Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent Read Free Book Online

always tellin’ me I change my ways faster than he can keep track. A woman’s just like that sometimes.”
    “But I ain’t no woman,” I said almost angrily.
    “You may not think so, but you’re gettin’ there, sure enough. I think you just don’t see some things as bein’ womanly changes.”
    “Like what?”
    Momma turned away and grabbed Daddy’s socks to hang before saying, “Oh, like maybe how you’re feelin’ about Luke Talley.”
    As much as I knew that Momma probably had an idea of such things, hearing her say it out loud made my cheeks flush red as a beet. “Momma!”
    “I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ you didn’t already know.”
    “I don’t think nothin’ about Luke Talley,” I lied. “He’s a neighbor, is all.”
    “Uh-huh,” Momma murmured.
    “He ain’t even close to me in age,” I continued to argue, “and I ain’t thinkin’ about boys that way, anyhow.”
    “Well, you’re right about that. He is older than you.” She looked at me and smiled again. “But bein’ sweet on a boy ain’t the same as wantin’ to marry him.”
    “It don’t matter any to me what it means, because I ain’t sweet on nobody.”
    It was then that I heard Luke holler a hello as he turned the corner of the lane. I jumped at the sound of his voice and flushed even redder.
    “It’s just Luke come for supper,” Momma said with a grin. “You know, he usually does come by this time of day. You shouldn’t be so embarrassed to see him.”
    “I ain’t embarrassed.” I turned away from Momma slightly so I could fix my hair without her noticing, but when I turned back around, I found her hanging up my underclothes. “Momma,” I whispered, grabbing them from the line. “There ain’t no call to be hangin’ up my bloomers.”
    “There you are, Jessie girl,” Luke said as he came up behind us. “I brought some stick candy for you and Gemma today.”
    I tucked my underthings quickly under my arm and without turning around said, “Thank you, Luke. I best be gettin’ inside to check on supper.” I tore off toward the house without looking back at him and didn’t emerge from my room until I’d changed into clean clothes and straightened my hair.
    No doubt about it, I was changing.

Chapter 5
    We were on our way to town in the truck, all four of us, with our dog Duke in the back, and everyone was quiet. Momma and Daddy had been that way since their big argument, and I had started wondering if things would ever get back to normal between them.
    Gemma still wasn’t saying a whole lot, although I had gotten her to start reading with me every night. We’d take turns reading paragraphs, and I figured if it did anything for her, it would get her voice muscles used to working again. I didn’t know if they would quit working altogether, but I had always been a big talker, and I couldn’t imagine a girl not talking for so long without something quitting on her.
    Since everyone else was silent, I didn’t say much either.Besides, I was a little worried about heading into town because I knew how the people of Calloway felt about Gemma being with us. At the back of my mind was Momma’s talk of how people could get violent about mixing colors. I didn’t know what to expect.
    At the least, I figured on hearing some talk. Truth was, I didn’t care what they said any more than my daddy did, but usually when someone in town did some careless talking, I lost my temper and gave them some words back. And that always got me into trouble with Momma.
    I just had a feeling that I’d be getting a tongue-lashing after this trip.
    Even Duke was quiet except for when he saw a fox run past the truck. After about ten barks, Daddy shut him up with a holler, and then the rest of the trip was as boring as the first part.
    When we got into town, Daddy sent me and Gemma off to the general store with a list so we could do the shopping while Momma got her hair done and Daddy got the farming supplies.
    Before we left, Daddy pulled me