“Oh, that kind of nap.” Darla smiled.
“Was in those days. Not so much since he had cancer.” Roxie held up her glass. “To Sunday afternoon naps. You and Will should always make time for one right from the first week of your marriage. Now, what’s got you all in a tizzy about your wedding? Oh, before you tell me, I saw Andy Miller at the party on Saturday. His mama, bless her heart”—Roxie dragged out the southernism and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling—“spoiled that boy so rotten that the garbageman wouldn’t have even hauled him off if they’d tossed him in the trash. Then she up and died when Andy was only ten years old, and his grandmother took over the boy’s raisin’ and made him even worse.”
Darla took a long breath and let it out slowly. “Granny, do you remember that he was my boyfriend in high school?”
“Yes, I do, and I was damn sure glad to see him leave Tishomingo.” Roxie nodded. “Not that I ever thought he’d make a movie star like he thought he would, and he hasn’t. Honey, I didn’t care if he went out there to California and picked plums for a living, long as he didn’t take you with him. He’s as worthless as tits on a boar hog.”
“Oh, really?” Darla giggled at the expression.
“From what I hear, what he stars in is them movies that decent people don’t watch or even mention out loud.” Roxie clucked her tongue like an old hen. “Them porn things that folks do naked.”
“Good Lord, Granny, who told you that?” Darla blushed and wondered if that was the kind of movie roles Andy had in mind for her.
“Don’t matter who told me, but it came from a good source, from someone that caught her daughter watchin’ that stuff on the internet. I swear, if folks thought television and soap operas were bad, they didn’t even know the half of it,” Roxie answered. “Now what was your problem with these wedding jitters? You don’t need to worry about a thing. Your mama might be a little rusty. It’s been eight years since she planned Sarah’s special day, but she’ll come through, and it will be beautiful.”
“It’s Andy, not Mama,” Darla admitted.
Roxie’s gray eyebrows drew down to make a single line. “What’s that worthless boy got to do with anything?”
“Granny, I loved him so much, and he broke my heart when he left without even saying goodbye or leaving me a note. I looked for a letter from him every day for a whole month. Then he comes back to Tish right before my wedding and wants me to run away with him to California,” Darla said.
“Holy smokin’ hell!” Roxie slammed her left fist into her right palm. “Don’t let Claud know what he’s done, or your gramps will be watching your wedding on his cell phone from a jail cell. And, honey, you know how frustrated he gets when he can’t get things to work on his phone. You didn’t even consider it, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.”
“No. Well, yes…but not for long… But, Granny, even just longing for a life of excitement…that’s not fair to Will, is it?” Darla stammered. “Don’t I need to come clean with him?”
“Not just no but hell no, my child.” Roxie’s voice went up several octaves. “I was hoping you’d get past the bridal test, but I guess you didn’t.”
“What’s the bridal test?” Darla dug around in her pocket until she found a rubber band and pulled her hair up into a ponytail.
“I thought I heard you women gossiping out here.” Claud yawned as he dragged a third rocker over beside Roxie. “Did you have a good nap?”
“Always,” she said. “You usually sleep longer than this.”
“I was dreaming about fishing, and that made me hungry for apple pie. Every time I have that dream, I wake up craving apple pie. Where did you hide that last piece that was left over from dinner?” Claud asked.
“It’s in the refrigerator,” Roxie answered.
“I’ve got lesson plans to finish for next week, and Will and I are going to the movies later, so I should be getting on back to my apartment,” Darla said, even though she really wanted to stay and talk to her grandmother some more. If Gramps got wind of what was happening with Andy, he would either have a heart attack or load his shotgun.
“You should have been stayin’ with us these past two years,” Claud grumbled. “Just think of how much money you could have saved up if you’d come to live with us when your folks moved to Denison. Why, you could have bought a washer and dryer and a big-screen television. I still don’t know how you’ve managed to live two whole years without a TV in your apartment.”
Darla stood up, then bent down and gave her grandmother a hug. “Gramps, watching shows is a whole lot more fun when you and Granny and I see them together.”
“Well, you can’t come draggin’ Will over here every time you want to watch Family Feud,” Claud told her.
“I expect they’ll have better things to do than spend time in front of a television set when they get married.” Roxie smiled.
“Yeah,” Claud agreed. “But without a television, how are they going to work out all their differences? Honey, you don’t know another person until you live with them. I think there should be a live-together license that’s only good for one year. You would pay your ten bucks for it, then tear it up and move out if things don’t work out. Seems to me like it would be money well spent.”
“Why do that?” Roxie asked. “Kids today do that without spending ten dollars on a piece of paper. The rules we lived by back in our day have been replaced, and they can watch anything we do on their tablets and phones.”
“Our rules were just fine,” Claud muttered. “I’m going to get that last piece of pie.”
“Granny, I’ll pick you up on Wednesday right after school. Sarah and Marilyn are driving up from Texas so we can all get a final fitting for our dresses,” Darla said, wondering the whole time if Will would even want to go through with the wedding if he found out she was having second thoughts. “Gramps, do you want to go with us? I’m springing for hamburgers and milkshakes afterward.”
Claud turned around at the door. “Honey, I wouldn’t sit through that hen fest for a dozen hamburgers. Me and Ben Rogers is going fishin’ out at the refuge that afternoon. I asked Will to go with us, but he’s got too much work to do. Ben’s wife is packing bologna sandwiches for us, and I’m bringin’ the beer, so Will is missin’ out on a good time. I hope Will slows down after y’all are married so you can at least see him once in a while.”
“Well, y’all have fun. See you later.” Darla waved as she left.
She lived about six blocks from her grandparents’ place in an apartment complex just south of Murray State College, the community college she had attended before she transferred to OU and finished her education. She parked her car, sucked in the fresh evening air as she slid out from behind the wheel, and walked up the stairs to her little one-bedroom place. The scent of something cinnamon met her when she opened the door and put a smile on her face. She glanced over the rail and saw Will’s truck down there in the visitors’ parking lot.