up a cookie. “And I doubt that Ezra made it past the Pearly Gates anyway, so I don’t know why you’re all up in religion, Lucy. That old scoundrel never went to church in his life. If he went to heaven, he’d be miserable up there.”
Dotty reached for a cookie. “Flossie’s right. We didn’t come here to fight. We came to check on Jolene and tell her about the Easter Tour of Homes.”
Jolene busied herself making coffee, but not a word of what they said escaped her. “Why is Tucker a tortured soul? And I’d love to be included in the tour.”
Dotty lowered her voice. “I can still hear him upstairs. Come on over here so we can talk about him. He lost his wife, Melanie, a couple of years ago. She was from down in Marshall, but her daddy was raised here in Jefferson, so they came to church with Sugar and us.” She paused. “Anyway, she went away to college and made a teacher out of herself. She met Tucker once she went to work in Dallas. He was a cop there.”
“She was his whole life,” Lucy whispered. “Then she died in a car wreck, and bless his heart, he’s never got over it.” She clucked like an old hen gathering in her baby chickens. “I just can’t believe he bought half interest in this place. It takes a people person to operate a B&B, and from what I hear, Tucker is almost a hermit.”
“I guess we’ve all got our own emotional baggage,” Jolene said.
“Wait until he hauls his damn sorry ass home drunk and you’ve got guests in the place,” Lucy declared.
“She loves Jesus, but she still cusses a little,” Dotty said with a wicked grin.
“He’s a fantastic carpenter. He’s got money to put into the inn. And I’ll cross the drinkin’ bridge when it happens. And . . .” She glanced over at Dotty, who shrugged and winked.
“And just so y’all know.” Jolene took a deep breath. “I’ll be working at the Gator starting Friday night.”
“Lord have mercy,” Lucy groaned. “Have you talked to Sugar about this?”
“Visited with her last night and was going to tell her, but . . .” She went on to tell them how disappointed Jasper was with Reuben’s choice.
“I was afraid that would hit him hard,” Dotty said.
“Of course it did, but we’re not through talkin’ about this horrible idea of you working in a bar.” Lucy threw a hand over her forehead in a dramatic gesture and then shook a fist at Dotty. “You’re leading our sweet girl down the path of unrighteousness. Jolene, I’ll give you a job in my place of business. Full-time with benefits if you’ll quit the Gator right now.”
“I know bartending, and I can only handle part-time work with the inn, but thank you,” Jolene said and tried to change the subject. “Do I have the recipe for these cookies in Aunt Sugar’s files?”
“I’m sure you do, chère,” Dotty said. “But now let’s talk about this tour of homes. Surely Sugar mentioned it?”
“Oh, that.” Jolene was glad Dotty had changed the subject. “She always wanted to be included in it but figured the Magnolia was too far out of town.”
“It might be, but we want to add it this year,” Lucy said.
Dotty went on. “The three of us are on the Chamber of Commerce committee together for the first time. We carry the majority, and we’ve decided to vote for the Magnolia Inn to be on the tour. It would be a big thing if you could have it all spruced up by then. The chamber puts lots of advertising and promotion into the tour. Folks come for miles and miles to get a peek inside the bed-and-breakfast places. It could really help you out.”
“That’s, what, like three months from now?” Jolene asked.
“The tour itself is the Saturday before Easter, so that makes it April 20,” Flossie answered. “That’ll give you a few months to get things up and running. And if you’ll come to work for me instead of”—she shot a dirty look toward Dotty—“working as a bartender, you can choose your hours.”
“You’ll want to start booking rooms pretty soon for the summer and fall.” Dotty ignored Flossie’s comment. “The tour would be a wonderful opportunity for folks to see what you’ve done and get their reservations made. I always wanted to include the Magnolia, but I kept getting voted down since only Lucy and I were on the committee. But this year we’ve