Page 74 of The Party Line

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said.

I took a couple of steps toward the door. “I promise I will, and I even have pictures to show you.”

Had Aunt Gracie felt the same shot of pure passion when Davis kissed her that time like I did with Connor?

“Get on out of here, then, so I can go to sleep. I’ll look at them pictures tomorrow.” He shooed me out of the house.

I looked up at the star-dotted sky, and there was that falling star Connor had promised.

Chapter Twenty-One

What kind of name is the Ambrosia?” Jasper’s tone matched his expression on Sunday morning—downright grouchy. But I was determined not to let him bring me down off the pretty white cloud I had been floating on since my date with Connor.

“Evidently, the new owner thought it was cute,” I said as we walked across the church parking lot to Aunt Gracie’s Ford after service that morning. “I’m so glad you felt like going to church today.”

“I didn’t plan on it, but when I woke up, God told me to get my sorry, skinny butt out of bed and go to church,” Jasper declared. “I tried to bargain with Him, but He wouldn’t have none of it. He sent Sassy to whine at the edge of my bed. I got up to let her out and figured I might as well fix myself a cup of coffee and stay up.”

“God speaks to you?” I asked.

“He don’t speak to you?” he fired right back.

“Not audibly.”

“Well, I hear His voice in my ear. Like He’s sitting right here.” Jasper tapped his shoulder with his bony hand.

I couldn’t argue, since Aunt Gracie seemed to sit on my shoulder and whisper in my ear more often since she had passed away than ever before. I helped him get settled in the passenger seat. “So, did you get a message out of the sermon this morning?”

He folded his arms over his chest and nodded. “I got the message, but I don’t like it. Don’t tell me that you did.”

I slid into the car and started the engine. “I might have, but my mind kept jumping track and wandering off to pick wildflowers.”

“In other words, you were thinking about Connor and that date you had down by the river,” Jasper snapped. “You’re supposed to go to church to get a message to your soul, not sit there and relive a date.”

I drove from the church to the new café. “Maybe thatwasGod’s message to me.”

“Hmmph,” Jasper snorted, then coughed. “God don’t bring a person to church for them to think about their boyfriend. You’re supposed to listen to His word when you’re sitting on the pew.”

“I guess I just applied His word differently than you did. The message I got was to trust and not have doubts,” I said with half a giggle. “What did you get?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” He looked out the side window. “I hope that this new place didn’t throw out Annie’s menu and we can get chicken and dressing today.”

Annie’s Café always had a full parking lot as soon as church services were over, but that morning, I only counted six vehicles. “Looks like we won’t have any trouble getting a table.”

“Empty parking lot. Poor food and service. I bet they even use instant tea,” Jasper muttered, and was out of the car before I made it around to help him.

“If they do, we won’t come back.” I looped my arm through his to steady him. His croup—as he still called it—had left him a little wobbly.

“If the food ain’t no good, we’ll go to the Dairy Queen and have a burger next week,” he said, loud enough the angels in heaven heard it.

“Jasper!” I scolded.

“I’m making a vow to God. He is not only speaking today but He’s listening, because I sure heard Him loud and clear this morning,” he said.

The inside of the restaurant was the same as it had been when Annie owned and ran it, except all the old pictures of Poteet had been taken down, leaving white spots on the light brown walls.

“You guys can sit anywhere you want,” a waitress called out from a table across the room. “We haven’t gotten the place fully remodeled and all the decorations up yet, but we’re in business.”

“She ain’t from around here,” Jasper whispered.

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