Bed & Breakfast Bedlam - Abby L Vandiver Page 0,48

in.”

Bay laughed. “I know. She’s like this chameleon. She gets to talking like she’s this down home girl with the ‘ain’t’ and ‘cause’ when she wants to give the impression she’s just regular folk. Then she’s got a different way when she’s passing out her homemade remedies.”

“I know,” I said. “And then sometimes she’s using all these big words like she’s a college professor. But her lies –she can tell some big ones. Wow.”

“She’s not just acting, you know with the big words and all. She went to college.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Got a degree in biology. Wanted to be a doctor.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. But what I’m trying to say is that my grandmother, sometimes when she’s demanding, and seems, I don’t know, obstinate, or mean, or overbearing, I think it’s because she’s fighting for her right to stay independent. You know? She has to be forceful to keep her personality. To be an ‘adult.’ Not to let people take over her life because they think she’s old and helpless. You understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Yeah. I know,” I said and looked back through the door of Kitty City. When I turned back around, Bay was staring at me. “Your mother explained to me once that as we grow old we still feel the same on the inside,” I said, his staring weirding me out. “I know that Miss Vivee still wants to live her life.” My words seemed to float right past him.

I let my eyes meet his, and his stare locked mine in. There was a twinkle there as if he was smiling at me through them. The moment then suddenly felt intense. I broke my gaze and the lingering silence between us was uncomfortable. I didn’t like the feeling that sprung up in me from somewhere deep inside, out of nowhere. And then I decided I couldn’t stay around Bay any longer.

I didn’t know what he was doing to me.

“I probably should get back,” I said breaking the silence. “I have to keep an eye on those two.”

“So,” he said. “I just came by to warn you to take good care of my grandmother and her boyfriend.”

“That is not her boyfriend,” I chuckled. “She says she is too old to have one of those.” I kept my eyes away from looking into his. “So you came all the way up here to check on us?”

“No. I had to go to Gainesville for work.”

Oh no. I hope that wasn’t work that involved me.

“I-I thought you were on vacation? Your mother said you were going to be in Yasamee for a week, maybe longer,” I said. “She said you were on vacation.”

A smile lit up his face. “You asked my mother about me?”

“No.” I lied and swallowed hard. “Not really. I mean . . . You know . . . It just came up.”

“Oh,” he said. “I am on vacation. But I had some evidence in my car that I needed to turn it in.”

“Oookaay.” I didn’t want to hear what that was about. “I gotta go,” I said and ducked back inside of Kitty City before he could say anything else.

“She did good for herself,” one of the strippers was saying when I sat back down at the table. I’m guessing from the size of her backside she was Buns Galore. “Didn’t she, Champagne?” Buns asked the other girl who was wearing what looked like a gold lamé onesie.

“Yeah, she did. You should be proud of her,” Champagne said. “She only worked here long enough to finish school.”

“Finish school?” Miss Vivee asked. “I remember once she told me she wanted to be a cosmetologist.”

“Oh, no. She did one better. She got herself a college degree.”

“That’s my girl,” Miss Vivee clapped her hands together. “We’re so proud of her, aren’t we Mac?”

She should be on the stage somewhere, I thought. This is definitely the kind of performance that would garner a Tony.

“What did she study while she was in school?” Mac joined the masquerade. He and Miss Vivee were like two peas in a pod.

“She’s a teacher. Up in Powder Springs.”

“What grade does she teach?” Mac asked.

“Second graders,” Buns said.

“Let me think,” Champagne said. “I’ll remember the name of the school. Hold on give me a minute . . .”

“It was Euclid Park Elementary,” Buns spoke up. “Euclid. Like the mathematician.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Powder Springs, Georgia

Thursday Morning, AGD

“She was a wonderful teacher. I really hated to see her go.” Jill Sterba stood before us, her hands clasped in front of her.