one of them rattlesnakes loose that he had caged up, I’d swim across the bayou, and that broke me from drinkin’ more than one glass of wine at a time or havin’ more than one beer a night. I laid my hand on Lucy’s Bible and swore that I’d never get drunk again if they wouldn’t make me relive that experience.”
“And Sugar said that she’d be right behind you in swimmin’ across the bayou,” Flossie laughed. “I wanted to take Dotty to a strip club instead of a church. I figured what she needed was a young stud to go to bed with her. That revival thing was Lucy’s idea.”
Lucy leaned over and stage-whispered to Tucker, “I bet you could get a job in a strip club.”
His smile grew into a chuckle. “I was a cop in Dallas and then a detective. I don’t think the force would have approved of that kind of moonlightin’ job. Besides, my uniform didn’t have those breakaway snaps to let me get out of it real fast.”
“Too bad,” Flossie sighed. “I bet Dotty would have put all of her dollars in your cute little thong underbritches.”
“Damn straight I would.” Dotty threw a wink his way.
Tucker picked up the bowl of green beans. “Anyone want any more of these? If not, I’m goin’ to finish them off.”
“You go right ahead, honey. And don’t let these two sinners make you blush,” Lucy said. “Is it time for dessert yet? I’m lookin’ forward to this bottle of beer.”
“I’ll get the cake,” Dotty said. “Anyone want ice cream with it? I know Sugar always keeps half a supply in the freezer.”
“Yes.” Tucker raised his hand.
“Me, too,” Lucy said.
“Wine, beer, cake, and ice cream?” Dotty shook her head. “You’ll be sick for sure.”
Lucy inhaled deeply and let it out in a whoosh. “Stop bossin’ me.”
Jolene had heard those three words before—lots of times. She’d beg Elaine to stay home on Friday and Saturday nights, to save the money for food or bills. And she’d get the same response—stop bossin’ me. Only it would be usually be followed up by Elaine yelling that if Jolene were a better daughter, she’d love her unconditionally and stop trying to change her.
“Miz Lucy, if you have a little hangover, Jolene has a magic remedy. You just call me and I’ll tell you how to fix it,” Tucker said.
Lucy tilted her chin up. “I won’t need it.”
And just what’s the difference in what Tucker does and what I did? Jolene’s mother’s voice was so clear in her head that Jolene cut her eyes around the room to see if she was there.
For one thing, he doesn’t have a teenage daughter who deserved a life of her own and who shouldn’t have needed to worry about grown-up things long before her time, Jolene answered.
He got the hangover medicine this morning. What do you have to say about that? Elaine argued. Like she’d done so many times in real life, Jolene let her mother have the last word by forcing her voice out of her head.
Sometime in the middle of that mental conversation, Dotty had brought in the cake and ice cream. “We’ll pass it around, and everyone can get however big of a piece they want.”
Lucy twisted the cap off the beer and took a long gulp. “That’ll clean my palate for the cake.”
Tucker shooed all four of the ladies into the living room with the rest of the wine after dinner was finished. “You brought the food. Jolene and I will do the cleanup. Go pretend like you are guests of the Magnolia Inn. No, don’t pretend. You are our very first guests, even if you didn’t stay the night here.”
“I knew I liked that boy from the first time I met him.” Lucy headed that way with a wineglass in one hand and a half-empty bottle of beer in the other.
There’s no one who’s all good or who’s all bad. What comes out and makes them look either way are the choices they make. Jolene remembered Aunt Sugar telling her that when she complained about Reuben.
Did that apply to her drug-addicted mother? For years Jolene’d not been able to find a good thing about her mom, and then Elaine had died in that miserable, cheap hotel room. Maybe if Jolene would get over not having been there with her and not being able to stop the downward spiral, then she could hang on to a few of the good moments they’d shared.