Velma lowered her voice and leaned forward. “She never did want to remarry that awful husband of hers, Billie, you know. Her mother, Ida, and her sister, June, pressured her, so May went ahead with it, what with North Carolina not being a common law state, and all the problems with inheritance and her kids and all.”

“I had no idea. May smiled her way through the wedding ceremony,” Grace said.

“Not in her heart, she wasn’t smiling.” Then Velma asked, “May joined your red hat group, didn’t she? Didn’t she tell you none of this?”

“Yes, she joined our red hat group, but no, she hasn’t said much of anything. We’re not a therapy group. We’re into having fun and enjoying life.”

“Well, she’s sure changed, turned into one sassy woman. First she remarries Billie and then she ups and leaves him. I hear her divorce will be final soon. Folks say she’s been talking to Pastor Ledbetter—getting counseling is what they say.”

“I would think she’d need some help at a time like this,” Grace replied.

Velma’s eyebrows arched. “Depends what kind of help. Some people think it’s more than his good counsel she’s after.”

“What do you mean?”

Velma leaned across the table. “I mean, of a more personal kind. Some folks who’ve seen them together get the feeling it’s more than a pastor counseling a member of the church, and she’s not been to church since she left Billie.”

Grace would have expected this kind of gossip from their neighbor Alma, but coming from Velma it surprised her. “I can’t imagine, if it’s anything intimate, that they’d want to be seen in a public place. If there were hanky-panky going on, wouldn’t they prefer privacy?”

“Maybe so. But some people deliberately go out so as folks will see ’em and think nothing of it—throw them off guard, you know.” Velma’s eyes narrowed and her face flushed. She set down her fork and crossed her arms over her chest.

Grace had always considered Velma to be open-minded and fair, and she had never heard Velma gossip. What was going on? Did Velma dislike May? Why was she so upset, even vitriolic, about what May did or didn’t do?

“There’s those who think May’s gotten real standoffish since she’s joined up with the red hat ladies,” Velma said.