“Well I, for one, want a corn dog and some funnel cake,” Annie said. “Or maybe a turkey leg.”
Jordan laughed. “I’m not surprised your wish list involves food.”
Annie pretended to be shocked by her statement. “And what exactly is it that you’re trying to say?”
“Nothing. I love a woman who likes to eat,” she said easily. “I’m going to go work on that sign for the door. Why don’t you call Brandon and see if they need anything for the booth?” she suggested.
“Okay. Surely they’re doing a better business than we are.”
* * *
Annie walked between Jordan and Molly. She wasn’t certain which of them looked more uncomfortable. She knew Jordan didn’t like “hordes of people,” as Molly had described the festival, but she looked nearly terrified as they fought through the crowd.
She bumped Jordan’s shoulder lightly. “You okay?”
“Let’s just say, I’d rather be sitting on our deck drinking a cold beer.”
“Does that mean you want to head to the beer tent?”
“Let’s hit the food booths first.”
Annie again bumped her shoulder. “Thank you.”
Jordan laughed but said nothing.
Annie turned to Molly. “Are any of your friends here?”
“Pretty much everybody at school goes,” she said.
Annie took that to mean that she didn’t really have any close friends. She felt sorry for her. She really liked Molly. She was smart and efficient, but she was also a pleasure to talk to. She had none of the adolescent quirks that Jessica still harbored. But she didn’t want to embarrass Molly, so she said nothing else about would-be friends.
They stopped at the first food booth they came to and Annie looked over the menu. It was mostly barbeque and burgers, two things she was not in the mood for. She shook her head at Jordan’s unasked question and they moved on.
“I see corn dogs,” Molly said, pointing to a booth.
“Jackpot,” Annie said. Without thinking, she linked arms with Jordan and pulled her toward the booth. “Do you like them?”
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I had one.”
“But you’re game?”
“Sure. I’ll try it.”
When Jordan fished out money from her pocket, Annie pushed it away. “My treat. Molly? You want one too?”
“Okay.”
They soon had three fat corn dogs covered in mustard, hers more than Molly’s or Jordan’s. She moaned when she took the first bite. Of all things to crave…corn dogs?
“Pretty good,” Jordan said.
Annie nodded. “Okay, this will hold me for a little while. We can hit the beer tent now.”
“Do you know the bands that are playing?” Jordan asked.
Annie shook her head. “Molly? Do you?”
“One is country music, but I don’t know the other one,” she said.
“Do you have an interest in listening?” Annie asked her.
“If you want to,” Molly said. “I’m only tagging along.”
“Jordan?”
Jordan shrugged. “Sure.” She looked around. “Shouldn’t we at least pop over to our booth, though?”
“Let’s get something to drink first,” she said. “And if we pass a booth with turkey legs, let me know.”
They had no luck with turkey legs, but she did manage to snag a funnel cake along the way. Brandon and Staci were at the booth, and she was happy to see they at least had customers. The new design they had on the Fat Larry T-shirts was apparently a good seller, even though at the store Brandon gave them away in record numbers.
“Busy?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah, it’s been good,” Brandon said. “I take it the store was not.”
“We made maybe five sales all morning,” Jordan said.
“Do you need me to work?” Molly offered.
“Jessica is supposed to come at two,” he said. “Staci just got here. I was about to take a break.”
“We can hang around if you want,” Jordan said.
“I think Molly and Staci can handle it,” Annie countered, seeing the relieved look on Molly’s face.
Jordan apparently saw it too. “Okay. Well, let’s go walk around then. Maybe we’ll run into a turkey leg.”
For the next hour, they mingled with the crowd, going from booth to booth. There were a lot of homemade crafts, some local artists selling their paintings, local photographers with prints and several booths offering handcrafted pottery. But it was a display of wood carvings that drew her.
“Come look at this,” she said. “We could carry some of these in the store.”
Jordan picked up a small carving of a pelican and raised her eyebrows. “Not at this price,” she said, showing it to Annie.
“Wow,” Annie whispered.
They moved on, walking in communal silence, commenting from time to time on the different displays. They soon found themselves at the edge of the festival and near the marina.
“Feel like going?” Jordan asked, motioning to the water. “I haven’t been down here in forever.”
“Sure.”
“When my parents first opened the restaurant, we used to come down here all the time to buy shrimp off the boats,” Jordan said.
“And fish?”
“They’d get their fish from Al’s, down in Fulton. I think they still do,” she said.
“If they had the restaurant, why Fat Larry’s?”
Jordan shook her head. “No, the store came first. But my father had always dreamed of owning his own restaurant. He didn’t have the money so his parents helped them out.”
“The ones who built the beach house?”
Jordan nodded. “My mother’s parents were older when they had her. I think in their forties. So when they retired, they moved to Arizona. Growing up, we rarely saw them,” she said.
“Why Arizona?”
“Both of my mother’s siblings lived there. They were older and already had kids when my parents got married. So they went where the grandkids were.”
“So you were never close to them?”
“No. When I think of family, it’s my dad’s parents. But he’s an only child, so cousins and whatnot are all in Arizona still.”
“They came for the funeral, surely,” Annie said.
“No. And we really didn’t expect them to,” Jordan said. “They’d seen Matt maybe three or four times in their lifetime. And my grandparents, they’re both deceased.”
“So you have all this family in Arizona, yet you really only have your mom and dad,” she said.
“Yeah. But that’s how it’s always been.” Jordan glanced at her. “What about you? I know you’re an only child, but what about aunts and uncles?”
“I have an aunt who lives in Corpus. She divorced, never remarried and never had kids,” she said. “She’s my father’s sister, but she doesn’t come around much. Thanksgiving and Christmas, that’s about it. My mother’s brother lives in Houston. He’s married with four kids, but they’re all younger than me. He’s ten years younger than my mother.”
“So no close relatives for you either?”
“No. Just my parents really.” She was feeling sad again. “And you know how that’s going.”
Jordan put one arm around her shoulder, pulled her closer for a second, then released her. “So let’s have them over for dinner,” she suggested again.
“It could get awkward,” she warned.
“Don’t you think if they knew who the father was, they might feel a little better?”
Annie stopped walking. “I’m not sure. Matt’s gone. It might make it worse.”
“Well, at least they won’t be holding out hope that you’ll marry the father of your baby.”
Annie slapped her arm. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“I’m not making light of Matt’s death,” Jordan said. “But it might make them feel better if they know who the father is rather than thinking it’s some thug you hooked up with in a drunken stupor on a Friday night.”
Annie laughed. “Yeah, now that’s so me.”
“Come on,” Jordan coaxed. “Have them out to the house. They need to get over it. You need to get over it.”