Page 17 of The Party Line

“I’ll let Madge know in the morning, myself.” Mama’s voice sounded like a little kid’s who had found a brand-new bicycle under the Christmas tree.

My mind went into overdrive. “We can get a lot done in those two weeks. We’ll get Aunt Gracie’s lawyer to draw up papers for the business, get bank accounts started, and maybe even get in touch with a contractor for the building.”

“Or at least think about the design,” Annie suggested.

“We should have a rough idea of what we’ll need before we decide on the size,” Mama added.

Change had always terrified me. Leaving for college was as tough on me as it was on Mama. Graduating and taking a job with the insurance company meant living in my own place, and that was an adjustment. Moving from that tiny apartment into Aunt Gracie’s big house was an even more giant step for me. But somehow, sitting there in Mama’s little kitchen, the decision I had made on the spur of the moment seemed right and didn’t send me running for the hills like finding a spider in the bathroom had done.

Mama and Annie were talking about what kind of commercial ovens they would need when I finally tuned back in to the conversation. A whole new vibe filled the house, and I could almost feel Aunt Gracie giving her blessing on the decision.

“Y’all do realize that it will most likely be fall before we’ll be up and running?” I asked. “You could begin to put jobs on the calendar, but this project is going to take most of the summer. I can put all three of us on a payroll. It will drain some of the inheritance, and we will most likely run in the red for a few months. But after that, we’ll probably be making money hand over fist when folks find out about the way y’all cook together.”

“I’ll have enough money to do me until we start getting some business,” Annie said.

“I’ve got plenty with what Aunt Gracie left me that I’m good through the summer,” Mama said.

“Okay, then ...” I took my dirty dishes to the sink and rinsed them. I liked to bake, but cooking was not anywhere on my love-to-do list. Since Mama collected cookbooks, I’d grown up thumbing through them—mostly the dessert pages. That caused a memory to pop into my head. “While you are making up the recipes you can offer for the service, organize them by category—meats, desserts, salads—and we might have a cookbook published later.”

“That’s a great idea,” Annie said with a wide smile.

The thrill of doing something new followed me out to my vehicle, and I wanted so badly to call someone to share the news of the new venture. But the few friends I had made at work had seemed to drift away after so many of us started working from home. Some of them were married and had started families. Others had moved on to new jobs in other parts of the country or world.

The excitement came to an abrupt halt when I got home, and doubts came crawling out of every nook and cranny in my head. I paced the living room floor for a while; then I wandered outside and saw Jasper sitting on his porch, trying to teach Sassy to fetch a pair of rolled-up socks. “She’s brought this thing back to me three times this evening. We’re getting some of her puppy energy run out before we go inside. Come sit on the porch with me.”

Glad to have someone to talk to, I hurried across the grassy lawn and plopped down in the second rocking chair. “You’ll have her bringing you a beer and opening it with her teeth by the time she’s a year old.”

“I hope so,” he grinned.

“You’ll never believe what I just did ...” I blurted out, then went on to tell him about the catering business. “Now I’m thinking I should have thought about it a day or two before jumping in with both feet.”

“Gracie would be proud,” he said.

His words put an unexplainable lump in my throat. “Why would you say that?”

“She was always proud of you for making something out of yourself, but for you to take life by the horns and do something that will be a help to your mama ...” He paused and smiled. “Honey, that means you and Sarah will be working together, and that would make the buttons pop off Gracie’s best Sunday blouse. One regret she had was that she was afraid to take risks.”

“Such as?” I asked.

He lowered his voice like he was telling me a secret. “Staying in that house, for one thing. She felt like since her grandparents built it, she couldn’t sell it or leave, and when she got old, she wished she would have gone out and seen the world.”

Sassy ran back to the porch and flopped down on her belly. Jasper picked her up and took a step toward the door. “Don’t look back with regrets, Lila.”

“But what if it’s the wrong decision?” I asked.

“Could be.” Jasper nodded. “But if you don’t do this, you’ll never know what it might have brought into your life. Good night, Lila. Sweet dreams.”

Just minutes after he closed the door, the crunch of tires on gravel and headlights lighting up the area got my attention, and I tiptoed to the edge of the fence. We had had teenagers coming out to steal strawberries before, and Aunt Gracie usually put them on the run by firing her shotgun into the air.

The lights went out. A vehicle door slammed, and a dark figure headed toward the canopy where strawberries were sold. I opened the gate and slammed it shut, hoping to scare whoever was out there.

“Lila?” a deep voice asked.

The beam from a flashlight practically blinded me when it hit me in the eyes. “Put that thing down, Connor. What are you doing out here after dark?” I spluttered. It took a couple of minutes for me to focus again after the light went out.

“I forgot my favorite baseball hat,” he said. “I didn’t want a squirrel or a raccoon to carry it off. Got time to come on over and sit a spell?”

I swatted a mosquito the size of a Texas buzzard and shook my head. I held back a chuckle at that thought because Jasper had said the same thing many times. “No, thanks, but you are welcome to come in the house and have a beer or a glass of sweet tea.”

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