Big Lies in a Small Town - Diane Chamberlain Page 0,70

daddy won’t let me work here if he’s here,” she whispered, nodding in Jesse’s direction.

Anna was momentarily confused. “Why not?” she asked. “Do you know something about him I should know?” She recalled asking Martin the same question.

Theresa shook her head. “I ain’t never even seen him before yesterday,” she said, “but I can’t work with no colored boy.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” Anna said. “He hopes to be an artist, just like you. The three of you are here to learn.”

“My daddy—”

“Why did your daddy even need to know?” Anna said, aware she was crossing a line. Theresa stared at her with disbelief that Anna would suggest she withhold such significant—to her—news from her father. Across the warehouse, Anna heard a burst of laughter from the boys. It warmed her. At least the two of them were getting along well.

“You don’t understand,” Theresa said.

“No, I guess I don’t,” Anna said wearily. “It’s up to you, Theresa. Jesse is working here. I’d like you to also work here. The choice is yours.”

“It ain’t right, what you’re asking.” She looked away from Anna, her coral-colored mouth set. “I got to leave.” And with that she stomped across the concrete floor, grabbed her coat from a hook on the wall, and headed out the door.

The boys looked up from their work.

“Theresa’s decided she doesn’t want to work here,” Anna said simply.

“What the—” Peter said, wrinkling his brow in confusion, but Anna watched Jesse go right back to work, measuring and hammering. He knew. She had the feeling that beneath his dark skin, his cheeks were burning.

Anna found Pauline to be a delightful traveling companion on their drive north to Norfolk, at least for the most part. They talked about what it was like growing up in Edenton and how Karl proposed to her (on a small boat while paddling through one of the many creeks in the area) and then Pauline shared all the gossip she could possibly remember about people in town. There was certainly plenty of it. She didn’t ask Anna much about herself, and that was fine. Anna still didn’t feel ready to talk about her mother with anyone.

“How many teenagers are working with you?” Pauline asked when she’d exhausted every salacious story she could think of about her fellow Edentonians.

“Just two,” Anna said. “Two boys. The girl quit because one of the boys is colored. She said her father wouldn’t approve.”

Pauline laughed. “I’m sure she’s right,” she said. “Who’s her father?”

Anna shrugged. “I haven’t met him. Her name is Theresa Wayman.”

“Oh, good heavens,” Pauline said. “Do you know who her father is?”

“I have no idea,” Anna said.

“Riley Wayman is president of the bank. A real bigwig in town.”

His name suddenly sounded familiar. Someone at that first meeting she’d had with the “movers and shakers” must have mentioned him.

“Well, is he that much of a jackass that he’d make his daughter quit working with me because of Jesse?”

“That and more,” Pauline said.

“I haven’t heard a peep out of her father, so I think everything is all right,” Anna said. “Of course Theresa only walked out on me Friday, so who knows, but I’m not worried about it.”

Pauline didn’t respond for a moment. From the corner of Anna’s eye, she saw her staring straight ahead through the window, blue eyes catching the sunlight. Finally, she took in a breath and turned to Anna. “I guess you have to ask yourself if having this Jesse helping you is going to create more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Of the three of them he’s by far the most talented,” Anna said. “And he’s passionate about art. He really needs more exposure to it, though. He needs the chance to visit museums. To get to study other artists. I wish I had my art books here to share with him.” She heard the rise in her voice. The enthusiasm. And she felt Pauline’s eyes on her.

“Are you … Do you have inappropriate feelings for this boy?” Pauline asked, ever so delicately. “You sound rather smitten with him.”

Anna laughed. “No!” she reassured her. “Not at all. Not the way you mean, anyhow. What I do have is a fear that his talent will go to waste. That he’ll end up working on his family’s farm instead of doing what he’s meant to be doing.”

“You can’t save him, you know,” Pauline said. “We’re all born with limitations of one sort or another. A family that needs us or a bum leg or the wrong skin color. We just