Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton Read Free Book Online Page B

said.
    “Uh-huh,” Eadie said, looking at her suspiciously. She had tried to talk Nita out of marrying Charles Broadwell. “He’s a control freak. He’s a snob. He’ll make you miserable.” But by then Nita had already dated him past the time she would have felt comfortable breaking it off. Going together longer than two years implied something deeper than casual dating, or at least it did in Nita’s code of behavior, and she had felt bound by social convention and by the fact that he had defied his own mother to become engaged to her. There had been nothing else she could do but marry him.
    “Is there anything we can do to help?” Lavonne asked.
    “Cut his brake line? Poison his soup? Push him down the stairs?”
    Nita flushed and looked at her hands. “Let’s talk about something else,” she said.
    The waiter came to take her order and Eadie said, “I’ll have a glass of your house merlot and a chicken salad plate.” She leaned forward on her elbows and looked around the table. “Am I the only one drinking?”
    “I never drink in the middle of the day,” Lavonne said. “I have to keep my wits about me.” Her dress strained and creaked like a sail in a gale wind. She wondered how she would be able to eat and breathe at the same time. She wished she hadn’t quarreled with Leonard this morning over wearing the dress. She wished Leonard hadn’t said something stupid that turned wearing the dress into a big challenge.
    Eadie took a piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to Lavonne. “Okay, here’s my advice for the party,” she said. “I wrote it all down so you can follow along with me,” she said, pointing to the neatly numbered items on the page. “I went ahead and called the tent and awning place.” The party was held every year in the Broadwells’ back-yard beneath a huge white tent. The waiter brought her a glass of wine and Eadie smiled at him and went on. “The awning people said there must have been some kind of a mix-up because somebody had called and canceled the tent. I know the manager personally and I talked him into reinstating the order ahead of the Donaldsons’ wedding so you don’t need to worry about that. You can get the tablecloths and the tables and chairs there, too. Nita, here’s the name of the guy who carves the ice sculptures. He’s expecting your call. Just call him and tell him to carve whatever shape you want. I always order flowers in bulk from the Plantation Greenery and they’ll make up centerpieces for the tables. If you can’t find a caterer, call one of the restaurants in town—”
    “I already did that,” Lavonne said. “No one can do it on such short notice.”
    “Okay, then call the deli manager at the Piggly Wiggly and order a whole lot of party trays and take them home and put them on your best silver. Then call the Salty Dog and order a frozen margarita machine. Trust me, once the tequila starts flowing, no one will notice or care where the food comes from. And for Christsakes get a disk jockey. Don’t hire that goddamn string quartet Virginia hires every year. Nothing kills a good party quicker than classical music.”
    Lavonne looked at Eadie like she might be a genius. “My God, I hadn’t even thought about the tent,” she said. “I just assumed Virginia had ordered it.” She hadn’t thought about the ice sculpture or the flowers either. “I don’t know about the margarita machine though,” she said to Eadie. “The only one who ever rents a margarita machine is you and look how wild your parties get.”
    Eadie tapped her fingers against the table to give Lavonne a few minutes to think about it. She smiled sweetly and said, “Do you want your guests standing around critiquing the food or do you want them down on the floor gatoring to ‘Gimme a Pig’s Foot and a Bottle of Beer’?”
    “Point taken,” Lavonne said.
    Nita played nervously with her silverware. Eadie smiled and closed her purse. She hoped Lavonne would