of the parking lot. 揥e抳e almost done it this summer, ladies. We wanted to be ready to open in time for homecoming, and it looks like we抣l make it.?
揑抦 glad we named it Danny抯 Place,?Haley said. 揑t has a nice ring to it.?
揌ave y抋ll seen the Pistol Annies video when they抮e singing 慔ush Hush??Jessica asked. 揟hat抯 what comes to my mind today. That church at the beginning of the video reminds me of this one, only this one doesn抰 have a steeple, and all the secrets they tell about in whatever town they抮e singing about is Riverbend all over again.?
Mary Nell pushed a strand of red hair back up into her messy bun. 揧ou got that right, but then most small towns are rumor mills.?
揂nd big towns,?Haley said. 揙ur high school had more kids in the system than the population of Riverbend, and the rumors were just as bad as they are in a small town. What are we going to do about that steeple anyway??She nodded toward the thing still out there beside the church.
揙scar has a plan for the wood in it,?Jessica answered. 揌e says it抯 going to be a surprise. Look!?She pointed. 揟hey抮e setting the new sign in place already. I thought it would take longer than this.?
揑t抯 really official now,?Haley said. 揥e are all working for Danny抯 Place no matter what the people in town call this bar.?
揑t抯 kind of anticlimactic.?Lily sighed. 揑 was hoping for a clap of thunder or maybe a bolt of lightning. I wanted a sign from heaven so that I could prove to Granny Stella that she was wrong about God hating us for what we抮e doing. If lightning didn抰 strike the building, then it would be pretty good proof.?