“Yeah. She’s older than me. I think they were in high school together. She happened to mention that he’d come in to Stillwaters.”

“Really.” Mary Beth hoped that sounded nonchalant. Her mind raced with questions. Who was with him? Did he come more than once? When?

“You never met Cherry, but she kinda knows who you are,” Jackie added.

“Because of Parr?”

“Sort of. Bobby Joe too. He used to hang out at the Stillwaters bar before you two got engaged, you know. Sometimes he had dinner.”

“You never told me that.” Jackie was leaving out crucial details, like whether her philandering fiancé had played footsie under the damask tablecloths with Luellen or some other married female. How long that had been going on, she had yet to learn. Did it even matter at this point? She was just glad Bobby Joe had never taken her there. There was nothing worse than a knowing look from a waitress who got to meet all her favorite customer’s dates. Just not at the same time.

“I’m not supposed to talk about the customers,” Jackie said primly. “But of course we all do. The waitresses especially. Now that big brother Parr is back in town, the consensus is that both Westons are super hot, but Parr has the edge.”

“How about that. Maybe I should stop by. How’s the chicken salad?”

“Lethal. You have been warned.” Jackie finished texting.

In more ways than one, Mary Beth thought. “Then I’ll skip it. I see plenty of Parr as it is.”

Jackie led the way down a short corridor to the beauty salon area.

“I was thinking about mani-pedis for both of us. And hot oil treatments to condition our hair and then a shampoo and blowout. What do you say?”

“Bring it on.”

A few days later, Mary Beth felt like the spa day had been nothing more than a wonderful dream. The deep relaxation she’d experienced had ebbed away in mere hours. She was back to doing everything for everyone again, much as she tried to slow down.

She couldn’t complain. Parr was doing even more, especially on the home front. His crew had worked overtime under his direction, and he’d done more than supervise. She’d seen how he could swing a hammer and knew he’d worked as hard as his guys.

Mary Beth almost envied him the opportunity to tear down walls and pound nails. Sounded like a great way to get rid of tension. Now that official release dates had been set for both Alma and Bobby Joe, she felt more irritable than ever. She hadn’t been sleeping well.

She was with Parr in the hospital cafeteria, which was relatively empty between breakfast and lunch, having coffee. She shouldn’t. Too much made her jumpy and this was her third cup of the morning. She blamed it for the fight she seemed to be picking with him over nothing.