Page 13 of Eagle

“I appreciate your help,” she answered as she pulled me against her side.

“And I appreciate you both. It’s so beautiful.” Daisy stood, taking in the space. “I never thought I’d be married, much less have a reception. I don’t know what to say.” Her eyes got glassy as she looked around.

“Well, you helped, hon. Even though we tried to tell you to stay out of the way,” Mama Hen playfully snapped.

“Oh my God! Look at this place!” Jeannie walked in holding a big white box.

“The cake!” Mama Hen squealed.

Jeannie stood in awe, still holding the box. “The rest is in the car and it’s hot. Someone want to go grab them?”

Daisy’s hands flew to her mouth. “More?”

Mama Hen was hustling out and yelled over her shoulder, “Well yeah, you need a tiered cake for your wedding. C’monLacy.”

I ran to catch up with her and helped grab one of the boxes. Jeannie came back out and helped grab all the pieces to make the cake stand properly then shut the door and followed us back inside. We worked to set up the cake on a table that Mama Hen decorated just for it.

It was a comedy of errors, but we managed to assemble the cake, each tier secured. It was mostly white, with little flowers made of icing in white and silver. I was admiring the cake but asked, “Daisy, did you pick silver for any particular reason?”

“Ipicked it because it’s classy,” Mama Hen shouted from the kitchen.

Daisy shrugged. “I didn’t know she was doing all this. But it’s so pretty and thoughtful. I don’t care if it was brown!”

“My God, nobody would do brown, Daisy,” Mama Hen called from the other room.

We all giggled then Mama Hen called for us to grab the ice and start prepping the coolers. We stacked bags of ice from the deep freezer onto one of the wagons, then filled the other with boxes of drinks from the beer fridge, and after some harsh words from all of us, Daisy finally sat down, and Jeannie offered to help me outside.

I stopped at one of the picnic tables and she opened a case of beers, dropped a few in, then we layered ice and the cans. Once we filled that, we moved to another cooler and put sodas in, following the same protocol.

“You okay, Lacy?” Jeannie asked.

“No, but I will be.”

“What happened?” she asked as we moved to another cooler.

Sighing heavily, I stood and held my hands up in defeat. “Imoved out of Eagle’s room.”

Her lips fell into a pouty frown. “Oh my God, really? Are you okay? What did he do?” She put her hands on her hips. I loved these women.

“Nothing. But I guess that’s sort of the problem.”

She grabbed a beer from one of the coolers and handed it to me. “Here, girl. Take the edge off.”

“Thanks.” I took a long sip. It was refreshing and cold. The whole day had been strange, and I was exhausted, physically and mentally.

“Where you staying then?”

“I guess with the bunnies for now. Hopefully I can start working with you soon and maybe get a place. It’ll be kinda hard to dodge him around here.”

“Just come stay with me.”

My head whipped in her direction. “What? I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not? I have a house with extra rooms. You can stay with me as long as you want. Maybe when you start working you can do groceries and utilities or something.” She grabbed her thick blonde hair and pulled it off her shoulders. It was getting hot as hell and I was about to put mine in a messy bun.

“And rent?”

“Naw. The house isn’t huge but it’s close to being paid off. I know what it’s like to be in your shoes and this way you won’t feel like it’s charity or something. But only after you’ve been working a few weeks. A girl needs reserves.” She popped the top on a beer and took a sip. “And I tell you what. As your first payment, you can drive us home tonight and be my DD.” I looked down at my beer but she laughed. “Girl, it’s not even six.I think you’ll be okay later if you finish that off.”

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