Once She Dreamed - 1 Read online

  customers and for myself. Sometimes I forgot to straighten my apron or wash flour from my hands. That annoyed the woman. Before I went back I took a peek at the mirror set into the wall behind me. Deciding I was good I headed to the kitchen where I could smell the banana nut bread baking as she worked on an order. That was a treat she’d make for us every once and awhile. Especially if the bananas over ripened. Momma didn’t believe in throwing away food. She’d find a use every time.

  The door swung open then closed. Momma turned her head and glanced at me over her floured shoulder. “Sprinkle those doughnuts with powdered sugar. Go turn on the doughnuts sign.”

  Great. Not good timing. “I was going to ask you something.”

  “Doughnuts don’t stay hot forever. Get them sold,” she replied.

  I didn’t want to anger her so I did as I was told and went back out to the front. I put them on display, turned on the sign, and sure enough within ten minutes five customers came right in. We were down to a dozen when Mayor Harley bought them “for the office.” From the looks of the man I imagined he was hiding in his car with a glass of milk shoving them down his throat. Doughnuts weren’t something momma did often. They brought in people fast, selling out within the hour. The specialty sign we’d put in the glass made the doughnuts vanish quickly. “Okay, let’s try this again.” I turned off the sign after Mr. Harley left and once again prepared myself.

  She was stirring her large mixing bowl, but there was nothing coming out of the oven. Again, she glanced at me. “Special order?” she asked.

  “No ma’am. It’s quiet after the doughnuts. Mr. Harley just bought the last dozen.”

  Momma made a tsk-tsk sound. Shook her head and frowned. “Hope he doesn’t eat them all. The man’s gonna keel over and die if he keeps on eating like he does.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “What is it you’re needing of me?” Momma wasn’t one to waste time. She didn’t believe in procrastination and idling was when the devil worked.

  “The wealthy man that comes in here…”

  “The one that showed up at the dance? Has he been back today?”

  I nodded. “Yes ma’am, he has, and I really like him. He’s successful and…”

  “…he’s rich and saw your face and just can’t stay away. Thinks he can buy anything he wants and that now includes you.”

  This was not going well. “No, it’s not like that. He’s generous and thoughtful and he makes me laugh and he asks questions about me. He rarely talks about himself.”

  Momma continued to stir, while her frown did not lift. “He’s asked you out on a date?”

  I nodded. “Yes. And I want to go. It’s tonight at seven and I gave him directions to our house so you can meet him. He likes me momma and he’s…not from here in Moulton.”

  She sighed and sat the bowl down. “Him not being from Moulton is what’s most important to you. You can’t pick a man because of his address. Love happens or it don’t. Men with that kind of money love their way of life, love buying what they want, not necessarily what they need. That having been said I knew one day you’d catch the eye of a rich man. If I say no you’ll go anyway, even walk right out the door. So let him come. I’ll talk to the man. Just remember Sammy Jo, not all fairy tales are real, true or wise. Firstly, they are tales. There’s more to a man than his money and what he can gift you with his wallet. It’s his heart that matters most.”

  Momma rarely said this many words. She wasn’t one to waste time. Even if I didn’t agree, I listened because she was my mother. She’d been hurt by a man and it showed. Sure he had left her Henry, and the boy was worth it all, but momma didn’t trust men. Not since daddy died. She felt betrayed in his death and the absence of another and that can’t leave you any strength, except to trudge through the day.

  “Yes ma’am. Thank you,” I replied. I really wanted to do a little dance, but that could wait until I was alone to save the humiliation.

  “Go on now before Deloris shows up. She’ll want the rest of the raspberry tarts for her dessert tonight.”

  I didn’t argue. I was shocked that this had been easy. If momma didn’t have the highest hopes for my future with Hale in the long run, at least I would have the experience. Dating wasn’t something I did much of because I didn’t have a pool to choose from. They were all here for life. This was my first chance at something outside of Moulton, Alabama. Even if the night was a failure at least I had that chance.

  When I got back to the front Deloris was walking inside. It was just like momma had predicted. I boxed up her raspberry tarts with a silly grin on my face. I couldn’t help it, I was silly and excited, my life shifting towards the positive.

  The next five customers kept me busy and moving. They were buying their after dinner treats and asking questions about momma’s baking, what we would have tomorrow. Almost two hours passed before I got a chance to sit on my stool and think. What will I wear? How to fix my hair? Where would we go on the date? All of that had my head spinning, until four rolled around and we closed the doors and headed home for the evening. Momma didn’t say one word about Hale on our drive or when we arrived. She was quiet. Uncomfortably so.

  Chapter Fifteen

  For a girl with a very limited wardrobe I managed to change clothes five times. Keeping tonight a secret from my sisters was impossible. Especially since I borrowed Milly’s black skirt. Milly wasn’t there and when she got home I was going to be in trouble, but I was willing to face the wrath of my sister to look nice tonight.

  Bessy was the first to notice my skirt when I walked into the kitchen.

  “Pretty,” Henry said, beaming up at me. At least I was appreciated by the only male in the family.

  “Milly’s gonna kill you,” Bessy sang in a sing song voice.

  “I’ll make it up to her. My clothes are free for her to borrow anytime she wants.”

  Momma was organizing the pantry with all the canning we had done. She paused and turned to look at me. I was prepared for her to tell me to take Milly’s skirt off and if that was the case I had a back up. It wasn’t as perfect as this, but it would do.

  “I reckon I bought that skirt for Milly’s graduation. She can share. Lord knows she’s asked to borrow enough since she started dating.”

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. I wasn’t going to have to change. If momma said I could wear it, then I knew I was going to be safe.

  Bessy clicked her tongue. “She still ain’t gonna be happy.”

  Momma waved her hand as if that didn’t matter and went back to the pantry.

  “When is he getting here?” Bessy asked. She was almost as anxious as me. She hadn’t seen Hale before and only knew him as the cupcake guy. I wasn’t sure I trusted her and what she might say, although I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t like momma would let me lock her in a closet.

  “Seven,” I told her.

  “Momma said his name is Hale. Not cupcake man,” she said grinning.

  “Cupcakes?” Henry’s eyes lit up at the word and he looked at me hopefully.

  “No cupcakes tonight buddy,” I told him, ruffling his blonde curls.

  Henry’s smile collapsed and I wished I had something to give him.

  “No need for cupcakes tonight. I’m making banana nut bread. The bananas are getting too ripe. I need to stop buying them if y’all aren’t going to eat them. The grapes get gone though. Figures y’all would eat the expensive fruit.” Momma spoke from the pantry like she was speaking to herself and not a one of us were listening.

  “You aren’t wearing much makeup,” Bessy said, changing the subject and bringing things back to my date. Not exactly what I wanted.

  “She don’t need makeup,” momma replied.

  Bessy sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not fair that Sammy Jo got all the looks. She barely left any for the rest of us. I need makeup.”

  Bessy had been going on about wearing makeup for a year. She argued that the other girls in her grade were wea
ring it. Momma didn’t care about other girls, or what people thought in general. Bessy should know better than that. But silliness was Bessy’s biggest flaw. I hoped she grew out grew it.

  Hazel walked in from the back yard, the screen door closing behind her. She was carrying a basket of corn. When she saw me she stopped and smiled. “Wow, you look beautiful.”

  “See,” Bessy said, pointing at me. “She got all the looks. Don’t be too mesmerized, or expect the rest of us to stun you, because none of us look like her.”

  Momma sighed in exasperation and gave Bessy a warning: “that’s enough from you and that mouth.”

  I glanced at the clock above the table and it was exactly seven. My nerves were already frayed. But this made it worse, because he was near, and would be here any minute. What if I wasn’t dressed nice enough? These were the nicest clothes I could assemble.

  “Oh my lord! Would you look at that car!” Bessy blurted and ran to the window. She peered outside at the vehicle that we could all hear approaching the house. I was relieved he had found my home and equally ready to vomit from the wad that rested in my stomach. Before Bessy opened her mouth I wanted to get him away. That was my main goal.

  “That’s enough. Heat the oven and grab the biscuits. They’re on the iron skillet in the freezer. Put those vegetables into the crock pot,” Momma told Bessy rudely. She was making her busy to soothe me.

  “Go on and get the front door and I’ll be there in a minute to meet the man.”

  I wanted to go hug momma and thank her for being completely awesome. She knew Bessy was going to act ridiculous so she kept her occupied.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, hurrying past them into the living room where the front door was. We never used that door. We always came through the back, directly into the kitchen.

  I watched from the window as Hale walked the sidewalk and managed the worn wooden steps of my porch. Although momma stained and sealed them once a year they were still aging. Daddy built that porch when I was just a kid. The shade the old oak provided kept the sun from wearing it completely. Otherwise it would have fallen apart.

  I expected him to be in slacks or something fancy. The jeans and cotton polo he was wearing came as a surprise. A good one. That meant I wasn’t under dressed. I figured his jeans probably cost a fortune, but they were still jeans. The pink and yellow roses in his hand made my cheeks flush. I’d never been given flowers like that. Sure, I’d had a rose or a daisy given to me at school on Valentine’s Day or when someone asked me to the prom, but nothing that extravagant. There had to be two-dozen roses in there, like I had won a pageant.

  He knocked and I went to the door to open it. This was it, the possible beginning to my new present and distant future, or maybe neither one. Tonight was important either way.

  The instant look of appreciation when he saw me made my heart flutter.

  “You are breathtaking,” he said, with a sense of awe in his voice.

  “Thank you,” I replied, not sure what else to say. Then I stepped back so he could come inside and once inside I informed him. “Momma is coming. She’s getting my younger sister’s started on making dinner. Then she’ll be in here.”

  He was still looking at me. “I’m in no rush.”

  I kept waiting on him to hand me the roses. Was I supposed to offer to take them and put them in water? Perhaps I should yank them away? I’ve seen this happen in movies, though I wasn’t sure what I should do. I thought the man handed the woman the flowers and then commented on her looks.

  Momma walked into the room before I could decide and her attention went directly to Hale. He immediately responded, shifting his body, giving momma a respectful distance.

  “Good evening, Marjaline Knox,” she said, holding out her hand.

  Hale took it in the hand that was free: “Hale Jude, ma’am.” Then he handed the roses to her. “These are for you. A way to thank you for trusting me with your daughter this evening. It’s obvious where she gets her looks from.”

  He was good at this. As cliché as that had sounded I think my mother blushed. Jude’s attractiveness was hard to ignore. Even for a woman my mother’s age. You simply had to look at the man.

  “Thank you. I expect her home by eleven thirty. She’s a good girl, Hale Jude. I want her to return that way.”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl under the table and hide. This sounded like a talk a mother would give a high school prom date. Not a grown man. I wasn’t a child anymore.

  “Well then, it’s good to meet you,” she said, then turned her attention to me. “Have a good time.”

  That was code for don’t do anything stupid and be home when I said.

  “Yes ma’am,” I replied.

  “Momma, Bessy won’t let me eat a cookie!” Henry cried as he ran into the room. He saw Hale and froze, his eyes growing large, unaccustomed to a man being present.

  “That’s because it’s almost dinner time. Get back in that kitchen and set the table like I told you.”

  Henry responded “okay,” his eyes never leaving Hale’s. My brother backed away as if he alone knew something we didn’t beforehand. Henry then turned to run. I would remember this happened later. Then it all went back to normal. “Gwirls! There’s a man in yonder!”

  I grinned and looked at Hale. He seemed rather amused. “That was Henry my little brother. He’s cherished the cupcakes you bought.”

  Hale chuckled. “I’ll have to remember to stop by the bakery more often.”

  Momma frowned at that. I wasn’t sure if it was because the idea of Henry eating more sugar was a bad one, or that Hale smothering me was a bother. Either way I decided we needed to get out of there before Bessy made up a reason to come in the room or Milly got home from work.

  “I’ll see you tonight momma.” I then turned to cue the leaving.

  Hale followed and opened the door for me to go through first.

  “Again, it was a pleasure meeting you,” he told momma. She shook her head in response and then left.

  Once we were safely outside I exhaled.

  “You sound relieved.” His tone was amused.

  “Trust me. The worst part of the evening is over. With that I have abundant experience. We were lucky, fortunate and blessed.”

  He laughed. Thought it was funny. He didn’t know I’d defused a bomb. Or how badly that could’ve gone.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I’m not sure exactly what I expected. But this wasn’t it. A burger joint on the Alabama-Tennessee line was definitely not what I had in mind when I thought about where Hale Christopher Jude III would take me on a date. The good thing was I wasn’t over dressed. However, I guess maybe I thought a nice steak place would be his choice. Like, perhaps, All Steak in Cullman. I’d always heard how good it was and some of my friends had gone on dates there. When I was dressing this evening All Steak had been my hope, where I thought Hale would take me.

  This place was not All Steak.

  The expensive smell of leather in Hale’s Mercedes put me in the mindset of country clubs and fancy things. Even if this was our only date I wanted the memory of what that felt like. The burger place had red plastic booths with linoleum tables that looked like they hadn’t been updated since nineteen seventy. Records hung on the wall and Lean On Me played on the radio. He was giddy and happy to be here.

  Hale further surprised me by ordering a cheeseburger with fries. He didn’t look like the kind of man to eat something so greasy. I went with the meatloaf because at places like this that was always the best thing on the menu. He took a sip of his soda, also something I hadn’t imagined him drinking, Hale striking me as an expensive bourbon or brandy guy. Like the ones I read about in books.

  “Are you planning on going to college?” he asked, leaning back in his cheap plastic seat that was faded from the sun on a corner.

  “I…,” and then I stopped.

  This was a line of questioning I hadn’t expected. I figu
red he had some degree from a college that was private with ivy on the walls and with students who wore sweaters and caps. Hearing my honest answer wasn’t going to impress him, but I wasn’t one to lie.

  “No. We can’t afford that. Milly, my older sister, put herself through cosmetology school. She’s a hair stylist now. But I don’t much want to do that. I hate fixing my own hair much less someone else’s. And there ain’t a job for me that would pay full tuition, except maybe dancing on a pole, that would put me through in four years.”

  Hale laughed at that. Then he nodded his head. “Agreed, it would take a good paying job to get you through college.”

  In all honesty I had considered the dancing on a pole thing. Once. But I figured that wasn’t for me. My momma would die of embarrassment and I just couldn’t do that to her. Not to mention my daddy would roll over in his grave. I knew a girl who did it for a year. She flew off of the pole, helicoptered around, and took out the entire front row. Her tips that night came to $1,200 and she only fractured an ankle. That’s a beautiful story.

  “So your plan is what?” he asked me.

  This was an even less impressive answer. Why couldn’t we talk about something else? My future wasn’t what I imagined us discussing. Maybe our taste in music or places we wanted to go? In his case places he had been.

  “I’ll work at the bakery for now. Then one day the right opportunity will come along and I’ll take it. Leave that town behind. Not sure how, but I will. For the moment though, I’ll wait.”

  He fell silent. I took a drink of my sweet tea and wondered if my answer wasn’t good enough. Even if I had to get another job to save money I would get out of Moulton.

  “How long have you wanted to leave Moulton?”

  “As long as I can remember,” I replied. “Maybe longer.”

  He then leaned forward on the table. “I think I might have an idea. Something for you to consider. I don’t expect a decision right away.”

  My heart began beating so hard in my chest I could hear it in my ears. An idea to get out of Moulton? I wanted to say “YES” right now,