What She Left for Me by Tracie Peterson

Author:Tracie Peterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781441203366
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-05T14:03:20+00:00

Twenty

“We’re heading off now,” Taffy called to Jana.

Jana emerged from the kitchen, where she’d been putting away dishes from the dishwasher. “How long will it take for you to get to Missoula?”

“Only a couple of hours,” Taffy replied. “Unless your mother drives like a pastor.”

Jana looked at her great-aunt oddly. “What in the world do you mean?”

Taffy laughed. “Every pastor I’ve ever ridden with—anywhere—went well over the speed limit. I figure it’s because they’re prayed up and feel confident of the situation. Either that or they figure to scare their passengers into salvation.”

Jana laughed. “Rob drove fast too.” The memory sobered her. She sighed. “Well, I wish I felt more like going,” she said, rubbing her abdomen. Up until that morning she’d fully planned to make the trip. “I’m afraid given the way I feel, it would be a mistake. I’m just worn out today and a little bit on the green side. I thought I was past the morning sickness.”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right by yourself?” Taffy questioned. “We could put this off for a couple of days.”

“I’m fine; I’m not disabled—just pregnant.” Jana hoped Taffy wouldn’t cancel her trip.

“Well, if you’re sure.” Taffy looked at her as if trying to size up the situation.

“I’ll be great. Go on without me.”

Taffy nodded. “You rest and enjoy the day. Don’t worry about fixing any supper. We’ll be back around eight or nine tonight, so I’m sure we’ll eat in town. I have your list of things and your sizes. And I have lots of party shopping to do.”

The twenty-fourth of July was Taffy’s eightieth birthday, and she was throwing herself a party. Eleanor thought it scandalous and chided her aunt for not allowing her and Jana to organize the celebration. But Taffy would not relent.

“Who better to throw me a birthday party than me?” she had said.

“What are you planning for us?” Jana asked, sizing up her great-aunt. Taffy had dressed for the shopping trip in an emerald-green pantsuit with a wild, almost psychedelic, patterned blouse.

“Oh, we’ll have such fun. It’ll all be outside, of course,” Taffy began. “We’ll invite all of the neighborhood, and I’m going to have the dinner catered.”

“There’s going to be a dinner?” Jana asked.

“Oh yes. A dinner, a dance . . . a regular whirling dervish.” Her aunt laughed in great amusement. “And a photographer to take pictures so that I might remember it all in the years to come. One does not turn eighty every day, after all.”

“It sounds like a lot of fun,” Jana admitted.

“It sounds like a lot of work,” her mother added as she stepped into the room.

“Oh, pshaw. I’m hiring most of it done,” Taffy declared. “You won’t have to weary yourself with it.”

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Eleanor replied. “It just seems a bit out of control.”

Taffy grinned and winked at Jana. “Sometimes we have to be a bit out of control. But only a bit. We’ll still be very sensible. I haven’t completely lost my faculties, even though you think I have.

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