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  “Then you’re very lucky that you’re going to be trained by the best,” Darla informed her.

  “He doesn’t even like me,” she said.

  “Maybe he does like you and that’s the problem,” Darla said, “but that’s neither here nor there. Sam might balk in the beginning, but he’ll eventually come around.”

  Annie shook her head. “I don’t think—” Annie paused and sucked in air. “I’ve never carried a tray. I can barely carry a glass of water without spilling half of it.” But Darla had already shot off like lightening to the next table.

  Lillian covered Annie’s hand with hers. “Listen to me, Annie,” she said in a soft voice. “Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something. I was terrified when I opened my store. Terrified! Don’t let it stop you. Just take a lot of deep breaths and move one foot in front of the other. You’ll be okay. I promise you.”

  #

  “No. Absolutely not. I can’t believe you would even suggest it.”

  Darla kept silent as Sam counted the day’s earnings from the cash register and made out a deposit slip. They were alone. Flo and Patricia had already clocked out and headed home. Lillian had driven Annie back to Darla’s place.

  “Sam, just tell me this. What do you have against Annie?”

  “I don’t even know the woman, how can I have anything against her?”

  “Then what have you got against me?”

  He looked up in surprise. “Now, that’s a dumb question if ever there was one.”

  “You obviously don’t care about my health. And if you don’t care about my health, then—”

  “What the hell are you talking about? What’s wrong with your health?”

  “I’m getting old.”

  “You’re thirty-five, for Pete’s sake. That’s not old. Anybody who can dance all night at that redneck bar on the edge of town, then come in the next day and work a double shift is definitely not old. You’re in your prime, Darla Mae Jenkins.”

  “I can’t keep up like I used to. I have corns on my feet trying to run this place by myself. My corns have corns. Do you know how unattractive that is, Sam? Why do you think I had to go out and buy that expensive new garter belt? It’s to keep men looking there and not at my feet.”

  “Maybe you should try going home at a decent hour once in a while. Here’s a thought. Go to the library and pick up a few good books.”

  “Oh, now that sounds fun,” she said. “Do you go to bed every night with a good book?”

  “Most nights I do.” When she gave a snort, he looked at her. “I’m thirty-five years old, too, honey. My hell-raising days are over.”

  “Don’t you ever get lonely?”

  “I’m too damn busy to get lonely,” Sam said, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy female companionship. I’m human.”

  “The fact is, you promised to hire someone before the Okra Festival, and now it’s less than a week away. You know what that’s like. There is absolutely no way I can handle those crowds by myself.”

  “I’ve got an ad in the newspaper.”

  “Forget it. By the time someone responds, I can have Annie trained. The festival starts a week from yesterday.”

  “Then I’ll find someone with experience.”

  Darla’s lips were pressed into a grim line as she reached beneath the counter for her purse. “Good night, Sam.”

  He glanced up, surprised. “What, you’re not even going to wait for me to finish closing out? At least let me walk you to your car. You know I don’t like—”

  “I don’t need for you to walk me to the car,” she said. She unlocked the front door and left without another word.

  #

  Annie was waiting for Darla when she arrived home. She had showered and dressed in a pair of Darla’s cut-offs and tee-shirt. Unable to sit for long thanks to a bad case of nerves, she’d scrubbed Darla’s kitchen and bathroom until they sparkled, and she’d washed a load of towels. Finally, she had dusted the living room, taking great care with the Elvis decanters.

  “Place looks nice,” Darla said as she came through the door, “but I don’t expect you to clean.”

  “I was jittery. What did Sam say?”

  Darla slumped into a chair and kicked off her white uniform shoes. “He’s going to think about it.”

  “At least he didn’t say no.”

  “I’m beat,” Darla muttered.

  “Can I get you something from the kitchen? A glass of iced tea?”

  Darla gave her a weary smile. “No, thanks. As soon as I grab a hot shower I’ll be good as new. Think I might drive over to Ernie’s.”

  “Who’s Ernie?”

  “It’s a place not a person. Just a little waterin’ hole on the edge of town,” she added. “I usually go have a cold beer and it relaxes me so I can come back and get some sleep. Hey, you might be interested in going. Meet some of my friends. It’s only nine-thirty, and it’s Saturday night. The place will be hoppin’.”

  “Sure, I’ll go. I can change back into the dress I had on earlier.”

  “Most folks wear jeans. It’s a country-western bar.”

  “Your jeans are probably too short on me.”

  “I’ve got a pair that needs hemming. They’ll probably do. I also think I have an extra pair of boots that will fit you if you keep those thick socks on.”

  The two women were on their way a half hour later. Although Annie was exhausted and would have preferred climbing into a comfortable bed, or sofa, she figured it would be rude not to go with the woman who was offering her a place to stay. Besides, it was to her advantage to meet as many people as she could, since the subject of her employment wasn’t yet settled. She was more than a little nervous at the thought of working at the Dixieland Cafe. What did she know about waitress work?

  It was her own fault for not standing up to her father years ago when she was planning her education. She should never have let him send her to some dumb finishing school, where the staff was more interested in teaching her to set a lovely table or plan a party for one hundred guests than how to support herself.

  Now here she was, almost thirty years old, and didn’t have a clue what she was going to do with her life. Annie frowned when Darla pulled into the parking lot of a large one-story cinderblock building. The place was surrounded by motorcycles and pickup trucks, some of the trucks so high off the ground it would have taken a stepladder for her to reach the door. “Is this it?” she asked, although a massive neon sign flashing beside the road clearly spelled out Ernie’s Place.

  “This is it,” Darla said, parking beside a truck with a full gun rack in the back. “Do I look okay?”

  Annie wasn’t sure how to respond to someone wearing a leather miniskirt, tank-top blouse, and a blue-jean jacket. “Let’s just put it this way, Darla. You will definitely stand out in a crowd in that outfit.”

  The woman smiled. “Thanks, darlin’. That’s just the kind of thing a girl likes to hear. Come on. Let’s play.”

  Annie climbed out of the car and followed Darla toward the building with mounting trepidation. If the music blaring outside the building was any indication of how loud it was inside, she knew she was in for a long night. But her poor eardrums were not prepared for the moment when Darla opened the door, or the loud squeal Darla gave the moment they stepped inside.

  At first Annie thought her friend had hurt herself somehow, but a second later Darla threw her arms around a man’s neck. Annie decided the woman must be very happy to see him. And he to see her, from the way he picked her up and swung her around as if she were weightless. The two carried on for a good five minutes while Annie entertained thoughts of climbing into the backseat of Darla’s car for a long nap.

  “Hank, it’s so good to see you,” Darla said, giving him another hug. She glanced at Annie as though realizing for the first time she was standing there. “Oh, I want you to meet my new roommate, honey. This here’s Annie. Annie, meet Hank, my old boyfriend. We go way back.”

  Ann
ie smiled and offered her hand, but Hank obviously decided a bear hug more appropriate. By the time he set her down, Annie was certain all the bones in her body had been crushed.

  “C’mon and let me buy you pretty gals a cold one,” he said, dragging them toward a bar that ran the entire length of the room. Darla paused a number of times to speak to someone she knew. By the time they reached the bar, Annie’s head was splitting from the music.

  “What’ll it be, miss?” the bartender asked her. He wore overalls and looked as though he’d been plowing a field all day.

  “Just give me a diet soft drink,” she said, and received a good deal of ribbing from Darla and Hank, both of whom ordered a draft beer. Annie had barely managed to take a sip before a tall red-haired man named Jesse tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to dance. She turned him down, only to have Darla insist she dance with him because he was a friend of hers. Annie soon found herself trying to keep time to a tune with fiddle music and before long she had more dance partners than she knew what to do with.

  #

  Sam was surprised to find Darla’s lights off and the car gone when he pulled into the driveway of her mobile home. She’d rushed from the restaurant in such a hurry that she’d forgotten her wallet. She had pulled it out when she’d cashed her tips out at the end of the night, swapping change and small bills so Sam wouldn’t have to worry about going to the bank to replenish them. He knew she was ticked off at him, and it wasn’t the first time, but she would eventually get over it. The bottom line, he was still owner of the Dixieland Café, and Darla would just have to accept the fact that she was his employee.

  It didn’t take Sam long to figure out where the two women had gone. With it being Saturday night, he knew his star waitress would be sitting in Ernie’s. ‘Course tomorrow she’d be as hung over as a Shriner at an annual convention, and the church crowd would have her hopping like a barefoot young’un on a hot sidewalk. She’d be in a sour mood and probably get into a verbal battle with Flo or Patricia.

  Sam had no desire to go to Ernie’s, but he knew he had to get Darla’s wallet to her, despite her frequent bragging about never paying for a drink. Sam backed out of the drive, and as he headed in the direction of the redneck hangout, he tried to imagine Annie in such a place. He couldn’t.

  #

  Pleading exhaustion to her current dance partner, Annie returned to the bar, only to find Darla and Hank missing. The bartender in overalls returned wearing a grin. “Some of your dance partners have taken a shine to you,” he said. “They want to buy you a drink. Several, in fact. What’ll you have?”

  “I don’t want anything right now,” Annie replied as politely as she could, considering her head felt as though it was ready to split open. “Would you happen to know where my friend went?”

  “She left with that other feller. Said to tell you’d she’d be back in a jiffy.”

  “When you see her, would you please tell her I’m waiting for her in the car?”

  “What do I look like, Western Union?”

  “I’m sorry to impose—”

  “I’m just havin’ fun with you,” he said, his chubby face breaking into a grin. “I’ll tell her.”

  Annie made her way out the door, leaving a good portion of the noise inside. She passed a couple of men sitting on the tailgate of a truck but pretended not to see them.

  “Hey, baby, you lookin’ for some comp’ny?”

  “No thanks,” she said, and kept on walking.

  “Hey, that ain’t no way to be,” one of them said as he caught up with her. “What’d I ever do to you?”

  “Please—” She stopped and turned. He was a beefy fellow but she wasn’t sure if she should be scared or amused. He spit a wad of chewing tobacco on the ground, and she shuddered. “I have a splitting headache, and I just want to be alone,” she said. She resumed walking. Where the hell had Darla parked?

  “I got a headache powder in the truck.”

  Sure he did, Annie thought. And she had a hundred dollar bill in her pocket.

  It finally hit her that Darla’s car was missing, and the thought of being stranded at a place like Ernie’s almost made her weep. Why would Darla have left her? Especially knowing she didn’t have a dime to her name? She didn’t even have enough money to call anyone. Besides, who would she call?

  “You can drink it down with a cold beer, and that headache’ll be history.”

  Annie saw a car turn off the highway into the parking lot, and she prayed it was Darla’s. She almost went weak with relief when it turned out to be a Jeep driven by Sam Ballard. He pulled up beside her.

  “Out slumming tonight, Annie?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “If you’re looking for trouble, this is the place to find it.” Sam slammed the Jeep into park and climbed out. Annie noticed the stranger’s friend had come up and both of them towered over Sam.

  “I asked you what the hell you’re doing and who these men are?” he almost shouted.

  Annie’s jaw dropped. “I don’t have to take this—”

  The man next to Annie nudged her. “Do you know this guy?”

  “Yes, I—”

  “I happen to be her husband,” Sam said, his words clipped and precise. “She has a new baby at home waiting to be nursed. She told me she was running to the store for disposable diapers.”

  “Oh, well—” The man looked from Sam to Annie and back to Sam. “Hey, man, we don’t want to cause no trouble between married folks. Me and my brother was just passing through town.” He regarded Annie. “You should be home with your kid, lady.” He looked at the other man. “C’mon, let’s get outta here.”

  Annie was glad it was dark and nobody could see the crimson color on her face. “That was despicable,” she told Sam.

  “Would you rather see me get beat up by the rhino brothers?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “Where’s Darla, and what the hell are you doing in a dark parking lot with some men you don’t know?”

  “I don’t know where Darla is, and I don’t have to answer your questions.”

  “Great. Then I’ll just leave you here to fend for yourself.” He turned and climbed back inside the Jeep.

  “Wait!” Annie hurried over. “Darla’s car is gone. She took off with some guy named Hank.”

  “So you decided to wait for her in a parking lot filled with drunk rednecks and bikers. Great idea, Annie,” he said, sarcasm ringing loud in his voice. “Now I see why your father had to make your decisions.” He regretted his choice of words the minute they left his mouth, the very second he saw Annie’s face fall. But, dammit, she could have gotten in bad trouble there.

  Sudden tears stung her eyes. “You can just go straight to hell for all I care.” She started walking.

  He pulled up beside her. “I’m sorry, Annie. That was a lousy thing for me to say. Get in the car, and I’ll take you back to Darla’s.”

  “I’d rather walk.”

  “You can’t walk. It’s dangerous this time of night.”

  “I can take care of myself. Contrary to what you might think,” she added angrily.

  They had reached the highway. “I’ll bet you don’t even know how to get to Darla’s trailer.”

  Annie wasn’t listening. It had been such a miserable day, not to mention humiliating as hell, and her head felt as though it would explode. She had spent the better part of the evening wondering what she was going to do with her life and cursing the fact that she hadn’t taken charge long ago. The last thing she needed was for Sam Ballard to show up and rub her nose in it.

  “Annie, I’m warning you, either get in the Jeep, or I’ll personally put you in.”

  She kept walking.

  Sam gunned his engine and parked a good distance ahead of her. He climbed out, then slammed the door so hard, his Jeep rocked on its wheels. Teeth gritted, he closed the distance between him and Annie, then, without warning, hefted her up and threw her over his shoulder. She kicked and squealed like a stuck pig.


  “Shut up, dammit!” he ordered. “Folks’ll think I’m kidnapping you.” She screamed louder, and he gave her a sound whack on the behind.

  Annie saw red. She kicked her legs and flailed her arms and finally grabbed a handful of his hair. Sam let a few obscenities fly before he realized someone had pulled up behind them. He turned but was blinded by headlights. He blinked several times before he realized it was the highway patrol.

  “Dammit to hell, Annie, look, what you’ve done now.” He heard the door open and close, was barely able to make out the silhouette of a patrolman.

  “What’s going on here?” the uniformed man said.

  Annie continued to pummel Sam in the back but glanced around at the sound of another’s voice. “Oh, Officer, thank God you’re here. I’m being abducted.”

  “Abducted, huh?” The patrolman spit what looked like a wad of chewing tobacco on the ground, and Annie wondered if everybody in Pinckney chewed it. “Well, we don’t put up with the likes of that in Pinckney, Georgia ma’am.” He reached for his gun. “I reckon I don’t have any choice but to shoot him.”

  Chapter Four

  In disbelief, Annie watched the patrolman pull his gun out of the holster and aim it at Sam. She screamed. “No, wait!”

  “Put her down, pal,” the armed man said. “I’m warning you, I got this sucker aimed right for your goozle.”

  Sam sighed heavily and dropped Annie to the ground. She landed in a heap.

  “Now move away, lady, so I can finish him off.”

  “Officer, please let me explain,” Annie cried, crawling along the gravel as fast as she could. She pulled herself up by the man’s pants leg. “He, uh, Mr. Ballard here, was only offering me a ride. I was lying about being abducted.”

  “He probably told you to say that, didn’t he?” The patrolman pushed her aside. “You need to turn your head, miss. I’ve done this sort of thing before, and it ain’t a pretty sight.”

  “Oh, my God, no!” Annie threw herself in front of Sam, acting as a shield.

  Sam stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, the lines in his face tense, as if holding himself in check while Annie sobbed and carried on like a character in a bad soap opera. “Okay, Buster, you’ve had your fun. I’d like to go home now.”