Be Sweet by Diann Hunt Page A

Charlene Marybelle, what are you doing down there?” Mom asks.
    Thanks for caring. “Looking for coins?”
    Janni walks over and puts her arm around Mom. “Well, if you want to come over for coffee and dessert later, we’ll save you some. It’s your favorite, chocolate éclair.”
    Mom’s shoulders relax. She bites her lower lip. “Oh, dear. That is my favorite. Well, we’ll see what your dad wants to do.” She perks a bit. “I’ve made maple chicken for lunch, but save me a bite of dessert.”
    Janni can calm Mom down as fast as I get her stirred up. Mom and I are as different as maple and sludge. ’Course, my opinion of which one of us is sludge would no doubt differ from her point of view. But then we’ve never agreed on anything.
    â€œOkay, will do.” Janni walks Mom toward the door while I heave my stiff self up from the floor and brush myself off. I twist my head from side to side to kick up a little blood flow and oxygen to my starving brain cells.
    Mom turns and walks over to Wiggles’s cage. “Hi, little fella, how are you?” she coos, poking her fingers through the slits in the cage to scratch Wiggles’s belly that is now shamelessly exposed. My jaw practically drops off its hinges, and I’m almost sure Wiggles sneers at me. The little rat.
    â€œDon’t forget the dessert, Janni.” Mom calls out before turning an expression of reprimand my way. “Char, you behave yourself.” She steps through the door and yanks it shut.
    I look at Janni. “I told you that you’re her favorite.”
    â€œI ’m stuffed,” I say as Janni and I waddle into the living room. “What was that again?”
    â€œEnchilada casserole. I picked up the recipe from a cooking magazine.”
    Not quite the cuisine I’m used to, but hers is, after all, homemade . I nod. “You know, I still can’t believe the way you handled Mom, and she totally listened to you. You’ve always had a way with her.” I step over to the oak rocker and sit down. If I try that couch again, they might not dig me out ’til Thanksgiving. “Mom always did like you best.”
    She looks at me point-blank. “Thank you, Tommy Smothers.”
    â€œWell, it’s true.” Kicking off my shoes, I settle onto the rocking chair and start, well, rocking.
    â€œYeah, right. You’re simply the”—she gestures quotes with her fingers —“ambitious daughter who’s made a lucrative living out East,” Janni says with a touch of sarcasm. “Besides, you know as well as I do that sometimes she listens. Sometimes not.”
    The dark circles beneath Janni’s eyes make me wonder if she’s rest-ing well at night.
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œMom has been acting a little strange lately,” Janni says, settling onto the sofa. She yawns and pulls an afghan over her as though she plans to take a nap. I make a mental note to time her when she tries to escape the cushions.
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œWell, I’m not quite sure what it is. Kind of secretive. She never travels the same way twice, almost like she’s hiding from someone.”
    â€œI knew it. Mom’s past is finally catching up with her. She’s an AWOL Marine sergeant. I’ve always known that.”
    Janni giggles. “You’re awful.”
    â€œI know. It’s what I do best.”
    â€œI think she’s a little disoriented from the move and everything.” Daniel plops down beside Janni and stretches out his arm behind her. His thighs are slowly disappearing into the cushions. I’ll have to remember to sit there if Russ comes back for a visit.
    â€œWell, no doubt living in a condo is a little different than being on this farm where they’ve lived most of their lives,” I say, eyes still on the sofa, hand within grabbing distance of the phone in case I need to call