The Worst Romance Novel Ever Written (65 page)

Johnny smiled. “I am. The Vega is going to be the delivery car for Angel’s Magic Pizza.”
What a wonderful name for a pizza joint!

“
What’s Angel’s Magic Pizza?” Marion asked.

“
The pizza joint Gloria and I are opening just down the street in the old Pizza Hut,” Johnny said. “If you fill out an application, Marion, Gloria might hire you. You’ll have to make lots of lemonade.”

“
Is he serious?” Marion asked.

There’s more to his plan!
Gloria thought. “Yes!”

“
And once we’re established,” Johnny continued, “and we will be with Gloria keeping the books and Angel keeping me from using too much cheese, I’ll go out and get a minivan and put the number thirty-four on the vanity plate.”

“
Why thirty-four?” Angel asked.

Johnny looked only at Gloria. “Because anything that has the number thirty-four on it will survive anything and give us all many years of service.”

Gloria nodded and tried not to cry. “Wasn’t a minivan number seven on your list?”

“
What list?” Marion asked.

“
Johnny’s once-he’s-married to-do list,” Gloria said.

“
Am I on it?” Marion asked.

“
No,” Johnny said.

“
Why not? Y’all still need me.” Marion frowned. “Y’all will always need me.”

“
Why?” Gloria asked.

“
Why?” Marion scowled. “You’re moving into my house, right?”

Johnny nodded. “If it’s all right with you.”

Marion turned to Angel. “You think our place is going to stay clean with this man living there?”

“
Nope,” Angel said.

“
What’s this ‘nope’ business,” Gloria asked. “We say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in our family.”

“
Yup,” Angel said.

Johnny laughed some more. “Marion, we don’t need you around to keep the house clean, no ma’am.”

“
You don’t?” Gloria asked.

“
Nope.” Johnny winked at Gloria. “We need you at the house to do what you do best.”

“
And what’s that?” Marion asked.

“
We need you there to guard all the secrets in the house,” Johnny said.

“
Guard the secrets?” Marion turned to Gloria. “What’s he talking about, Gloria?”

“
He’s being sarcastic, Mama,” Gloria said.

Marion eyed Johnny. “I knew that.”

No, she didn’t,
Gloria thought.

No, she didn’t,
Johnny thought.

Johnny rolled off the hood.

“
Where are you going?” Marion asked.

“
We are going to …”
To use the gift card!
“Red Lobster! My parents gave me a twenty-five dollar gift card to Red Lobster.”

“
Oh, really?” Marion said. “We can each get a hush puppy and a glass of water with that amount.”

True. Maybe Gloria and I can use it on a real date sometime.
“Then … we’ll go to our house where you are going to fix us a magnificent lunch while we …” He turned to Angel. “What are we going to do?”

“
I’m having trouble with a puzzle,” Angel said. “It’s all one color.”

So is the world, little one, when you come right down to it,
Johnny thought.

As they pieced together a cantankerous red puzzle that sunny, warm June Sunday, Johnny and Gloria felt the bliss of peace for the first time in many years. Though they knew there were no guarantees in this life, they nevertheless decided that this small house was the only good place to start a new chapter in their lives, the best place for a Holiday and a future Holiday to be home for the holidays—or any day, for that matter.

And they prayed to God that, unlike Johnny’s abominable romance, this romance would
never
end.

>If you enjoyed this title, check out all of H. M. Mann’s books at Amazon.com<