Beneath the Mistletoe: Make-Believe Mistletoe / Christmas Bonus, Strings Attached

Lucy noticed that Joan was looking down at her plate now, though Lucy would bet Joan was paying close attention to the conversation. “You and Andrea didn’t have any children?”

Bobby Ray shook his head, his eyes dimming a bit. “We were never blessed with any. We both loved kids and would’ve liked a houseful if we could’ve had ’em.”

“Children are a blessing,” Pop agreed. “Mother and I raised four of our own and more than a few that we took in along the way. I’m not saying we never had our troubles with any of them, but the good times made up for the bad ones, didn’t they, Mother?”

“Oh, yes, they did,” she concurred. “Hardest part was when we lost our oldest boy in a car accident twenty years ago. We learned then to cherish the moments we have with our loved ones and to never take each other for granted.”

“That’s the way I’ve always felt,” Lucy said. “Probably because I lost my mother when I was young, I’ve always treasured my other family members. Even when my cousins made me so mad I could punch them—and I tried once or twice,” she added with a laugh.

Tricia wanted to contribute to the discussion. “My brother makes me mad sometimes. He calls me dopey-head, and he hides my dolls.”

“Well, you broke my model airplane,” Tyler retorted heatedly, always game for a squabble. “And you are a dopey-head.”

“Am not!”

“Are, too.”

Joan cleared her throat, and both children fell into silence, turning their attention quickly back to their dinners.

Bobby Ray laughed. “That’s the same sort of sound my own mama used to make when I was acting up. She didn’t have to say a word, just gave my brother and me a look, and we knew we were in for it. That little bitty woman could sure swing a mean hickory switch.”

Tricia’s eyes rounded. “What’s a hickory switch?”

“A little bit of history, missy,” Bobby Ray answered with a chuckle. “It’s been replaced with other methods now, but it surely was effective in its time.”

Pop grinned. “I can testify to that. My grandma was the switch swinger in my family, and we learned right quick not to get on her bad side.”

“My teacher gives us frowny-face stickers if we’re bad,” Tricia said, still eager for attention. “Three frowny faces means we can’t go out to recess. I’ve only had one frowny face all year,” she bragged, “and that was because Kevin Perkins pinched me and made me yell at him when we were supposed to be listening to a story.”

Lucy couldn’t help smiling at the little girl’s disgruntled expression. “Kevin Perkins sounds like a brat.”

“He’s okay,” Tricia said. “I told him to be nice to me and he could be one of my boyfriends, so now he doesn’t pinch me anymore.”

That made the adults laugh, except for Joan, who groaned and shook her head.

“Looks like you’re going to have your hands full with this one,” Bobby Ray told Joan sympathetically. “Going to have to beat the boys away with a stick.”

“Maybe I should find a hickory switch, after all,” Joan agreed.

When Joan and Bobby Ray shared a smile, Lucy silently congratulated herself for getting the conversation started. Who knew where this could lead? Bobby Ray and Joan both seemed like nice people. Bobby Ray loved children, and Joan had two who needed a father figure in their lives. It seemed like a great match to Lucy, who had always had better luck matching up her friends than herself.

Maybe she could drop a few hints in Joan’s direction when they were alone again….

She happened to glance toward Banner right then. He was sitting next to her, looking at her in a way that made her wonder if he had guessed what she was thinking. Was that disapproval or merely curiosity she saw in his eyes before he masked his expression and looked back down at his plate?

“Perhaps you’ll play your guitar for us again after dinner,” Miss Annie suggested to Bobby Ray. “You play beautifully. Doesn’t he, Joan?”

Joan looked a bit surprised, but nodded agreeably. “Yes. I enjoyed listening earlier.”

Lucy smiled brightly at Miss Annie, sensing a compatriot. “We’ll all look forward to hearing him again.”

Bobby Ray looked almost shy when he promised that he would play whatever they would like to hear. Lucy was amused to see the faintest tint of pink beneath his bushy beard.

Knowing it took a bit more persistence to get Joan to talk about herself, Lucy turned her attention to the other woman. “You said you live in Mayflower, Joan. Do you work there?”

“No, I work at a bank in Conway. It’s less than fifteen miles from my house, so I don’t have far to commute.”

“My mom’s a loan officer.” Tricia looked proud of herself for knowing the title.

“Think she could lend me a dollar?” Bobby Ray asked with a grin.

Tricia nodded seriously. “But you would have to pay her back.”

“With interest,” Tyler added, proving that he, too, was knowledgeable about his mother’s career. “Like seventy-five cents, maybe.”

“Whew, that’s high interest,” Bobby Ray said, grinning at Joan.

She smiled tentatively back at him. “The rates aren’t quite that high.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Probably uncomfortable at being the center of attention, Joan turned to Lucy. “I don’t think you’ve told us what you do, Lucy.”

“I’m an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. I just finished my first semester there, and I enjoyed it immensely.”

For some reason everyone at the table, with the exception of the children, perhaps, looked surprised by her reply.

“You’re a math professor?” Bobby Ray asked after a moment. “You seem awfully young for that.”

“I’ll be twenty-eight soon. I was always in a hurry to finish the next stage of my education, so I earned my bachelor’s degree by the time I was twenty and my Ph. D. when I was twenty-five. This is what I was anxious to do—teach in a university setting.”

“You’re a doctor!” Miss Annie said. “Isn’t that something.”

“You must have students who aren’t much younger than you are,” Pop commented.

“I have several who are older than I am,” Lucy replied. She glanced at Banner, who was studying her closely again, and she couldn’t begin to read his thoughts.

She didn’t think her profession merited quite the amazement the others had shown, but she did wonder if he was as surprised as they were. She was used to people being startled upon hearing her profession, of course. She knew she looked younger than she was, and she was aware that she didn’t fit any particular stereotypes of a mathematician or a professor.

As far as she was concerned, her career was no different than truck driver or loan officer or woodworker—she had simply found a way to support herself doing something she enjoyed.

So what did Banner think about her career? And why should it matter to her, anyway?

She started to say something to him—she wasn’t sure what it would have been—but he turned away, reaching for Tricia’s empty plate, which he stacked with his own. “Anyone want dessert?” he asked. “The ice cream is melted, I’m afraid, but I have some thaw-and-serve carrot cake that should be ready to eat.”

“I like carrot cake,” Tricia told him eagerly. “Can I have the little frosting carrot on the top?”

“Tricia,” her long-suffering mother admonished. “Take what you are served.”