Sit! Stay! Speak! by Annie England Noblin Page A

like stale beer,” he said. “You smell like fresh strawberries in the summertime.”
    â€œThanks,” Addie murmured. She looked down at Jasper’s hands, still intertwined with hers. The cut on his hand was still there, the flesh puckered slightly. She thought that it would probably scar, her mind wandering away from the moment just long enough for her to remember that there were people just beyond them talking, laughing, and drinking. There was another woman waiting at a table for Jasper and another shot waiting for Addie at the bar up front.

CHAPTER 12
    B Y THE TIME A DDIE MADE IT BACK UP TO THE BAR , B OBBY AND Wanda were sitting at a table, looking over the bar’s menu.
    â€œNot a lot to choose from,” Bobby said. “Wanda didn’t tell me you all was wantin’ to eat until we got here.”
    â€œDo they have potato wedges?” Addie was suddenly starving.
    â€œThe best in town.”
    â€œHere’s your shot.” Wanda narrowed her eyes at Addie. “Everything okay? You look kinda funny.”
    â€œWell, I did just spill beer all over myself,” Addie replied.
    â€œI’m sorry about you-know-who,” Wanda said. “I didn’t know he was going to be here . . . with someone.”
    â€œOf course you didn’t know,” Addie agreed. “Besides, it’s not like it should matter to me.”
    â€œI’ve never seen her before,” Wanda continued.
    Addie’s back was facing Jasper and the mystery woman, and she resisted the urge to turn around and stare at them. “So you don’t know who she is?”
    Bobby snorted into his beer. “No tellin’ where he picked her up the way he throws his money around like there ain’t no tomorrow.”
    â€œYou don’t have any cause to say that. Just because you don’t like what he did.” Wanda rolled her eyes.
    â€œWhat did he do?” Addie was dying to know what Bobby was talking about.
    â€œWhen he moved back he bought the old Jones farm, which was in foreclosure,” Wanda explained. “Their land borders his parents’ land. It made sense.”
    â€œHe didn’t have no right. He had no right buyin’ that place,” Bobby cut in. “That land should have stayed in the family.”
    â€œMaybe the family should have paid their mortgage,” Wanda said. “You know just as well as I do where their money goes.”
    Bobby stood up from the table, his big hands balled into fists. “I’m going to get another beer.”
    â€œIgnore him,” Wanda said over the bass of the band. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He listens to whatever Redd says like it’s the gospel.”
    â€œI take it Redd’s family doesn’t like Jasper too much?”
    â€œTheir families don’t like each other much. The Floyds have that big, commercial farm. The Joneses had a little, ramshackle place. I think it bothered Jasper’s daddy the way the Jones place looked. He used to make comments about it when we was kids.”
    â€œWhy would he do that?”
    â€œYou just have to know Mr. Floyd,” Wanda replied. “He’s not a bad man. But he isn’t one to hold on to his thoughts.”
    â€œSo Jasper and his dad are a lot alike.”
    â€œThe apple don’t fall too far from the tree.” Wanda nodded. “But what Bobby failed to mention is that Jasper paid way overwhat it was worth. He paid the banknote, and made sure the Jones family got some money in their pockets.”
    Addie bit the bottom of her lip. “That man. I just don’t know what goes on in his head.”
    â€œLet’s get another drink, shall we?” Wanda slid out of the booth. “Maybe then we can start to make some sense of the men around here.”
    Addie clinked down an empty shot glass and smiled placidly. She felt warm and happy and . . . had she mentioned warm? It felt