The Liar

“I’d rather he wasn’t dead,” Shelby said after a minute. “I’d rather he was alive so I could tell him what I think of him. I hate that he died believing I was nothing. I hate that he died knowing I never had an inkling what he’d done.”

“My sister’s ex kept a woman over in Sweetwater for six years,” Vonnie piped up. “Had an apartment there with her and everything. None of us knew a thing about it—and that man went to the Lutheran church every Sunday he was in town. Coached Little League and belonged to the Elks Club. Lydia might never have known if the woman in Sweetwater hadn’t called her up and told her all of it after she found out Lorne had taken up with a third woman.”

Vonnie shrugged. “I guess it’s not the same thing, but I’m just saying, we all thought the world of Lorne until we knew to think different.”

“Thank you, Vonnie. I’m sorry for your sister, but I guess that makes me feel better.”

“We don’t always know somebody the way we think we know them.” Crystal readied her station for her first appointment. “My good friend Bernadette’s cousin down in Fayetteville? Why, her husband embezzled twelve thousand dollars from her daddy’s hardware business before they found out. Bernadette’s cousin stayed with him after, too. And if you ask me, anybody who’d steal from family isn’t worth spit.”

“Hell, that ain’t nothing.” Lorilee fisted her hands on her hips. “I almost married Lucas John Babbott—y’all remember. About ten years back I was ready to walk down the aisle with that man. Something just said, Don’t do it, Lorilee, so I didn’t, but it was close. And I found out he’d inherited his granddaddy’s cabin over by Elkmont. You know what he was doing in it? That man was cooking meth, and now he’s in jail.”

Others picked up the theme, ran with it. Viola stepped over, put an arm around Shelby’s waist. “People ask me, don’t you want to retire, Vi? You and Jack could go traveling, or you could sit on the porch and sip lemonade all day. And I think, Why, I wouldn’t step away from this place for all the tea in China. Where else are you going to get such entertainment—and add to the till while you do?”

She kissed Shelby’s cheek. “You did right telling everybody straight-out.”

“It’s the same as family.”

“It’s just the same. Crystal! I see your nine-o’clock crossing the street. You girls get on to work now.”

The next day she met Emma Kate for a drink after work—and after she’d spent a solid hour with Bitsy.

“I’m buying. I owe you.”

“I won’t say no.” Shelby pulled out her notebook, opened it. “All right, the engagement party first. It’s all set—time, place, date. I did talk her down on the flowers, and the food. Just gentle suggestions about saving the big guns for the wedding. Why didn’t we make this pretty and elegant, but sometimes elegance is simple. Since you’re going with yellow and orchid for your wedding colors, I steered her away from that, too. Said why didn’t we go for bride white—that’s like you wanted, right?”

“Yes. All white flowers. You got her to agree?”

“I showed her pictures I’d found in magazines and online, and she got so excited. Then, since I’d already talked to the florist and we’d figured it all, I said let’s order these right now! Got her when her enthusiasm was high.”

Pleased and proud, Shelby brushed her palms together. “It’s done.”

“I owe you two drinks.”

“Emma Kate, you owe me so many drinks we can’t count them. We’re down from that orchestra she wanted to hire out of Nashville, to booking Red Hot and Blue—which Tansy suggested, and you liked.”

“Oh my God, we’re not going to have men in white tuxedos playing waltzes? Matt and I both really liked Red Hot and Blue when they’ve played at Bootlegger’s.”

“It’ll rock some, and be a good chance for you and Matt to see if you want them for the wedding, want something else or want to go with a DJ, since you haven’t decided on that.”

Meticulously, Shelby ticked it off her list. “Then I said to your mama how I’d work with the hotel as she needed to be fresh and be mother-of-the-bride-to-be and got her talking about what she’d be wearing, how she wanted her hair. And I’d made up these poster boards of table decorations and flowers and all that.”

Shelby gave her nails an exaggerated buff on her sleeve. “I bowled her over, is what I did, then didn’t give her much chance to waffle on it.”

“Poster boards!”

“I also decided I’m not showing you. You’re going to trust me, and be surprised. The wedding, you’re in on every little detail, but this is going to be a surprise, and I promise you’ll be happy with it.”

“I don’t have to think about it?”

“You don’t have to think about it.”

“If I didn’t love Matt, I might change my mind and marry you. But then he has certain attributes you lack, not to mention between him and Griff they can fix anything. He’s over at Griff’s right now, helping out for a couple hours. I expect it’ll run to three as Matt’s got a head of steam working up on finding the right property and building a house, or doing what Griff’s doing and finding an old place to rehab.”