Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans (3 page)

I didn’t see the dilemma, but I wasn’t about to ask. Instead, I shook my head, still stuck on their names. “I get the country singers, but Tommy Lee . . . ?”

She shrugged. “Granny says Aunt Thelma went through a rebellious hard rock stage.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “We don’t like to talk about it.”

“Okay . . .” I wanted to point out that his name made it pretty hard to keep something like that under wraps, but I let it drop.

“And would you know, Tommy Lee is this meek little thing in his late teens, and Alan Jackson is in his mid-twenties and hell on wheels.”

“And Dolly Parton?”

“She’s the middle child and a blend of both of the boys. A little wild sometimes, but she always runs home. Still, Aunt Thelma’s worried.”

“What’s she gonna do?”

“She’s gonna wait a day or so for her to turn up before doin’ anything.”

I shook my head. I had enough troubles of my own. I didn’t need to get mixed up in someone else’s. “Say, you don’t happen to know a bookkeeper, do you? Violet kept the books, and I don’t have the time to do ’em myself even if I
did
understand them.”

“My Aunt Wilma would have been great, but she’s in prison now, so she can’t be of any help.”

“You’d recommend your imprisoned aunt? Seriously?”

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Why not? She was the best bookkeeper in northern Fenton County, although her reign at best was short-lived.” Her eyes lit up. “
Oh!
You think she embezzled money or something.”

I gave her a sheepish half-shrug. “It crossed my mind.”

Neely Kate shook her head. “Aunt Wilma might be a lot of things, but she ain’t no thief.”

“Then what’s she in prison for?”

“There was an . . .
unfortunate
incident involving the first best bookkeeper. Which is how she took the crown for a time.”

I was afraid to ask how she’d advanced her position, let alone who was responsible for ranking the county’s bookkeepers. Some things about Neely Kate’s family were best left to the unknown.

“Yeah, it was a real shame when she got locked up. Totally changed my career path.”

That caught my attention. “How so?”

“I was studying accounting at the community college in Magnolia so I could go into business with Aunt Wilma. I was already working for her around my class schedule.” She sighed. “I needed a job when she got locked up.” Her lips pursed. “And that’s the sad story of how I ended up working in the Fenton County Personal Property Tax department.”

“You know bookkeeping?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah. I was one semester shy of graduating with my associate’s degree. I’m a bit rusty, but I do most of my family’s taxes.”

“Perfect! Do you think you can look at my accounting? Well, I mean the nursery’s.”

“Is it on QuickBooks?”

“No. Violet gave me a ledger.” I slid my chair over to a file cabinet and opened a drawer, pulling out the blue book.

After I handed it to Neely Kate, she opened the cover and scanned a couple of pages before closing her eyes and groaning. “No wonder your money was a cotton-picking mess.” She sat up, pinning me with her gaze. “Not to mention that using a ledger rather than a spreadsheet would make it about ten times easier for your sister to skim money out of the company.”

“So, can you look at it for me?”

Neely Kate scowled.

“Please? Just help me out until I find someone else since your Aunt Thelma’s incarcerated.” I paused. “Say, when’s she gettin’ out?”

She turned a few more pages. “From the looks of
this
mess, it won’t be nearly soon enough.”

“But you’ll do it? I’ll do anything you want.”

“Anything?” she asked with an evil gleam.

Any other person would take advantage of my offer, but Neely Kate wasn’t like most people. I wasn’t worried.

“You have to go to bingo night with me and my grandma next week.”

Neely Kate had been trying to coerce me to go for ages. “Fine. But I’m not putting out any lucky charms.” According to Neely Kate, her grandmother brought so many tiny stuffed animals and knick-knacks for good luck, it took her ten minutes to set them up around her bingo cards.

She shook her head. “No can do. Granny’ll have a conniption. You know how superstitious she is.”

“Fine,” I groaned. “Deal.”

Neely Kate closed the cover. “No promises. I might not be throwing up as much anymore, but I’m still fast asleep by nine o’clock most nights. I’ll try to sneak a look while I’m at work tomorrow.”

“Well, don’t get into any trouble over it.”

My friend groaned as she stood. “Speaking of trouble, I need to get back. I’ve got a new manager, and she watches me closer than an aardvark studies an ant hill.”

I got to my feet and followed her to the door. “But I thought you were the boss now?”

“I am—of my department. But there’s a new supervisor in charge of all the departments, and she’s got it out for me.”

“
You?
” Everybody loved Neely Kate. “Why?”

An ornery grin lit up her face. “She didn’t appreciate my assessment of her friendliness.”

I gave her a blank stare.

“I might have mentioned she’d get along better with the courthouse employees if she took the hickory stick out of her behind.”

“You didn’t!”

“Well . . . not to her face. She overheard me telling someone in probate. And she’s been gunning to get me fired ever since.”

“Oh no! Don’t you need the insurance for the baby?”

“No, thank goodness. I went on Ronnie’s insurance. After all the county budget cuts, his is better than mine. Can you believe that? Besides, I’m hoping to quit when Ronnie Junior is born, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But I still need my income to buy all the baby things.”

“Then I guess you better get back to work, huh?”

“Yeah,” she sighed as she got up, tucking the ledger in her purse. “I don’t want a confrontation with Stella the Hun.”

I hopped up and gave her a hug. “Hang in there. Just think, if you’re due on July 1st, you have less than seven months left.”

She made a face. “Seven months?
That’s
supposed to make me feel better?” She shook her head, but she couldn’t shake the grin off her face. “Bye, Rose.”

“See you later.”

I watched her walk out the door as my phone dinged with a text. My stomach tightened when I glanced at the message from SM.

We need to talk.

Not if I could help it.

I was worried Skeeter might come looking for me, so I left a note for Bruce Wayne, telling him I was leaving for the day. I loaded Muffy into the truck and drove to the nursery, pulling into the parking lot with the intent to check in on the progress of the cleanup and reconstruction of the store. I sure wasn’t expecting to find Violet’s car in the parking lot. There wasn’t much to do in the store until the construction guys finished their patch-up work, and they weren’t scheduled to come in until later in the week.

She was sitting outside on a stool next to the live Christmas trees the nursery was selling, bundled up in the tan wool coat I’d given her for Christmas two years ago. The teen boy she’d hired to man the lot was nowhere to be found.

I got out of my truck, Muffy tagging along behind me, and walked toward her. I wondered which Violet I would face today. For the past three weeks I’d only seen my repentant sister, but I couldn’t help expecting the bossy version to resurface at any time.

“Vi, what are you doing out here in the cold?” I asked.

She hopped off the stool when she saw me. Her collar was turned up to partially cover her ears, and her hands were stuffed in her pockets. “Rose, I thought you were working on your new office.”

“I took a break to check on the store. And you didn’t answer my question. Why are you outside?”

“The kid I hired to sell the trees had to take the afternoon off. And since the store’s still closed, customers won’t realize the trees are for sale if we don’t have someone outside. You and I both know we need the money.”

“We don’t need it bad enough for you to get pneumonia.” I grabbed her arm and tugged. “Let’s go inside, and you can show me around.”

Violet resisted. “You can take a look on your own. There’s not much to see.”

“Vi, please,” I pleaded. “Come inside, and I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to with the landscaping office.”

Indecision flickered in her eyes, so I gave one more pull. Her shoulders sank. “Okay. But only for a few minutes.”

With Muffy in tow, we walked past a huge Dumpster overflowing with debris from the vandalism the Gardner Sisters Nursery had suffered right before Thanksgiving, nearly three weeks ago. Joe had hired a company to clean the place and repair it, but I’d refused to hire anyone to reassemble the shelves and handle the restock. We’d done it all ourselves last time, and I wasn’t about to let him pour even more money into the business. If we needed help, I knew Bruce Wayne and Mason would be more than willing. If there was ever a time it worked in our favor to shut down, December was it. Besides Christmas trees, there weren’t too many plants that had their heyday at this time of year.

I walked through the doors and gasped. The walls were freshly painted, and new shelves had been put together. The place was spotless. A few boxes were stacked in the corner, and Violet noticed when my gaze landed on them.

“We’re just starting to get new shipments,” Violet said. “Since everything was almost a total loss, we had to reorder almost everything. But I think it will all be here by the end of the week, and we’ll be ready to start putting the store back together.”

Muffy ran to the back room, probably checking to see if her bed was still there.

“I thought the repairs weren’t getting done for another few days.”

“Joe decided to do them himself instead.”

I wasn’t all that surprised. Joe had always loved doing repairs on my house when we were together, both because he enjoyed it, and it saved me money.

“Mike helped too.”

That one
did
surprise me. I whipped my head around to gape at her. “Mike?”

She shrugged. “He offered, plus he and Joe have been friends since you guys dated. I think he likes hanging out with him.”

I nodded, trying to decipher the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t sure it was jealousy, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant. Still, I was glad that Joe had someone, even if it was Violet’s estranged husband. “I suppose if Joe ever needed a friend, it’s now. Did you know Hilary has moved to Henryetta?”

Violet’s eyes darkened. “No, but I’m not surprised. Joe says she’s like a leech. She pestered him mercilessly to marry her next weekend, but she finally had to cancel it. He swears he’s done with her now.”

I narrowed my eyes. “He’s said that before. It’s gonna take more than a few weeks of holding firm to convince me otherwise.” I took several steps into the shop and walked around a display case. “Besides, it’s not technically my problem anymore.”

“Joe still needs you as a friend, Rose. He needs all of us.”

“And I plan to be one, but I have to consider Mason’s feelings.”

“Why?” She took a step toward me. “When you and Mason were hanging out as friends, you never really took Joe’s feelings into consideration.”

Anger filled my chest, but she held up her hands in surrender.

“I’m not trying to be belligerent, Rose, I promise. I’m just pointing out the truth, and you know it.”

I released a frustrated sigh. “That was different.”

“You didn’t worry about Joe because you knew he could handle your friendship with Mason, but you don’t think the opposite is true.”

My jaw clenched. “Violet—”

She rushed toward me and pulled me into a hug. “I’ll stop. I just want you to be happy. And safe.”

I broke loose, groaning. “Not that again.”

Violet grabbed my upper arms and stared into my eyes. “I’ve spent nearly twenty-five of my twenty-seven years worrying about you, Rose Anne Gardner. Don’t think I can just stop now. It’s not fair of you to ask.” Tears glistened in her eyes.

“Violet.” My voice softened, and I gave her a tiny smile. “I promise you that I’m completely safe with Mason. He would sooner die than hurt me. Look what he did to protect me from Daniel Crocker.” I wiped a tear from her cheek. “I know it’s not easy for you, but you’ve got to stop worryin’.”

Violet started to cry in earnest. “You must think I’m a big baby.”

“No, I think you’re my overprotective big sister,” I offered, but part of me held back. I loved Violet with all my heart, but we’d been through a lot over the last several months. Just like it was going to take time for Joe to convince me he was done with Hilary, it would take more than a few tears to convince me that Violet was done with all the backbiting she’d stooped to recently.

She wiped her face. “Ashley misses you. Do you think you can stop by and see her this week?”

“Mason’s mom is moving into her new house tomorrow.”

Violet cringed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked—”

“Violet,” I interrupted. “What I was going to say is that I’m going to help her unpack some boxes in the afternoon. I can pick Ashley up after school and bring her over to work with us. I know how much she likes to organize things.” I winked. “Just like someone else we know.”

To my surprise, my sister burst into sobs.

“Violet?” I pulled her into a hug. “Why are you still crying?”

“I was so scared I lost you,” she pushed through her tears. “I was so awful to you. I wouldn’t blame you if you turned your back on me. After all, we’re not real sisters—”

I pulled away, and my eyes narrowed in anger. “Don’t you ever say that again. We couldn’t be truer sisters than if we were identical twins. Even if we didn’t share a father—or heck, even a single drop of blood—everything we’ve been through together would make us sisters.” I grabbed her hand and clasped it tight. “I owe you more than I could ever repay, Vi. A few months of fighting isn’t gonna make me forget that.”

“Thank you,” she said through tears.

“Oh, Vi. I love you. You could never lose me, no matter what. I couldn’t have survived without you when we were kids. And that’s something I will never forget.”