Playing by the Rules: A Novel Read Online Free

shy,” Nana said, returning to the kitchen, going to the sink to wash off the sticky fruit-juice residue from her hands.
    “Ain’t nothing bashful about Clement, so stop making things up to keep yourself occupied ‘cause your granddaughter ain’t here,” Granddaddy said, turning off the electric mixer so he could hear himself speak. “That’s exactly what I mean about overcompensating. You’ve got two other grandchildren. I’m sure they’d appreciate your noticing them instead of mourning the missing.” He unscrewed the cap to the Old Crow Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and poured it slowly into the mixture.
    Nana knew her husband was right. She had to focus on what she had instead of what she lacked. It wasn’t that she was missing herbs to make Clement pay more attention to Theola. She was missing her granddaughter, Faye. Her other granddaughter, Louise, still lived in Lemon City and would be bringing that fine young man Medford to Christmas dinner, and she was hoping to have a new addition to her clan. Her grandson Billy was her heart and Nana hoped his wife, Elvira, was doing everything possible to make her a great-grandmother, which would make her family expand even more. Yes. Everything was perfect, she thought to herself. She should think about her family growing and not diminishing. It was time to think about tomorrow instead of yesterday.
    “Wouldn’t it be nice if Medford proposed to Louise and gave her some karats for Christmas, and I don’t mean the kind you eat?” Nana took the small hammer from her apron, held another hairy coconut shell firmly in place, and cracked it open.
    “No, it wouldn’t,” said Granddaddy, stirring in the whipping cream. “They just started courtin’ seriously last month. Don’t rush things. It’s bad luck, and Lord knows we don’t need any more of that.” He poured the egg whites into a separate bowl and started beating them until the peaks were stiff.
    “At least that way,” Nana added, “I’d have two of my grandchildren guaranteed to be here with me. Louise would stay because Medford wouldn’t dare think of leaving Lemon City,” she said with confidence. “And Billy ain’t going nowhere ‘cause he and Elvira are gonna have their babies born and raised right here.” Nana’s smile took over her face, thinking about the future. Then she mixed the ingredients in the ambrosia and with every movement of her arm, she increased her strokes as if the power she put behind the wooden spoon would help make the marriage proposal she had predicted and the grandbabies she wanted come true. “Don’t you want to see your oldest granddaughter married?”
    “Of course, I do,” said Granddaddy. “But she’s gotta see it first.” He sprinkled nutmeg and cinnamon to his milky batch, then added a dash of anisette. Proud of the outcome of this year’s holiday tradition, he poured himself a small glass to sample.
    “They’ve been together practically every day since the storm,” Nana confirmed. “That was before Thanksgiving.”
    “And that’s a start,” said Granddaddy. “Let’s just wait and be patient and see how things turn out.” He saved a small taste of eggnog for his wife and put the glass to her lips for her approval.
    “But you know they’ve been secretly sweet on each other for years.” Nana took a sip and frowned at the taste of whiskey. “Ever since she was little and he was a little bit older.”
    “That’s the truth, and we know it. Let’s just hope they realize it too.” He licked a spot of eggnog off the corner of his wife’s mouth, and that not only made her blush, but seemed to put her at ease.
    Two women were on Medford’s mind right now as he was driving along Route 23 behind the wheel of his 1972 black Ford Bronco, four-wheel-drive pickup truck alongside Clement on their way to the Dunlaps for Christmas dinner. They weighed so heavily on him that he didn’t have enough energy to put together words and form them into