Dixie said. “This has been so much fun. I’m glad we get to come back tomorrow.”
When they’d gone, Mitzi went back to the sewing room and slumped down in a chair. “Paula, can you put a spell on something so that I can have those girls? They’ve stolen my heart in only an hour.”
“All kids steal your heart. You’ve always been drawn to them, from babies to teenagers,” Jody said. “If you’d been smart, you’d have three or four by now.”
“I haven’t met the right guy,” Mitzi said.
“Honey, you don’t have to be married to get babies. Do I need to tell you about the birds and bees?” Jody teased. “Me and Lyle’s been livin’ together for fourteen years, and we ain’t married.”
“And you don’t have kids,” Paula said.
“That’s by choice,” Jody declared. “Mine, lately, not his. He says that we’re getting to the age where we’d better be making a final decision on that. I told him we got five more years.”
“How’d you come up with that number?” Paula asked.
Jody pushed her chair back from the sewing machine and headed toward the kitchen. “I need something to drink. Y’all want a glass of tea?”
Paula followed her. “Just water. You didn’t answer me.”
“We’ll all be thirty-seven in five years. Now add in a year to get pregnant and deliver, and that’ll make us thirty-eight. That’s pretty close to forty, so we’d have to hustle to have a second one. Forty might be the new thirty, but after that age, having babies can get kind of tricky,” Jody said.
Mitzi had been too busy to think about a final date for having children, but now she could almost hear the proverbial clock ticking in her ears. She loved Jody and had always supported her decision to live with Lyle without a marriage license, but that wasn’t the lifestyle Mitzi wanted. She wanted the whole thing—the romance, the engagement, the big wedding, and, most of all, a husband who’d love her just the way she was. She’d thought maybe the last relationship she’d had could develop into something lasting, but he had wanted to change her.
“Think about it,” Paula said. “Even then, we’d be almost sixty by the time our child gets through college.”
Mitzi opened the fridge and got out a root beer. “Don’t you know sixty is the new thirty? I’ll still be designing and making wedding dresses when I’m eighty.”
“Me, too,” Paula said.
“What’s that got to do with having babies?” Jody asked.
“A lot,” Mitzi answered. “I plan on staying young until the day they lay me out in a coffin, so if I want to have babies after forty I’ll do it.”
Paula shivered. “Don’t talk about funerals.”
“We all got to die someday,” Mitzi said. “So my child loses me when she or he is only forty. I wasn’t even that old when I lost my mama. Or you, Paula, when your dad died.”
“Or me, when my daddy left and my mama said it was because I was livin’ in sin with Lyle. Don’t know how that could be since he left her for a younger woman,” Jody said through clenched teeth. “But the precious golden child of the church, Miss Ellie Mae, is getting married in black, so maybe they’ll pray for her instead of me every Sunday.”
Mitzi patted Jody on the shoulder. “I’ve told you for years, it’s their loss. Let’s call it a day and go home.”
“I’d rather stay here,” Paula muttered.
“What was that?” Jody asked.
“She said she’d rather stay here,” Mitzi answered. “And I don’t blame her. The minute we get home, her mama calls.”
“She has two daughters, but I’m the one she calls every day to do something. Last night it was to change a light bulb and water the plants. Then she pouts if I go home before eight and gets mad if I stay two minutes past eight.” Paula downed the last of her water and carried the glass to the sink.
“I’m glad my dad has a life and that Granny is so independent,” Mitzi said.
“Count your blessings. I think I’ll just run by Mama’s for thirty minutes and get it over with. I’ll see you at the house,” Paula said.
“Tell her that we have plans and you have to get home. I’ll get everything here locked up and shut down for the night and be there by the time you make it home,” Mitzi yelled over her shoulder as she left the kitchen.
Paula had moved in with Mitzi when they started the shop. They’d