The Cherry Cola Book Club - By Ashton Lee Page 0,13

accomplished that.” She paused briefly to throw up her hands. “At any rate, it seems that you and Miz Mayhew are in agreement about my behavior. So perhaps I should just go ahead and apologize.”

Maura Beth reacted first, but not before finding the polite, formal exchange from the older generation a bit on the endearing side. Was she possibly witnessing the budding of a future romance? “Miss Voncille, I think it’s the Crumpton sisters who need your apology. If you lose them as members, you’ve gotten rid of two thirds of your following.”

“Yes, I realize that.”

“If you ladies will excuse me, then,” Locke said, rising from his chair and squaring his shoulders. “I think I’ll call it an evening.” He made his way slowly to the door, turning back at the last second with a gentlemanly bow. “But, Miss Voncille, I want you to know that I don’t discourage easily. Despite what happened tonight, I fully intend to be here for the next meeting.”

“Another surprise! What am I supposed to make of all that?” Miss Voncille exclaimed after Locke had left the room. But Maura Beth could sense the false bravado in her tone.

“We could talk about it, if you like. Would you care to have a heart-to-heart over more punch and cookies?”

Miss Voncille’s reply came only after a great deal of fidgeting with the notes she had prepared for the meeting, as if they would somehow acquire some sort of magical powers and tell her what to do. “Oh, why not? Getting things off your chest seems to have worked nicely for Mr. Linwood.”

Maura Beth waited as patiently as she could, seeing that Miss Voncille was having some difficulty getting started, but finally broke the ice herself. “I hope you regard me as more than just a librarian by now. I know six years isn’t that much history between us in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve always prided myself on being a good listener. But first, let’s keep our energy levels up.” So she headed for the refreshment table and poured them each another cup of red punch with maraschino cherries on the bottom, brought back a couple of cookies wrapped in paper napkins, and the exchange began in earnest.

“Locke Linwood was right when he said he didn’t really know who I was. He’s in good company because very few people know what I’m about to tell you. I can sum it all up in two words, though,” Miss Voncille explained after nibbling a cookie and sipping her punch. “Frank Gibbons.”

“Frank Gibbons? Who is he?”

“Only the love of my life,” Miss Voncille explained. “Today’s been rough on me. It’s been forty-five years since Frank literally dematerialized. I should have known better than to schedule a meeting of ‘Who’s Who?’ with that so heavy on my mind lately. It comes and goes, of course, but what’s worse is that I took it all out on the Crumpton sisters and their money and haughty ways. But I still shouldn’t have lashed out at them. I’m bigger than that.”

Maura Beth put on her most sympathetic face and lowered her voice accordingly. “So tell me more about this man disappearing into thin air.”

“Well, no. You misunderstand. You see, he was a soldier who lived over in Corinth. My parents didn’t approve because they said he was from the wrong side of the tracks. It was true that his family didn’t have a lot of money or social position, but that didn’t mean a thing to me. I was madly in love. Still, very few people here in Cherico even knew this little affair was going on because my parents wanted it like that. From the very beginning, they said they knew it would never last. That would turn out to be the cruelest thing they would ever say to me, and I never forgave them for it.” Miss Voncille broke off for a few moments for another swallow of her punch.

“Frank had just introduced me to his family over the Christmas holidays back in 1967. They were as sweet as they could be to me, even though I knew there would be serious in-law problems down the line. Nevertheless, we fully intended to get engaged, no matter what. But in January, Frank was deployed to Vietnam, and we had to put everything on hold. I don’t know how well you remember your history, but that was January of 1968. Shortly after he arrived over there, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet