Page 36 of The Honorable Texan
“Libby, that’s wonderful!”Violet exclaimed.
“Yes.Wonderful.But Julie Merrill has been making my life hell lately.She’s got her claws into Jordan and she won’t let go.He thinks I’m just jealous and trying to break them up.But it’s more than that,” she said grimly.“She’s dangerous.She’s been spreading all sorts of rumors about Calhoun Ballenger.He got Mr.Kemp to file suit against her for slander.”
“Good for Calhoun!”
Libby helped put pizza on plates.“I thought Jordan cared about me,” she said miserably.“But the minute Julie turned on the charm, he dropped me flat.He evenlet her insult me without saying a single word in my defense.”
“I’m really sorry,” Violet told her.“I thought Jordan was smart enough to see through her.”
“She’s pretty and smart and rich,” Libby murmured.
“And what are you, hideous?”Violet chided.“Your people were founding families of Jacobsville, and you’re a paralegal.You’re pretty, too.You’re worth two of Julie Merrill.”
Libby looked less stressed.She smiled.“Thanks, Violet.I really have missed you,” she added.“I don’t have anybody else that I can talk to, except my brother, and I couldn’t tell him how I really feel about Jordan.”
“Julie will fall into that deep hole she’s digging one day,” Violet told the other woman.“With any luck, Janet will fall into one just as deep!”She hesitated, remembering what Libby had said.“Mr.Kemp isn’t going to go up there alone to get those things, is he?I mean, Janet might have an accomplice…”
“Cash Grier is going with him,” Libby interrupted.
Violet laughed.“I’ll stop worrying right now.Nobody is going to mess with our chief of police.”
“That’s gospel,” Libby agreed.“Although you might remember that Mr.Kemp was an officer in the reserves until just recently.He’s no shrinking daisy.”
“I know,” Violet replied, smiling.“Remember those two men he threw out of our office?”
“I’m trying to forget!”
They both laughed.
* * *
The pizza was delicious.Violet walked out with Libby when she was ready to leave.
“Are you going to come back?”Libby asked the other woman seriously.
“Yes,” Violet said.“I dread having to tell Mr.Wright, though,” she added.“He was kind to me.”
“Duke’s nice.He won’t mind.He may not like Mr.Kemp, but he likes you,” she added with a smile.“I’ll bet he won’t even ask you to work a two week notice.”
“That would be nice.”She wrapped her arms around herself.The night was cool.“Has Mr.Kemp really missed me?”
Libby smiled.“He really has.He’s set new records for hostility and impatience.I think Jessie quit because she reached the end of her rope.She couldn’t please the boss no matter what she did.It seemed to Mabel and me that Mr.Kemp was trying to make her leave.”
Violet smiled delightedly.“I’ve missed him, too,” she confessed.
Libby hugged her.“We all know how you feel about him.I think you’ve got a good chance with him, Violet,” she said gently.“I wouldn’t encourage you to come back if I didn’t.I know too much about unrequited love.”
“You and Jordan are going to work out one day, too,” Violet assured her friend.“I’m sure of it.”
“Chance would be a fine thing,” Libby sighed.“Well, I’d better get home.Curt’s having a night out with the boys so I don’t have to worry about his supper, thank goodness.”
“Your brother’s a nice man.”
“He is, isn’t he?”Libby grinned.“I wouldn’t have minded you for a sister-in-law, you know.But you can’t get past love.I know.I’ve tried.”
“It will work out, Libby,” Violet told her.
“Somehow,” Libby agreed.
