Spring Fever

Pokey caught the wink, too, and clucked her tongue in disapproval. “I did not think she would have the nerve to show up here today. Obviously, I have once again underestimated the low moral fiber of another of Davis’s women.”

“Who is she?” A

“Name is Dreama, if you can believe it. Works at the bottling plant in Fayetteville. Not but twenty-two. Married, of course.”

“Of course,” A

“Does Sallie ever miss anything? She knows, but she’s choosing to act like it’s not happening. Denial is mama’s religion. She made Davis ask Linda Balez as his ‘official date’ for the weekend. You remember Linda, right? She was in my deb group, went to Sweetbriar? She’s living over in Pinehurst, does some kind of tax pla

“Tall brunette? Little bit of an overbite? I think I met her last night.”

“That’s the one,” Pokey said, nodding. “Sweet girl, really. Mama insisted that she stay in the guest room at Cherry Hill, but of course Davis has got little old Dreama stashed in the Davis Bayless Honeymoon Suite over at the Pinecone Motor Lodge.”

“So that’s why he left the party so early last night,” A

“Doubtful,” Pokey said. “I saw Linda at the brunch up at the house this morning, and Davis was nowhere to be found, the little shit. I don’t know why any of us put up with his crap, do you?”

“We just do,” A

A

“Gawwd,” Pokey moaned, gesturing at her husband. “Would you look at that man? Could you not eat him up with a spoon? It’s just not fair. After all these years, even after everything he’s put me through, I swear to goodness, if he asked me to, I would take his hand, leave this church right this minute, follow him out to the car, and drop my panties in a New York minute.”

The blue-haired matron sitting beside A

“Nice visual,” A

“Serves her right for eavesdropping,” Pokey said. She leaned back and studied A

“You look amazing,” Pokey said. She touched the cap sleeve of A

A

“This old thing?” she laughed. “It’s vintage. Although I don’t think it had ever been worn. I found it last year at the Junior League Thriftique. It still has the original satin Bonwit Teller label sewn in.”

“Love that bracelet, too,” Pokey commented. “Don’t tell me you found that around Passcoe.”

A

“I don’t remember ever seeing it before,” Pokey said.

A

“Stop,” Pokey said, closing her hand around A

“In the back of her mind, Sallie was probably saving back the good stuff for her next daughter-in-law,” A

Pokey tapped the thick twist of silver on A

“I love this ring,” A

“Sweet,” Pokey said, with a dismissive sniff. “Although I never heard of an engagement ring without some kind of precious stone. And I still think you should have kept Mason’s ring. You could just wear it on your right hand.”

“It was a family heirloom,” A

“Daddy would have wanted you to keep it,” Pokey said. “He’s the one who insisted Mason give you that instead of a new ring. He said you’d earned it. And you have. No matter what Mama or anybody else thinks.”

Pokey held up her hand, left pinky extended. A

“I notice Celia didn’t get Grandma Bayless’s ring,” Pokey said.

“No, but she got one with a waaay bigger diamond, which I understand she picked out herself,” A

“Hope she chokes on it,” Pokey said pleasantly.

Without warning, A

“Are you okay?” Pokey asked, digging in her evening bag for a tissue. “Honey, I really, really think it is not a good thing for you to watch this whole charade.”

“I’m fine,” A

“You’re nuts,” Pokey said. She jerked her head in the direction of the altar, where her big brother Mason stood, hands clasped behind his back, legs slightly apart, rocking back and forth slightly on his heels.

“He’s nuts, too,” Pokey continued. “And he is so not over you.”

“Wrong,” A

3

Getting over Mason Bayless was easier said than done. How do you stop caring for somebody you’ve loved your whole life? Five years ago, right after their breakup, when she’d cried herself to sleep every night for months and months, A

He’d swing through the office, with his rolling, loping gait, maybe flash that grin of his to one of the other girls in the office. Oh, that grin. When he gave the slow “hey-howyadoin” smile that exposed the chipped left incisor he’d broken during a teenage wrestling match with Davis, A