Bring Your Own Poison Read Online Free Page A

herself.
    â€œWhat was that?” Jack said. “Are you laughing at me?” He pretended to be outraged.
    â€œNo, honey, just at myself,” Wanda Nell said. “Look, this party I’ve got to work is supposed to start around seven-thirty, so make sure you get there earlier than that. Otherwise I won’t be able to spend much time with you.”
    â€œI’ll be there around six-thirty,” Jack said, “and I’ll make sure you have time for me, if I have to bribe Melvin to do it.”
    Wanda Nell laughed again. Melvin Arbuckle, her boss at the Kountry Kitchen, liked Jack, and the two men got along well. That was a good thing, because Melvin had more than once expressed interest in Wanda Nell himself. Not since Jack had entered the picture, though, and Wanda Nell was grateful for that. Melvin had been a good friend to her, and she would hate to lose that friendship, not to mention her job.
    â€œI’ll see you then,” she said. “Now I better be getting up and into the shower, or I’ll be late.”
    â€œOkay, darling,” Jack said. “Love you. Drive carefully.”
    â€œI will,” Wanda Nell promised. She cleared her throat. “Love you, too.” She hung up the phone.
    She still had trouble sometimes saying those words to Jack. They came more easily to him, but for her they were so loaded with meaning she couldn’t say them any old time. She knew it all had to do with commitment, and she was trying to be better about it. She had a hard time relying on a man after the years of marriage to Bobby Ray Culpepper, when she could never count on him for much of anything. She was used to relying on herself, and that was a hard habit to break. She had to keep reminding herself that Jack was very different from Bobby Ray, and that was a good thing.
    A good thing she was determined to hang on to, Lord willing. She got out of bed and was soon in the shower.
    By five o’clock she was dressed, her makeup done, and heading out the door to her car. The girls and Lavon wouldn’t be home for a little while yet. After having lunch at old Mrs. Culpepper’s house on Main Street, they were going to a movie.
    Wanda Nell opened the door of her little red Chevy Cavalier and slid inside. The weather was still cool, but the warm April sun had heated up the interior of her car. She rolled her window halfway down before she headed out.
    The Kozy Kove Trailer Park, where Wanda Nell lived, was situated close to the lake, and as she drove toward town, Wanda Nell passed a fair amount of traffic headed that way. It would be a nice night for a picnic or a barbecue at the lake, and suddenly Wanda Nell was envious. She’d much rather be doing that than going in to work tonight.
    Shaking her head, Wanda Nell concentrated on driving to work. Nothing was far from anything else in Tullahoma, and it took her only about ten minutes to get to the Kountry Kitchen. She parked her car, grabbed her purse, and headed into the restaurant.
    Melvin Arbuckle looked up from the cash register as she came through the front door. He smiled in welcome. “You’re a little early,” he said, glancing at his watch. “It’s not even five-fifteen yet.”
    â€œJust couldn’t wait to get here, I guess,” Wanda Nell said. She slipped behind the counter and passed him on her way to the room in the back where the waitresses had space to keep their purses and other personal belongings.
    â€œGlad to hear it,” Melvin said.
    â€œHi, Ruby,” Wanda Nell said, pausing to greet the other waitress.
    â€œHey, Wanda Nell,” Ruby Garner said, her young face breaking into a wide smile. She was a sweet, smart girl, and Wanda Nell was very fond of her. She was attending the local junior college and working at the Kountry Kitchen to pay her way through.
    â€œI’ll be right back,” Wanda Nell said. She paused in the kitchen to speak to the cook and the