always coming close to preaching to her girls when she was here, but she’s your sister. I would give anything to have my sister back to talk to her. We had our differences, but we were best friends as we got older. I lost her last summer, and my first thought this morning when all that went down with Lauren was that I wished I could call Dora Lou and talk to her about it.”
“I never had a sister, but I’ve got three brothers. I’ve told folks that’s why I went into teaching—so I could be the boss for a little while,” Diana said. “But one of my sisters-in-law has been my best friend since first grade, so it’s almost the same thing. She and my brother live up in central Oklahoma. We talk on the phone at least three times a week, and we can’t wait for the family gatherings when we get to see each other. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Everyone has their own stories, Jayden thought as she watched Tiffany hit the ball way out into left field and make it to third base. She’d had a best friend from kindergarten to eleventh grade. Lee Anna had long red hair and was as tall as Tiffany, and she and Jayden were inseparable. Then Lee Anna slept with Jayden’s boyfriend right before the junior-senior prom. Jayden had already bought a dress and was so excited about going to the prom with Kyle. Then overnight he called to break up with her and say that he was taking Lee Anna to the event. That was only a few months after her parents’ divorce, when Jayden’s trust meter was at an all-time low. After the trust issues that came with that, and the way that Skyler treated her, she had learned to keep everyone at arm’s length.
Can you trust Elijah? the voice in her head asked.
“If either of you hadn’t chosen a job working with kids, what would you have wanted to be?” she asked to get her mind away from the past and from Elijah.
“I would have been a race car driver,” Novalene answered first. “I love to drive fast with rock music playing as loud as I can get it.”
“You’re joking, right?” Jayden’s eyes felt like they might pop right out of her head, roll down the steps, and land out there in the dirt.
“Nope, not in the least, and Elvis Presley is my favorite. Lord, that boy could sing, and he looked like sex on a stick.” Novalene fanned herself with the back of her hand. “I saw him once in concert out in Vegas.”
“Did you throw your panties at him?” Jayden asked.
“Damn straight I did. My sister and I both did. Mine were black lace and hers were red satin.” Novalene laughed. “I can see that I’ve shocked the sin right out of y’all. Now it’s your turn to answer that question, too.”
Diana raised her hand. “I’ll go next. There were times when I got tired of Mama telling me that my brothers got to stay out later and do more than I did because they were boys. So, if I could be something other than a teacher, which Mama thought was a good, safe route for me to take, I would have gone into the army and trained to be a sniper. I go to the shooting range every month. I’ve earned my expert marksman status.”
“Do you really think you could shoot someone?” Jayden asked.
“I could have this morning.” Diana smiled. “But we’ll never know whether I really could or not, because that ship sailed a long time ago. My folks would have dropped graveyard dead if I would have even mentioned joining the army. Your turn, Jayden.”
“Is this a therapy session?” Jayden asked.
“Could be,” Novalene answered. “I sure never told anyone that I drive ninety in a seventy-five-mile zone and listen to Elvis so loud that it shakes my car. They’d send the boys in the white jackets after me.”
“Before I tell y’all what I might have been, what do you think the answer will be?” Jayden wondered how folks—other than her sister—might see her.
“I think you’re stalling and that you are playing the role of the therapist,” Novalene said, “but I’ll go first. You would have been a chef in a big fancy restaurant.”
“No, she would have been a baseball player,” Diana disagreed. “She’s been watching the game out there pretty close. She would have been like Geena Davis in