Cultivating Love by Addison Albright

Author:Addison Albright [Albright, Addison]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2017-06-23T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Festival!

Joe stepped buoyantly as they approached the square. The morning was bright and sunny, and while still hot, it was an improvement on the recent sweltering days.

Ed breathed in the smoky barbeque aroma. “Damn, that smells good.”

Jenny laughed. “It’s only nine o’clock.”

“When it comes to barbeque, my stomach doesn’t recognize time.”

Joe snorted and patted Ed’s shoulder. “No rules at a festival. You can eat whatever, whenever.”

This past week, they could have slapped down grilled rat in front of Ed and he would’ve devoured it. Their heavy workload had given him a voracious appetite. “I plan to.”

They wandered toward the carnival rides, and Jenny stuck an elbow in Joe’s ribs. Damn, that thing was pointy. “Jesus, what?”

“Two girls at two o’clock are giving me the evil eye. You know ’em?”

Eliza and Joanne were indeed giving Jenny a hard look. “Yeah, we know ’em. Did you meet Ruby when you went to the grocery store?”

“Lady about Mom’s age?”

“Yeah.”

“She was there eyeballin’ me, but I didn’t say anything to her.”

“Well, the one on the left is her daughter Eliza, and the other is Joanne.”

“So why are they giving me the stink eye?”

“They’ve been kinda coming on to us.”

“We don’t intend to live in a closet here or anything,” Ed added, “but we don’t go around making general announcements either. Guess we’re gonna have to break it to them before too long. I think they’re jealous of you. Must think you’re with one of us.”

Jenny sniffed.

“Well, shit.” Joe said. They couldn’t just ignore the girls. He cocked his head toward the frowning pair. “Come on. We need to go say ‘hi.’”

The girls changed their expressions, becoming all smiles. Ed smiled back and nodded while Joe made the introductions. “Good morning, Eliza, Joanne. This is my sister, Jenny. She’s been staying with me and Ed this past week.”

“Oh, your sister,” Eliza replied. “I guess you do look a bit alike, don’t you?”

They did? He shrugged.

“So do y’all think you’ll be coming to the hoedown tonight?”

Jenny pounced on the question. “Yes. They promised me.” She cast Joe a look daring him to back down. He just rolled his eyes. “I even taught Ed how to two-step this week so they wouldn’t have any excuses. Can you believe he didn’t know how?”

Joanne eyed Ed and flashed him a huge smile. “I’ll be looking for you, then. You’ll save a dance for me?”

Ed looked like he’d rather be doing anything other than answering that question. He managed another smile. “Sure, if you don’t mind risking your feet. Jenny’s didn’t fare so well, I’m afraid.”

She laughed. “I’ll risk it.”

Jenny snorted.

“Well, ladies, it was nice meeting up with you again.” Joe nodded to them. “We’ll see you tonight for sure, if we don’t run into you sooner.”

* * * *

“Didn’t I tell you to remind me not to get on a Scrambler again the last time we went to a carnival?” Ed groaned. He’d be lucky if he didn’t lose his barbeque.

Joe just laughed. “But that shade of green becomes you.

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