TWENTY
Vivian was right, as she hadn’t the energy to get out in the garden to harvest any of her own, Gretta was happy to have a load of fresh flowers to decorate the house with. The first order of business was collecting enough mason jars to stuff them in, and then the two of them set about making the house look and smell pretty.
The downstairs held a jar in every room, but it was the second floor that Vivian had been most anticipating.
“I only come up here a couple times a month now,” Gretta was telling her as they climbed the stairs together. She was taking them slowly, and Vivian was matching her pace.
When they reached the top, Gretta led the way, past Vivian’s room, to the door at the end of the hall. “This was our room for forty-two years,” Gretta said as she pulled a ring of old skeleton keys from her housecoat’s pocket and searched for the right one.
Vivian didn’t tell her that she’d already ventured inside that room, knowing it had been an invasion of the woman’s privacy. The fact that she kept the door locked confirmed that she must have forgotten that day, and to tell her she’d been inside would only upset her more than being there now already clearly was.
The lock made a metallic snap, and Gretta turned the brown tortoiseshell handle, opening the way inside.
“I like to visit Pete from time to time, update him on what’s been happening around here.” Approaching the six-drawer dresser, she placed her jar of flowers on top. “Pete was always was a bit of a gossip,” she said fondly.
Vivian would bet that wasn’t entirely true. Gretta was a pretty big one herself. If Pete had been anything like the men she’d met so far, he’d probably just joined her for entertainment.
“You haven’t seen my Pete,” Gretta stated as she picked up a frame and carried it over to where Vivian was standing.
Vivian clutched the jar of flowers she’d brought up to include with Gretta’s, as a kind of offering of respect, and angled her head so she could see better around them. “He was handsome.”
The photo was in black and white, but the detail was clear. It was an earlier photo than the one she’d seen before. Vivian would guess Pete was average height with a stocky build beneath a pair of dark tweed pants with a pleat running down the front of both legs and held up by striped suspenders overtop a white collared shirt. He had dark hair, combed neatly to one side, the shine of whatever salve he’d used to keep it in place catching the sun. He wore a fond smile reserved for the person behind the camera, which Vivian guessed was Gretta.
Gretta’s smile was wide and full of love. “Oh, he was the catch of the town back then,” she said as one bony finger petted the image of his dark head of hair. “All the girls were after him, but he only had eyes for one.”
Vivian smiled. “You.”
“No, Meredith Clinton, that tramp.” In typical Gretta fashion, what came out of her mouth was completely unexpected.
“Gretta!” Vivian choked on a laugh.
“Well she was!” she protested, then scowled. “Fine, she wasn’t. She was actually the preacher’s daughter. Gah! I swear she was too perfect to be real. Every hair in place, always a new dress, big tits, narrow waist. We all hated her.”
“Ohmygod.” Vivian was shaking her head in disbelief.
“Well, we did! She walked around here like she owned the place, just because her daddy was the preacher. Volunteering at soup kitchens and reading to the blind. Tell me one sixteen-year-old who likes doing that?”
Vivian couldn’t think of a single name. “That doesn’t mean she was a bad person.”
“That wasn’t the problem. She was too good. It was nauseating. None of us could live up to that.”
Vivian understood. She’d run into people like that a time or two, too. They had a way of making you doubt yourself. “So what happened to her?”
“She got arrested for shoplifting, and her parents shipped her off to boarding school.”
“Are you serious?” Vivian questioned in disbelief.
“Hell yes, I am! So Miss Perfect wasn’t so perfect after all. After she was gone, I struck while the griddle was still hot.” Pressing all of the fingers on one hand together in a triangle shape, she made a jabbing motion, as if to strike at something like a snake. “I got my boobs in that year. Poor Pete never stood a chance.”
Vivian had no words. Gretta was…well, she was just something else. She’d never met anyone quite like her, but what a joy she was to be around. Unpredictable but full of unique charm that couldn’t be replicated.
“You’re a force to be reckoned with,” she agreed.
“You bet your ass.” Replacing the frame, she returned to Vivian’s side and stood back to view the room once more, nostalgia coloring a long sigh. “It’s hard to believe he’s really gone, even after all this time.”
Vivian kept her lips zipped. Since she hadn’t ever lost anyone in life, at least, not through death, she had no way to relate. She could sense Gretta’s loneliness and perhaps even pain, though the emotions were covered by layers of stalwart determination and an unparalleled stubbornness. Vivian doubted that, even when her time came, Death would have an easy time of talking the woman into following him.
“So I heard you had a little run-in with a certain gentleman in town today.”
Vivian knew instantly who she was referring to and snorted derisively. “I’d hardly call him a gentleman.”
“Well, even I have to pretend to be nice every now and then.” Gretta winked up at her, and then with a gentle hand on her elbow, guided Vivian from the room and locked it back up. As they made their way back downstairs, she complained, “I don’t know why he feels the need to keep hounding me.”
“Well, if I had to guess, he’s just looking to have his cake and eat it too.”
“I don’t follow.”
Gretta’s feet shuffled against the hardwood floor as they entered the kitchen and she filled a kettle in preparation for a fresh pitcher of iced tea. “Considerin’ what you’ve told me and what I’ve gathered and witnessed firsthand, he realized there’s somethin’ he’s missin’ that you can provide.”
“I don’t know what,” Vivian said as her mind struggled to figure out the answer.
Gretta shrugged. “Could be he just needs to keep up appearances. Especially considering his preferences,” she said suggestively.
Vivian hated to admit that she was probably right. His sudden about-face had caught her off guard, and everything in the world she left behind always came down to perceptions.
“Well, he can figure all of that out on his own. I’m done with that chapter in my life.”
Dunking a handful of tea bags into the pot, Gretta lifted an eyebrow and cast her a speculative look. “That’s not how I heard it.”
“Again, I don’t follow.”
“By now, you must have noticed that there isn’t a lot of privacy in this town. Everything is seen and heard by somebody.”
Vivian grunted. She had noticed that. It was hard not to.
“Well, just like the grape vines whispered about your little encounter today, they also knew some of the details. Like the pesky little fact that y’all are still married?”
Vivian hissed a breath through her teeth. She hadn’t exactly forgotten—how could she?—but she’d been hoping to set that little detail aside until she could deal with it later.
“That’s what he claims.”
“Is there any truth to it?”
“I thought it was all squared away, honestly,” Vivian confessed, “but I’m not totally sure. He’s so insistent, I’m doubting myself now. I left town so fast, I just assumed everything was in order. I just knew I couldn’t be there anymore, surrounded by all the judgment and backstabbing and whispering. I needed a change.”
“Seems you got one,” Gretta agreed, “but I don’t think this is going to just go away. And what about Nash?”
Vivian’s initial reaction was to ask, “What about him?” But she knew that wasn’t going to fly anymore. She and Nash had grown closer than could be denied, and everyone knew it. Whether they had something official going or not was a moot point. Everyone had already determined they were together or bound to be, which made Vivian accountable.
“I don’t know. What can I do?”
Emptying the hot teat into the large pitcher, Gretta cracked a full tray of ice into it and filled the remainder with cold water from the tap, then carried it over to the table where Vivian had two tall glasses waiting for them.
“I’d say keep moving forward, but get on that phone and figure out what the hell is going on with that divorce right away. If y’all really are still married, secrets like these have a way of coming back to bite your ass in the end, and as you can see, secrets don’t stay secrets for long.”
“Clearly not.”
Gretta filled the glasses and pushed Vivian’s toward her. Pouring a hefty bit of sugar into hers, Vivian tested its sweetness before she continued.
“How do you think Nash will react when he hears about all of this?”
“Poorly,” Gretta stated bluntly, “but if he cares at all about ya, he’ll get over it.”
Vivian prayed she was right because if that little twist in her gut meant anything, it was that she was falling in deep and fast with the man, and being forced to give him up now would be about as fun as getting a tooth pulled without Novocain.
“We’re supposed to go to the tractor pull tonight.”
Gretta’s eyes lit up. “That’s wonderful! I guess my matchmaking skills aren’t so dusty after all.” She winked. “You can tell him then.”
“About Andrew?” Vivian questioned, already pushing against the idea. “Don’t you think that’s a little soon? I don’t even know if what he’s saying is true.”
“Doesn’t matter. The sooner, the better, like I said.”
“What if it ruins the evening?”
“It’ll ruin it more if that asshole ex of yours shows up and Nash has to hear it from his mouth first.”
“So cut him off at the pass and risk Nash hating me forever over a possibility, or wait for my ex-husband to tell him and ensure that Nash hates me forever.”
“Doesn’t sound very promising when you put it that way,” Gretta mused, “but it’s the only choice you’ve got. Make sure you make the right one.”
“Yeah.” Vivian didn’t have much more to add. She was dreading the conversation she knew she needed to have. If she had it her way, she’d just deal with it quietly and on her own time. A call to her lawyer Monday morning to prove Andrew was full of crap, and she could move on with her life as she’d intended.
It didn’t look as if she could do that now. Andrew could be very convincing when he wanted to, and it appeared he had a lot of motivation to make sure he got his way.
Dammit.
“I hate to admit that you’re right—”
“But I am,” Gretta said with a smile and proud lift of her chin.
“Yes, you are.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Go get ready for your hot date!”
Vivian nodded and rose, leaving her unfinished tea on the table. That’s exactly what she planned to do. When Nash saw her tonight, he’d be so distracted, he wouldn’t hear a word she said.