Ain't She Sweet?

Wi

“Mom! That’s mean.”

“Well, he did,” Wi

“You had Grandma Sabrina.”

“Believe me, there was no comparison. Diddie was like a movie star. She was beautiful and glamorous, and she had this amazing laugh. She and Sugar Beth were more like girlfriends than mother and daughter. If Sugar Beth wasn’t with your dad or the Seawillows, she was with Diddie. Everybody knew not to schedule meetings for Saturday mornings because they always watched Josie and the Pussycats together. When they were out in public, they’d whisper secrets to each other, and if you walked by Frenchman’s Bride, you’d see the two of them sitting on the front porch, drinking sweet tea and gossiping. All Grandma Sabrina and I ever did was get on each other’s nerves.”

“Grandma’s nicer now.”

“Old age mellowed her. When I was growing up, she only had room in her life for one person, and that was my father.”

Sugar Beth flinched to hear Griffin referred to that way. At the same time, she acknowledged that Wi

“So what are you going to do?” Gigi said. “Are you going to keep hating each other? Or do you think you could be friends, now that you’ve talked out your problems.”

“Not likely,” Sugar Beth said. “Or at least not until somebody’s handed over somebody else’s pearls.”

Gigi looked at her mother for an explanation.

“I have Diddie’s pearls,” Wi

“That’s pretty mean.”

“As mean as what happened in the locker room?”

“No, not that mean.” Gigi returned her attention to Sugar Beth, a pint-size secretary of state trying to negotiate a treaty between warring nations. “I think Mom should keep the pearls to make up for what you did, even if they look dumb on her.”

“They don’t look dumb on me,” Wi

“You should be glad Mom’s keeping them. They’d look dumb on you, too.”

“That’s not the point,” Sugar Beth said. “The point is . . . Oh, never mind. I know where this is leading, Gigi, and don’t waste your breath. Your mother and I will never act like sisters, no matter how hard you push. The best we can hope for is politeness.”

“I guess. But, Sugar Beth, did you ever think . . .” Gigi touched her mother’s shoulder. “Me and Mom are the only two people in the world that have the same blood as you.”

Sugar Beth got that old tight feeling in her throat and did her best to shrug it away. “Them’s the breaks, kid.”

“Can I take Gordon to see Dad?” she said abruptly.

“Leaving us alone together won’t work,” Sugar Beth said.

“I just want Gordon to meet Dad.”

“What about your French toast?”

“I’ll take it with me.” She grabbed a piece from the plate, called to Gordon, and a few moments later, they were out the door.

Wi

“You don’t have to look so happy about it.”

“Life doesn’t hand you too many perfect moments. I’m savoring.” She smiled, transferred a piece of French toast to her plate, then regarded it critically. “This was supposed to have ci

“I got distracted humiliating myself in front of your daughter.”

Wi

“You’ll have to deal with him sooner or later.”

“Later.” She took another bite. “What’s going on with you and Colin?”

“I’m toying with him.”

Wi

“Says you.”

Wi

“Yeah? We’ll just see about that.”

Wi

Sugar Beth lunged for the maple syrup. “And isn’t it nice having our old animosity behind us.”

“She was ever a wild piece,” wept Madam.

G

EORGETTE

H

EYER

,

These Old Shades

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

All that day Sugar Beth kept her eye on the comings and goings at Yesterday’s Treasures. Despite the closed sign taped to the boarded-up front door, the place was a beehive of activity. Ryan and Gigi showed up around nine-thirty. Later, the Seawillows began dropping by. Shortly before noon, a paneled truck appeared, and Ryan, who was dressed in jeans and a work shirt, stood on the sidewalk for a while, talking to the men before he led them inside. Later, Gigi slipped out, then returned with a pizza. Wi

Which meant that Wi

Her thoughts were interrupted as a thinly built woman with a square jaw approached the register. “You remember me, don’t you, Sugar Beth? Pansye Tims, Cori

“Yes, Pansye, of course. How’ve you been?”

“Gettin’ over a sinus infection.” She leaned closer. “Everybody in town’s talking about last night. Imagine what could have happened to Wi

Sugar Beth shifted uncomfortably. Pansye was at least the twentieth person who’d stopped in the bookstore already to thank her. Why hadn’t Wi

“Oh, stop now. You’re a heroine.”

Jewel popped up next to the register like an evil elf. “That’s right, Sugar Beth. I even heard talk about you getting the mayor’s Good Citizen Award.”

She glared at her employer, who knew the truth. When Sugar Beth had come in that morning, she’d told her exactly what had happened. But Jewel had merely laughed. After Pansye left, Sugar Beth confronted Jewel in the self-help aisle. “This whole thing was supposed to be a joke. I only did it to entertain myself and aggravate Wi

Jewel chuckled. “I swear, Sugar Beth, hiring you was the best move I ever made, and not just for your entertainment value. You’ve brought more business into the store than I ever dreamed.”

“Based entirely on deception.”

“Whatever works.” Jewel got distracted by her shrunken poetry section. Her smile faded, and her forehead crumpled in outrage. “Where’s all my Langston Hughes? He’s—”

“Dead,” Sugar Beth retorted. “I needed his floor space for the children’s department.”

“Well, Nikki Giova

“I doubt Parrish, Mississippi, is at the top of Nikki’s dream travel destinations. And we don’t need to display three copies of everything she wrote.”

“Says the white girl.”

Jewel didn’t stop grumbling until late afternoon, when she realized Sugar Beth had sold out the new Daphne the Bu