Sugar on Top by Marina Adair Read Free Book Online Page A

thinking stealing Ms. Kitty’s tractor.”
    Her request was greeted with more silence, broken only by the occasional slurp, clanking of metal on porcelain, and Road Kill’s grunting.
    She had to remind herself that she was a lucky girl. She had an amazing grandmother. Sweet, patient, loving—and stubborn as hell. Good thing Glory had spent a lifetime waiting for answers to questions she didn’t know how to ask, so if Jelly Lou thought she could outlast her, she was greatly misinformed.
    Glory lifted her spoon and dug in. Except for Jelly Lou asking for a second helping, they finished their chili in silence. Then as though Glory hadn’t been waiting fifteen minutes for an answer, Jelly Lou leaned over and, with a warm smile, patted Glory’s hand. “Now, tell me about that test.”
    She dabbed her lips with a napkin and went for honest. Well, as honest as she wanted to get with a woman who wore her guilt like lipstick. Heavy enough to be detected from outer space. “I missed the test because I was returning the Prowler.”
    “Oh, Glo.” She clutched Glory’s hand to her chest and held it there. “What on earth were you thinking?”
    “That I didn’t want my grandma incarcerated for stealing the mayor’s tractor.”
    “The mayor doesn’t care; he knows his mama is petty. Plus, Jackson wouldn’t have arrested us.” Glory snorted. “And we weren’t stealing it. We were gathering evidence. Kitty is a cheat and the whole town knows it. They’re all just too scared to speak up. That’s the only way she could win nine Sugar Pull champions in a row.”
    “Maybe she’s just got the better tractor and driver,” Glory said, but even she didn’t believe her argument.
    Jelly Lou was the proud owner of the only ten-time Sugar Pull champion in the history of the event, the Pitter. The woman knew what it took to win, as it had taken her and her husband, Ned, over fifteen years of racing to accumulate that many titles. So if Jelly Lou was claiming foul play, then Ms. Kitty was cheating the system—and most likely bribing the officials to look the other way.
    Not that Glory was surprised. Sneaking and scheming to win, even when harmful to others, was Ms. Kitty’s MO.
    “Please don’t tell me this is because of what happened with Damon.” When her grandmother stared at the floor, tension knotted painfully in Glory’s chest. “Because I’m over it. Really. I am.”
    There, that sounded convincing.
    “A good Southern woman always forgives, but only a stupid one forgets. And I won’t forget what her family did to you. Ever.” Jelly Lou’s words were strong and laced with a protectiveness that made swallowing difficult. “But, the good Lord knows, I have forgiven them.”
    Glory raised a brow and Jelly Lou cracked a weary smile. “Okay, the good Lord also knows that I have to reforgive them every Sunday and on all religious holidays. But this is about something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
    The last time her grandmother had used those words, it was when Glory had come home to find her mom had decided to move to Florida. Without Glory.
    She didn’t know which hurt worse. That her mother had admitted Glory wasn’t Billy Mann’s before skipping town with someone else’s husband. Or that after hearing, Billy took off, too, leaving Glory behind. All she knew for sure was that her daddy wasn’t Billy Mann—and Glory was all alone.
    Jelly Lou fixed that, though. She had taken a heartbroken Glory into her home and explained that Glory was hers, forever. No matter what.
    Which was why, no matter what this town threw at her, Glory wasn’t leaving as long as Jelly Lou was breathing.
    She scooted closer and took both of Jelly’s Lou’s frail hands into her own. “You can tell me anything.”
    Jelly Lou gave two squeezes, then smiled, big and bold. “Good. Because I’m entering the Sugar Pull. Hattie, Dottie, and MeMaw have signed on to be my pit crew. Etta Jayne’s the pit boss. We call