their marriage.
He tightened his grip on his lunch, probably crushing the sandwich inside the sack. “Principal Schonrock, I don’t like the tone of this conversation. If you’ll excuse me, I only have a few minutes left before the bell rings.”
“Jason, I’m sorry I’ve upset you. I considered not telling you about the restroom incident at all, but thought it better if you knew.”
“So that I can bring a date to the Spring Fling?” There were limits on what he was willing to do in his personal life to appease those in charge of his professional life.
“It might not hurt if people thought of you as less available.”
He bared his teeth in a humorless smile, spelling out what he’d tried to make Coach Hanover understand the other night. “I am the sole caretaker of a two-year-old. With my grandmother gone, I’ve tailored my schedule around Emily’s sitter and have been struggling in my nonexistent spare time, between potty training and grading papers, to renovate the run-down house Gran left us. Trust me, I’m about as unavailable as you can get.”
“MMM.” LOLA ANN CLOSED HER eyes briefly, tilting her face up toward the sun, clearly a woman who’d never freckled. “Days as lovely as today, I wonder why anyone ever drives.”
“Hey!” Ronnie laughed, scooting over on the sidewalk to avoid the dropped remains of an ice cream cone. “That’s my job security you’re threatening. How would you like it if I started questioning why people still read books?”
“Not enough of them do,” Lola Ann said vehemently.
“You have a point.” Certainly the men in Ronnie’s family never read anything unless it was related to sports or automobiles. She made a mental note to include a children’s book along with whatever gift she gave her niece for her next birthday.
A memory surfaced, the Christmas her freshman year when her dad and brothers had bought her a stack of cookbooks. The only kitchen tools I’ll need after the move are a microwave, a can opener and a refrigerator magnet with the phone number of the town’s pizza-delivery place.
It wasn’t that she’d ended up stuck with traditionally female chores because her brothers were meat-headed chauvinists. Juggling schoolwork and, in the case of Danny and Will, part-time jobs, they’d all helped around the house in different ways while Wayne ran the garage. Struggling to fulfill a promise that first year after Mom’s death, Ronnie had inadvertently set the pattern from which she still hadn’t broken free.
Take care of them. Looking back, Ronnie knew what her mother had meant—after all, without feminine interference, Will and Devin might never have thought to put on clean clothes. Yet, Ronnie felt as if she’d spent more time trying ineptly to fill someone else’s shoes than finding her own footsteps.
The library was on the corner, and Ronnie automatically slowed, assuming this was where she and Lola Ann would part company after their lunch.
“I, um, thought I’d walk with you,” Lola Ann said. “You know, work off some of that barbecue. Plus, I have to go to the post office. The garage is on the way.”
Ronnie raised her eyebrows but didn’t comment on her friend’s indirect route. “Suit yourself, I’m happy for the company.”
While Joyous was by and large a rural community where cars were a necessity, the few blocks of “downtown,” with its old-fashioned storefronts and limited parking, really did make for a nice stroll. They ran into numerous acquaintances, including Charity Sumner as she exited Claudette’s Beauty Salon.
“Charity!” Navigating the stroller the blonde pushed, Ronnie gave her a one-armed hug. “Long time, no see.”
Charity was Treble’s younger sister and, next to Lola Ann, Ronnie’s closest friend.
“We’ve missed you at Guthrie’s, but understand what’s kept you so busy.” Lola Ann leaned down to admire eight-month-old Brooke. “A cutie like this one sure makes the biological clock tick louder.”
Ronnie shifted her weight, listening as the other two women discussed baby milestones. Truthfully, Ronnie’s biological clock wasn’t running all that fast. She doubted it was even plugged in.
“I should be going.” Charity glanced at her watch reluctantly. “But we have to get together soon! Now that she’s sleeping through the night and I don’t constantly feel like a zombie, it’s time to reclaim my life.”
After they’d said goodbye, her friend’s words kept looping in Ronnie’s mind, like one of those irritatingly catchy pop songs that are impossible to get out of your head. Time to reclaim my life, time to reclaim my life. It was exactly how Ronnie had been feeling…except, had she ever created a life to reclaim?
“Lola Ann, is twenty-five too old for deciding what you want to be when you grow up?”
“What? I thought you liked being a mechanic.”
“I do. I meant metaphorically rather than professionally.”
Frankly, she’d never analyzed her vocational choice too closely. Wayne, who’d inherited the garage from his own father, had spoken often of sharing the place with his boys. Danny was the bookkeeper and worked in a mostly administrative capacity, although he’d probably help with basic maintenance procedures this week because people were gearing up for spring break road trips, keeping them busier than usual. Devin was a certified mechanic, but only pitched in between construction jobs to supplement his income—Joyous wasn’t a hotbed of new buildings and roadways. Of Wayne’s four children, Ronnie was the only one to become a full-time mechanic at the annoyingly named Carter & Sons.
She glared up at the sign that had never really bothered her before now.
Then she shook her head, trying to clear away the negativity. “Honest to God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I’ve been cranky. Itchy in my own skin, bad-tempered and unable to sleep.”
“Maybe it’s sexual frustration,” her friend teased. “That’s made me peevish on more than one occasion.”
“The sad part is, you’re probably right.” Ronnie glanced back up at the familiar sign and sucked in a deep breath. “Lola Ann, it’s time to make some changes. Are you with me?”
The brunette looked nervous. “Uh…with you on what, exactly?”
“We’ve got to take charge of our lives.” Running into Charity today had reinforced the realization that most of the people Ronnie knew were moving forward in different ways. Buying her house was an important step, but it didn’t have to be the only one. “You’re a bright, attractive woman. You don’t have to get all your happily ever afters from books—create your own future. If you’re really interested in that brother of mine, make him notice you. The next time I see Jason at Guthrie Hall, I am marching up to him and claiming that dance I’ve always wanted.”
“You are?” Lola An asked skeptically.
“I am! And if I can be brave, so can you.”
“Seems awfully convenient that the theoretical object of your bravery almost never comes to Guthrie’s.”
“I’m aiming for greatness here, don’t distract me with minor problems
