Cottonwood Whispers Read Online Free Page B

Jessilyn,” he called through the open window without any true kindness in his words. “Gemma ready for work?”
    I wrinkled my nose. Since when did Joel Hadley start keeping tabs on Gemma?
    I got up from my seat on the porch and ambled over to his car with my hands in my pockets, inspecting his expression.“What d’you want to know for? She’ll make it to work on time, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    “I’m sure she will,” he said with exaggerated charm, though he was having to put on a better show than usual, I could see. Joel Hadley didn’t like me any better than he liked a toothache, and his eyes confirmed it even if his smile didn’t. “Gemma’s always on time, no doubt.”
    “Well then, what do you want to know for?”
    “I figured on givin’ her a ride, is all. Ain’t no reason for her to walk the whole long way with me passin’ by here anyhow.”
    I eyed him up one side and down the other, and my inspection did nothing but reaffirm the fact that I didn’t trust him one bit. There wasn’t one single Hadley who would give a ride to a colored girl.
    “Joel Hadley, you got somethin’ funny up your sleeve?” I asked him bluntly.
    “What are you talkin’ about?”
    “There ain’t never been no time before when you’ve asked to give Gemma a ride. Seems to me most times you’re up to somethin’, anyway. Ain’t no reason for this time to be different.”
    His face got a little red, and his charm began to melt away to reveal the Joel Hadley I knew. “Now, Jessilyn, why don’t you just go on in and tell Gemma I’m here for her?” he asked, his tone restrained. “I ain’t got time to sit here chitchattin’ with you. Go do somethin’ useful for a change.”
    “I ain’t lettin’ Gemma in no automobile with you. No sir. You’re about as trustworthy as a snake.”
    “You got a tongue on you, Jessilyn,” he barked. “Somebody’s gonna clip it out one day, you keep that up.”
    “Jessie,” Gemma called from the porch, “you go on back inside.”
    I bristled at her tone and turned to stare at her in defiance. I took several steps toward the porch. “Since when did you become my momma? You ain’t got no right to order me around.”
    “And you ain’t got no right to go makin’ nasty comments to my boss. You want to get me fired?”
    “Way I figure it, that ain’t such a bad idea. I don’t trust them Hadleys. Not a one. And definitely not that one.”
    She started to skirt past me, but I grabbed her arm. “You can’t be thinkin’ of gettin’ in there with him.”
    “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with savin’ my feet from the walk.”
    “There is if you put yourself in trouble for it.”
    “There ain’t no trouble,” she hissed back at me. “He’s just givin’ me a ride.”
    “Since when do rich white men give rides to colored girls, Gemma? You tell me that.”
    She stood there for a long moment, her eyes averted from mine, before she yanked her arm free. “I’m gonna be late,” she muttered.
    “I’m gettin’ Daddy. He’ll never let you go.”
    “Your momma and daddy are on their Sunday drive, and you know it.”
    I stood there on that porch helplessly and watched Joel nod at Gemma as she approached him. He got out and, like a perfect Southern gentleman, opened the door for her.
    Only it was the back door, not the front.
    Gemma paused for a minute, and I could tell by her body language that Joel’s actions had taken her by surprise and cut her to the quick. But after a moment’s hesitation she forced a smile and climbed quickly inside.
    My cheeks blazed at the idea of Joel Hadley shoving my Gemma in the backseat like we shoved our dog, Duke, into the truck bed. “At least she’s further away from him back there,” I growled to myself as they drove off.
    I was still stewing when Luke Talley walked up a few minutes later, minus his usual cheerful whistle. The absence of those tunes made the air between us seem heavy, just as it had the night before,