“Please don’t tell me I’m pleasantly plump or I’ll deck you like I did Cal Ripley.”
The thought of someone saying something so cruel to Reba pissed him off. “Sounds like you had to deal with your own bullies. He got off easy. You should’ve kicked him in the balls. And I wasn’t going to call you pleasantly plump. I was going to say you’re voluptuous.”
Her eyebrow lifted beneath one wayward curl. “And you think that’s better than pleasantly plump?”
“Of course it is. It means curvy and—”
She cut him off. “I’m not stupid, Valentine. I know what it means. I also know that the word derives from a Latin root meaning delightful or pleasurable. And that’s exactly how men view voluptuous women’s bodies. As something made for their pleasure.” She uncrossed her arms and waved a hand, fluttering the petals of the flowers in the vase. “They view a curvy body as some amusement park that they entertain themselves with for a short time before they move on to a skinny woman who they don’t mind taking to dinner or a movie. A skinny woman that they’re proud to be seen with instead of ashamed.” She got up. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather you thought I was fat.” Before he could say a word, she turned and headed for the door. “Just leave the tray. I’ll get it in the morning when I bring breakfast.”
He tossed down his napkin, but before he could get to his feet, the door slammed closed behind her.
He sat back down and blew out his breath. It looked like Reba was carrying around as many scars from the past as he was. What a pair they made. They were more alike than he’d thought. He’d been bullied about his weight while she’d been sexualized. Which was a form of bullying. No wonder she had gotten so upset at him for kissing her. And she hadn’t just been mad at him, she’d also been mad at herself for “falling into that trap again.” Is that how she now viewed sex? A trap that men set for her?
A knock startled him out of his thoughts. He quickly got up and walked to the door, hoping it was Reba so he could apologize. Not just for his actions, but for the actions of all the men who had stupidly made her feel like a sex object rather than a person. But it wasn’t Reba standing at the door. It was Aunt Gertie. And she looked madder than a wet hen. Her face was all scrunched up like a shriveled apple that had been left out in the sun too long and she bobbed a bent finger at him.
“I knew that one of you Double Diamond boys would get in trouble with the law eventually. Sheriff Willaby is here lookin’ for you.”
“The sheriff?”
“Isn’t that what I just said? He’s waitin’ on the porch because I refuse to have that horse’s behind in my house.” She shook her head. “How he ever got voted in as sheriff is beyond me—although probably because nobody else wanted the job.” Her eyes narrowed on something behind Val. “What’s that tray—”
He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. “I better go see what the sheriff wants.”
Aunt Gertie gave him one more squinty-eyed look before she turned her walker around and shuffled back down the hallway toward the lobby.
When Val got to the porch, he found the sheriff’s deputy who had followed him and the other Double Diamond boys around every time they came to Simple. Back then he’d been a skinny young man who had been scared of his own shadow. Val had actually felt sorry for him for being given the job of keeping an eye on a bunch of delinquent kids. Now, he was a short, big-bellied man who seemed to have acquired too much confidence with his new title of sheriff. When Val stepped out on the porch, he gave him a thorough onceover followed with a smirk.
“So the little fat delinquent has become a big-shot author. How much weight did you lose, boy? A hundred pounds?”
Val felt his neck muscles tighten, but he had become an expert at keeping a cool, calm veneer in place. He glanced at the sheriff’s balding head. “Looks like we both lost something.”
A stifled snort of laughter had Val turning. A female deputy sat in one of the many rocking chairs on the porch. With the tan cowboy hat she wore, Val couldn’t