she remembered.
“Jesus Christ, Sammy, you’ve grown three feet.”
It was his turn to blush.
“Hi Jackie.”
Then she walked closer, wrapping her arms around him for a tight hug.
“Good to see you again.”
“Yeah, you look great.” Then he blushed again. “Here, meet my wife.”
He pulled an extremely shy young woman to his side. “This is Tess.”
Jacqueline politely shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Thank you,” came the quiet response.
“Don’t mind her, Jackie,” Rose said as she walked over and put her arm around Jacqueline. “She’s heard all the horror stories about you. She’s probably scared to death.”
“Rose!”
“Oh, Mama, I’m just kidding.” Rose turned to Jacqueline. “Tess doesn’t talk much,” she whispered.
“Well, with this crowd, who could blame her.”
Rose laughed. “Look at Sammy. Can you believe how he shot up?”
“No, I hardly recognized him. What about Eric and the others?”
“Eric works offshore. He’s here a month, then gone a month. And Bobby, you remember Bobby? He’s over in Austin, coaching football at one of the high schools there.”
“I remember Bobby, of course. He was a pain in the ass, even at ten years old.”
“Still is. Becky is the only one of us girls to leave town. She married a boy she met in college, and they live in Oklahoma City.” Rose tugged Jacqueline’s arm. “Come on over here,” Rose said, leading Jacqueline to her father and who she assumed was Greg, her husband.
“You remember Pop.”
“Mr. Garland, how are you?”
“Great, Jackie, great. So good to see you again.”
“And this is Greg, my husband.”
Jacqueline shook his hand. He looked nothing like the young boy she remembered. He’d grown into a handsome man, his neatly trimmed mustache lifting on one corner as he smiled. “Nice to see you again, Greg.”
“Jackie, you too.”
“Four of the little monsters running around here are my kids, but I’ll introduce you later,” Rose said. “Grab something to drink.” She pointed to the pitchers of iced tea sitting on the picnic table. “I’m going to see if Mama needs help.”
Jacqueline dipped a plastic cup into the ice, then filled her glass, looking around for Kay. “Want one?”
“Please.”
Jacqueline handed Kay a glass, then took her first sip of sweet tea, her eyes slamming closed at the memories that taste recalled.
“Good?”
Jacqueline smiled. “Very.” She glanced over at Rose. “I see Rose hasn’t changed a bit. She’s still as bossy as ever.”
“Yes. She should have been the oldest girl in the family, not me. She’s always just taken charge of things.”
“As I recall, she tried her best to take charge of us back then. Our saving grace was that she couldn’t climb that damn tree.”
Kay laughed, pointing at the very tree. “Still here.”
Jacqueline met her eyes. “I have a lot of fond memories of that tree,”
she said quietly.
“Me, too. Remember that time you took a six-pack of beer from your parents’ fridge?” Kay asked. “We hauled it up the tree with us and spent the afternoon attempting to drink it.”
Jacqueline nodded. “I thought your dad was going to kill us both.”
“Well, at least we saved him one.”
They were quiet, both remembering other times that some mischief Jacqueline concocted had gotten them into trouble. Mostly from Kay’s parents, though. They hadn’t spent a whole lot of time at Jacqueline’s house.
“So, what have you been doing for the last fifteen years, Kay?”
Kay shifted uncomfortably, her eyes not quite meeting Jackie’s. When they were young, they could talk about anything, share thoughts, feelings. But fifteen years had passed. She wouldn’t just blurt out her life’s failures, hoping they could pick up where they left off. So, she lied.
“Nothing much exciting. I’ve had the store now six years. It keeps me busy.”
Jacqueline nodded. “And?”
“And what?”
“That’s it? That’s