Page 36 of The Party Line

Mama reached across the table and laid her hand on mine. “Darlin’ girl, I’m not even fifty. I believe I can drive myself. You are welcome to come with us on any of our adventures, but it won’t be to babysit us. And besides, who would take care of Jasper if you went with us?”

“Amen,” Annie agreed. “Connor has a good idea, Sarah. Let’s plan a road trip and leave the week after we are free from working. Maybe just a short one here at first. We’ll each make a bucket list when we get back to your house.”

“That would keep y’all from getting bored from not having a set schedule,” Connor said between bites. “Coming to Ditto was an adjustment for me after being on edge all the time. I’m still not completely in tune with my new norm.”

I’d wondered if he might not stick around once he got bored with growing strawberries and sitting in meetings. Losing him as a friend would be tough, but if we were to take it to the next level ... well, that would be a heartache waiting to happen.

Mama nodded. “A vacation sounds good. Got any suggestions, Connor?”

“Lots of them,” he answered. “How long do you want to be gone?”

“A week, maybe two to start with,” Annie replied.

“Are you country music fans?” he asked.

“Yes,” they said in unison.

“Well, then, you might try going to Nashville,” he suggested. “You could go to the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman, and take in all the other sites like the Country Music Hall of Fame. And if you plan your route to include Montgomery, Alabama, you could visit the Hank Williams Museum.”

“Who knows, you might even get to see George Strait or Chris Stapleton while you are there,” I added.

“I like that idea,” Mama said.

Annie’s eyes widened. “Me too. Let’s do that, Sarah. Are you going, Lila?”

I shook my head. “Not this trip. Like Mama said, Jasper needs me to take him to church and be there if he gets sick. Aunt Gracie would haunt me the whole trip if I left him alone. He had a cough this morning that worries me.”

Mama chuckled. “What if we decide to stay in Nashville?”

“Then I’ll come visit you real often,” I replied and then added, “And I’ll miss you something awful.”

“You know a lot about that area, so evidently you’ve been, right, Connor?” Annie asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Got any advice for us?” Mama asked.

“Stay in the hotel right on the strip and park your vehicle across the street instead of doing valet parking. You’ll save some money that way, and you’ll be within a block of the Ryman. You could easily spend several days going from one bar to the other, just listening to the music.”

“How far is the Grand Ole Opry from there?” Annie asked.

“Across town, and for that you might want to splurge on a taxi or Uber. Traffic can get messy at night in that area. You could also check out Blake Shelton’s venue,” Connor suggested as he stood up. “If you need any more ideas, just holler. I’ll be up here in San Antonio until theend of next week, but ...” He pulled a card from his pocket, wrote on the back, and handed it to me. “Here’s my cell phone number.”

“I guess you learned the strawberry business really good for Everett to already have business cards made up for you.”

“Yep, I guess so. All right if I call you later? I need to be getting back to the hotel.”

“I’ll be home thirty minutes after the mall closes,” I told him.

When he had cleared the area, I narrowed my eyes at my mother. “Have you changed your mind about him?”

“Not where you are concerned,” she declared in a no-nonsense tone.

Chapter Twelve

Looks like we’ve got company,” Jasper said.

I sat down in the spare chair on his porch. “Sounds like someone is coming—but maybe they’re coming to see you, not me.”

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