Page 46 of Trailer Trash

I didn’t answer. I didn’t feel like lying to her, and I sure wasn’t about to tell her the truth.

Her gaze turned to Jed. “And who might you be?”

“Jed Carlisle, ma’am,” he said in a deep voice, holding his hands together in front of him and his feet shoulder-width apart. “I’m Neely Kate’s boyfriend.”

It was a cover story, but hearing him say it still sent a thrill down my spine.

Zelda gave me an ornery look. “He’s a big boy, Neely Kate. Is he big everywhere?”

“Zelda!” I exclaimed. I had no visual confirmation of his size, but what I’d felt earlier suggested that I wouldn’t be disappointed if and when we ever slept together. I was usually the one dishing out innuendos, but I felt my face heating up, especially since Jed was watching me.

She looked pleased as punch. “Judging by the smug look on your young man’s face, it must be true.”

Jed’s eyes lit up. He seemed amused by my embarrassment, and no wonder.

She waved toward the chair in the corner. “You don’t have to stand back there, Jed. Come sit.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” The chair looked so dilapidated I wasn’t sure it would hold Jed’s frame, but he sat anyway, proving how brave he really was.

“You found yourself a nice young man, Neely Kate,” Zelda said, reaching over to pat my hand while she eyed Jed. “Polite and respectful.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “Jed’s one of the best.”

She turned back to me, narrowing her eyes. “I can see why hooking up with this young stud would make you want to hide away from the world and screw your brains out, but I suspect you haven’t been screwing Jed for all five of the years you’ve been gone, so tell me where you went.”

I started to chastise her, but Jed was having way too much fun listening to her. In the past, I’d found the best way to discourage her was to move the conversation along. “I went back to my granny in Arkansas.”

“You just took off, without a word. When you disappeared, and Branson too . . . well, Stella was beside herself.”

Stella had never felt one ounce of guilt or regret in her life. If she’d been beside herself, it was only because she no longer had me around to manipulate. Nevertheless, as bitter of a pill as it was to swallow, I needed to find her. “What’s Stella up to these days? I hear she quit her night job.”

Zelda scowled. “Night job. You two thought you were pulling one over on me, but I always knew you were working at that peep show.” She cast a glance at Jed and waved her hand dismissively. “And if you didn’t know, young man, then I’m sorry you heard this way. But if you two have any hope of makin’ it, there can’t be any secrets between you.”

“I already knew.” Jed’s smile fell, but the warmth in his eyes seemed to say he trusted me to tell him what he needed to know until I felt comfortable telling him everything.

“Ah . . .” Zelda murmured, bobbing her head. “Then you two are on the right track.”

She turned to me with sharp eyes. Maybe age had finally caught up with her, but it hadn’t dulled her mind any. “Are you still livin’ that life?” she asked in a voice full of worry.

“No,” I said quickly, before she could say anything else.

She nodded. “Good. Now tell me why you finally decided to stop by after all these years.”

It felt like my tonsils were tied together, something Jed must have sensed. “I want to know everything about Neely Kate’s life,” he said. “I asked her to bring me to meet you.”

Zelda’s eyes teared up. “Why?”

“Because Neely Kate was at a sad and desperate point in her life when she showed up here seven years ago, and you took her in out of the kindness of your heart. I wanted to personally thank you for being there for her.”

My mouth dropped open in amazement. Jed had come up with his story on the fly, only the look on his face suggested it wasn’t totally a cover story.

Zelda sniffed. “I was the lucky one. Our girl is something special.”

Jed nodded and gave me a tentative smile. “That she is.”

I threw up my hands, feeling uncomfortable. “Enough of this mushy nonsense. What have you been up to, Miss Zelda?”

“Same ol’, same ol’. I started goin’ to the Free Will Baptist Church instead of the Southern Baptist, and you would have thought I’d become a devil worshipper accordin’ to my former Bible study group.”

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