Small Town Girl by Ann H. Gabhart Page B

me.”
    Kate groaned. “We need to have a talk, young lady. And soon.”

6

    T he little sister had a great voice for a kid. The song seemed to almost flow out of her without effort. Kate sang along with her, harmonizing but letting the kid have the spotlight. Mike was smiling at his bride, mouthing the words along with the kid. Enjoying himself.
    Jay didn’t think the bride was all that tickled with the whole production. She had a smile, but not an easy one. Unless Jay missed his guess, Mike was in for some rough sledding in the years ahead. This one didn’t look to be an easy one to please. Irritated even by her sisters singing her a song. One Mike had requested of Birdie. Jay heard him.
    Oh well, he’d learn. Or maybe she would. Mike could be pretty determined in his own way about some things. Jay had been on the receiving end of some of that determination at times. Back when they were in school, Mike was always after him to figure out what he believed. “A man has to know what’s true. What matters. He can’t just drift. Not without being in danger of some rocky landings.”
    Jay couldn’t argue the truth of Mike’s words. He’d known a few of those rocky landings, while Mike’s landings had all been clean and easy. Now he was a married man. A preacher. Loved by one and all in this little Rosey Corner. Jay wasbeginning to feel like he’d fallen into a happily-ever-after fairy tale, and he was one of those faceless movie extras in the background, dancing to the music.
    His mouth twisted up into an amused smile. A happy extra wasn’t bad. He might as well enjoy the song like everybody else. At least listening to it. It took more than fruit punch to loosen his tongue enough to try belting out a song. Others around him weren’t so hesitant as a few of the boys began picking up the sweetheart chorus line. Here and there, a girl was blushing while a guy pushed the words straight toward her.
    The other sister, the one between Kate and Birdie, was getting a good dose of sweetheart singing from her pimply-faced boyfriend. Those two were so awkwardly in love it almost hurt to look at them. Too innocent. Too trusting. Something Jay didn’t remember ever being. Not that he wanted to visit those feelings. Innocent and trusting opened a man up to getting blindsided by trouble. Better to peer on down the road with a jaded eye and be ready for whatever was barreling toward him.
    Across from Jay, that tall, skinny farm boy, Carl something, had an idiot grin as his buddies pushed him forward. The man must have found something to spike his punch, because he started practically shouting out the sweetheart words toward Kate. She didn’t give him the first glance, but she heard him plain enough. The color was rising in her cheeks. Not because she was pleased, if Jay knew anything about girls.
    He’d seen plenty of both kinds of blushes—the pleased ones and the better-get-out-of-the-way ones. That older guy, Graham, appeared to be right about poor old Carl. The man was speeding his love train down a track with the bridge out. Nothing but unhappiness in store for him.
    Thinking that didn’t make Jay a bit unhappy. Maybe he would hang around Rosey Corner. Get his bearings. Stayahead of the draft notices for a month or two if he was lucky. Graham and his old flea-bitten dog might make interesting companions for a few weeks. Till winter moved in anyway. A little honest outdoor labor. He could slap paint on a house. Help the man out and put a jingle of coin in his own pocket and gas in his car. All good things.
    His eyes drifted back to Kate. Another good thing. A girl on the rebound was sometimes ready for a good time. He wasn’t Mike, but he wasn’t that hayseed Carl either.
    She and the little sister got to the end of the song amidst cheers and laughter. Mike put his arm around his bride and brushed her cheek with his lips before he turned to the friends around them. “We’ve said the vows. We’ve eaten the cake and sung