Cottonwood Whispers Read Online Free Page A

held out his hand for a solid shake, but even though the air had lightened a bit, some damage had already been done. We were all a little on edge for the rest of that evening, and it wasn’t any less awkward when I walked Luke to the edge of the road.
    “Sorry ’bout all that,” I told him. “You know Daddy. . . .”
    “Oh, sure . . . I know. He didn’t mean nothin’.”
    But I could see by his face, and by the distance he kept between us, that Luke was feeling strange being with me now. Whether Daddy had meant to or not, he had brought to life a situation that hadn’t existed before. Luke had neverseemed to see me as more than a kid sister, but Daddy’s reaction to his gift had, for the first time, identified me as something else entirely. Now the whole possibility hung in the air like the wet heat of that June evening, and there was a wall between us that I’d never known before.
    “Well,” I began tentatively, “thanks, anyway. I really like it.”
    He nodded at me and tipped his hat. “I’ll see you later, Jessie,” he said, and then he moved off with that loping gait of his.
    I watched him until he rounded the corner out of sight, then went back up the walk and plopped down on the porch steps, burying my face in my hands. I heard the screen door open, and I could tell by the pace of the footsteps that it was Gemma.
    “He ain’t gonna be the same around me no more,” I said, my voice muffled.
    She sat down next to me. “Thought you’d like that. Ain’t you always wanted him to see you different?”
    “Not like this. Now he feels all funny, like he can’t be himself around me or nothin’. I can’t believe my daddy.”
    “Didn’t matter if your daddy did it or not, Jessie,” she said. “It was bound to come up someday.”
    “But I don’t want things to change for me and Luke.”
    “Yes, you do. You always have.” She nudged my knee with her own. “Ain’t no changes that ever come easy. But changin’s got to happen, no matter.”
    I knew she was right, but it didn’t make that funny feelingin my stomach go away. I laid my head on her shoulder and tried not to think about it. But that wasn’t any good. Nearly everything I thought about in those days had at least a little piece to do with Luke.

Chapter 3
    Sunday afternoon I was lying on my bed reading a book, so engrossed in it that I only realized Gemma was changing her clothes when she asked me to button her up.
    “Where are you headin’?” I asked as I tossed the book aside and reached to help her.
    “Work, of course. Where else do I wear this old muslin?”
    “You don’t work on Sundays.”
    “I do today. It’s the Hadleys’ anniversary, and they’re havin’ a big party.”
    “Momma know about this? She don’t like nobody workin’ on the Lord’s Day.”
    “She says it’s okay just this once.”
    “How late are you gonna be there?”
    “Till around eight, I guess.”
    “You’re gonna miss fried chicken night,” I told her solemnly.
    “I’ll get somethin’ from the kitchen at the Hadleys’.”
    I promised Gemma I’d save her a chicken wing, but I wasn’t the least bit happy that she wouldn’t be eating it with me. “I’m gonna go pack you up a snack to take with you. Them Hadleys got to be too stingy to give food to the help. You’re lookin’ skinnier’n usual these days.”
    “They feed us well enough, Jessie.”
    “Well, I’m packin’ it anyways,” I said over my shoulder on my way out. “Things are liable to get busy there and I don’t want you forgettin’ to eat, you hear?”
    I packed Gemma a sack with muffins and two boiled eggs, then went outside to sit on the porch and wait for her, setting the sack on the swing beside me. It had been five minutes of waiting and wondering what in tarnation Gemma could be doing to dawdle so long when a fancy black car sped up into our driveway.
    “Joel Hadley!” I spat out like a curse word. “What’s he doin’ here?”
    “Hey there,