You're Busting My Nuptials (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 2) (8 page)

“What? Give him a job to work his ass off? You know how big Nana’s yard is. He’ll be there a while.”

“Yeah, still—it was nice,” Tizzy said, and saw Synola’s eyes soften.

“Where does the Scroggins boy live?” Jinx asked.

“Castleberry Street.”

“Then, let’s roll. “I’ll ride with y’all this time.”

A sense of urgency ran through Tizzy’s blood. The weather report said a Blue Northern was coming and the news caused her stomach to jitter. She needed to go faster, but time was her enemy. The longer Ridge remained missing, the greater the chance, she stopped herself. She needed to stay positive and not allow doubt and pessimism join forces. No, she had to be as strong as she was determined.

After parking, Tizzy and Jinx got out of the car, while Synola and Rayann remained inside. Tizzy convinced Jinx to let her do the talking this time. Luckily, Denny Kinslow was still at Lance’s house. Both boys
were in the yard raking leaves.

Tizzy approached the boys and offered her best smile and thought about produce. Denny, a string bean of a kid, had a mop of strawberry blonde hair tussled above eyes the color of blueberries. Not gray, but not exactly blue either. She decided they would break a lot of hearts someday.

Lance, short and pudgy with a goofy smile, paled in comparison. A sprinkle of freckles tracked across his nose like a trail of ants on their way to a picnic. He would definitely jump off a cliff if everyone else did.

“Lance? I’m Tizzy Donovan. May I talk to you boys a minute?”

Tizzy smoothed her hands over her black turtle neck sweater. One of her favorites, it clung to her body and covered the waist of her skinny leg jeans, which were neatly tucked into leather knee boots. The wind blew a strand of her hair across her face and she pushed it behind her ear. When Lance’s eyes drifted from her mouth, to her boobs, she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Lance?” she repeated.

“Uh—oh, yeah,” he said, lifting his eyes up and dropping the rake.

“You’re not in trouble, okay? I understand you boys toilet-papered the Hendly’s house Saturday morning.”

Both boys exchanged looks, and Denny hooked his fingers in his belt loops. “Who told you that?”

“Jimmy Wayne. He said y’all saw a couple of trucks drive by while you were there. Did either of you get a look at the license plates or the drivers?”

Denny shifted his weight from side to side, and his eyes went to Tizzy’s breasts.

“Denny? You were saying?” Tizzy asked, snapping him back to the subject.

“Oh, we hid until they went past, but when they braked at the stop sign, I peeked out and saw a man and a woman in the black truck. In the white one, I think there was just a man.”

“Think hard,” she said. “Did y’all notice any bumper stickers, or damage to the trucks? Anything unusual?”

Both boys zeroed in on her chest again.

Tizzy snapped her fingers. “Hey, up here,” she said, pointing to her face.

The boys jerked their heads up. “No, that’s all,” Denny said and Lance nodded.

Jinx stepped forward. “What about make or model?”

Lance turned his attention to Jinx. “The white one was a Chevy, fairly new. The black one was older and a Ford. I don’t know what year.”

“Thank you. You’ve been helpful,” Tizzy said.

Back in the car, Jinx’s phone chirped and broke the silence. “Hey, Bubba, give me some news I can use.” He paused and listened for a few seconds, then said, “Okay, I’ll tell her. Thanks, man.”

Tizzy glanced over her shoulder. “What was that about?”

“Bubba got the report back on Ridge’s phone and GPS. The last location shown on the positioning system indicated east about two miles out of town, then nothing. The last time the phone pinged was within the vicinity of Browning house.”

“So what does that mean exactly?” Tizzy asked.

“More than likely, the GPS was disabled. Bubba drove out to the location and didn’t find anything. It’s probably still in the truck, just not working. As for the Phone,” he said, as they pulled into Tizzy’s drive, “if it was in the house, your forensics guy, Ted, would have found it. So, let’s spread out and cover the outside grounds.”

Jinx assigned each girl an area and the search got underway. They started at the property line and worked their way back toward the house. After a half-hour, they were finished, with no results, but Jinx
decided to make one more sweep.

Within a few minutes, he hit pay dirt. Next to the house, at the base of the rain gutter, near the back steps, he found the phone half-buried in a mound of leaves.

The discovery of the phone gave Tizzy a ray of hope. On their way out of town, they dropped the cell by the police station and headed toward Eldora’s house.

She lived a good ten miles out in the country on a dead-end road. Tizzy turned onto county road ten-thirty and glanced out into an open field where she used to play.

The
buzzard tree
, its limbs gnarled and naked, struck an eerie pose against the haze of twilight. As a child, she believed the oak possessed mystical powers. And now, as the black birds swooped in to roost on the exposed branches, she was convinced.

They swirled above in a cloud of ebony feathers, the span of their wings filled the sky as they glided in to claim their place for the night.

She couldn’t help but wish a make-believe potion of chicken feathers, Polk Salad, and branch water would work to bring Ridge back. The combination conjured up many an imagined prince when she, Rayann, and Synola performed childhood rituals there. The old tree provided the perfect entry to rumored witch, Eldora Sheffield’s house.

Tizzy wasn’t sure about the visit and the results she might get. At this point, she wasn’t sure about anything. The thought of
channeling
didn’t upset her. She had a long history dealing with the dearly departed. After all, she’d been communicating with the dead for so long, it was second nature.

She didn’t consider death as the worst thing that could happen, at least not in one’s own life. For those left behind, yes, loss was one of the most awful experiences and she’d already buried two grandfathers, a grandmother, and a husband. She shuddered at the thought of adding Ridge to the list.

Synola’s voice brought her back to reality. “Lawd, look at them birds. That’s some scary stuff.”

Jinx slid his hand across the seat to take hers and smiled. “You can scoot closer to me if you’re afraid.”

Synola dipped her head down, rolled her eyes up, and pulled her hand away. “Whut? You think your Whippoorwill ass can keep me safe? You think you’re like designer shoes, don’t you? Every woman can’t wait to try you on.”

“You know, Cupcake, you’ve got a real problem. I make a sincere offer and you just turn it around.”

Rayann snapped her head back toward them. “Why don’t you two just do it already?”

“I’d rather be stung to death by a bunch of piss ants,” Synola hissed.

“Buttercup, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot. Let’s start over. Tizzy tells me you’re a hair dresser.”

“Humph, I haven’t done that in years. I’m a writer.”

“Really? Anything I might have read?”

“I doubt it. Have you ever bought any Luscious Legs Jeans?”

“Uh, I’m confused.”

“So am I,” Rayann agreed.

“I write hang-tags for them. Those cards attached to the garment saying things like,
Want legs that go on forever? Luscious Legs stretch your stems and buffs your bootie for a fit that puts a strut in your step.”

“Oh my Lord! You wrote that?” Rayann shrieked.

“Yep. I get inspiration everywhere.” Synola pulled a small notebook from her purse and flipped the pages. “Listen to these.
Luscious Legs, a lesson in booty behavior—Luscious Legs, the perfect fit for sensuous bodies.
What do y’all think?”

Jinx twisted his mouth around. “A lesson in booty behavior? What the hell does that mean?”

“They fit so good, it’s like they teaching your ass how to move, fool,” Synola snipped.

“Still makes no sense, Babe.”

“What the hell do you know anyway?” She turned her attention to the front seat. “Y’all get it, don’t you?”

They both nodded. “I really like the one about the sensuous body,” Tizzy said.

“Yeah, I got that from Mr. E’s prayer. Anyway, I recently picked up a new account. I’m gonna be writing horoscopes for the local newspaper. Plus, your Nana asked me to help with advertising for the new shop.”

Synola flipped some more pages. “Tell me what you think of these.
Get pawsitively great service at Doggie Style.
” She turned another page. “Oh, here’s my favorite.
We desire your business. We offer great service. We guarantee a satisfying shopping
experience. Remember
:
Desire, Service, Satisfaction, Doggie Style. Now open, downtown Brownsboro.”

“Oh dear Lord,” Tizzy said. “I want to talk Nana out of that name. It’s just awful.”

Tizzy craned her neck toward heaven. “The clouds are boiling. That cold front is about to blow in. It’s a good thing we’re here.” She pulled into Eldora’s driveway.

With the rest of the crew behind her, Tizzy knocked. She’d not seen Eldora in a long time. When the old woman opened the door, Tizzy lost her breath. The bulky woman’s hair, short and spiked, looked as if she and
Don King
used the same barber. A gold front tooth shined against the remainder of her pearly whites. Cataracts clouded her eyes.

Strands of beads hung around her neck, topping yards and yards of multi-colored fabric fashioned into a muumuu. The only thing missing was a Mardi-Gras float.

Eldora waved her hands in the air, then took Tizzy’s face and brought her in close. “Child, child, let me look atchoo. Come in this house,” she said, smothering Tizzy between her massive breasts.

Tizzy struggled for release. “How are you, Miss Eldora?”

“Fine, Tizzy. Just fine. Lawd, look how pretty you is,” she said, an octave higher than her normal voice.

“Thank you. You remember my cousin, Jinx Monroe, Sugarpie’s son,” Tizzy said, stepping aside.

“How you?” Eldora asked.

“Fine, ma’am.”

Synola and Rayann stepped forward and Eldora took them both in a bear hug. “Lawd, y’all need some meat on them bones. Y’all too skinny.”

“Auntie Eldora, I work hard to stay this way. Don’t you go trying to fatten me up,” Synola said.

“Girl, don’t nobody like no bone. Even a dog a bury it ever time. Y’all come out here and set at the table. Tizzy, you set next tuh me.”

The group gathered and took their seats.

“Tizzy, I understand yo loss yo man,” the big woman said, as she turned out the light.

“Yes, ma’am. He didn’t show up for our wedding.”

“Well, I’ll do my best, but I don’t always get summin’. You understand?”

Eldora struck a match and spoke as she lit each of three candles. “This is for the Father—the Son—and the Holy Ghost. Bless us with your presence.” She placed the votives in the center of
the table and looked at Tizzy.

“You got anything belong to him?”

“You mean a personal item?”

“Umm-hmmm.”

“I didn’t know I needed one. Oh wait—can it be something he wore for just a few minutes?”

“Yes, child.”

Tizzy reached into her purse and pulled out the jeweler’s box. She flipped open the lid and set it on the table. “These are our wedding bands.”

From her pocket, Eldora produced some small bones, a rattlesnakes’ rattler, a Mercury dime, and two old pennies. She explained as she placed each item on the table next to the candles. “A rattler for good luck—Mercury is the messenger of the gods—Sparrow bones because His eye is always watching—and sometimes,” she said as she stacked the pennies,
“all I get is two-cents worth.”

Eldora removed the rings from the slot and placed one on her little finger and one on Tizzy’s, then laced their fingers together, and instructed the group, “Let’s all join hands.”

Rayann sat on the other side of the old woman. Next to Rayann sat Jinx, then Synola and back to Tizzy. They all focused on the big woman as she closed her eyes and began to sway.

Outside, Tizzy heard the wind pick up and a low, moaning, rumble of thunder in the distance. Her heart twisted like the trees in the head-winds of the approaching storm.

Unconsciously, Tizzy began to sway with the same rhythm as Eldora and quickly the cadence spread to the others. A smooth, quiet hum started deep in the old woman’s throat. Tizzy recognized the tune.
Amazing Grace.

She thought of Gracie and how good Ridge treated her. She wanted to cry, but wouldn
’t allow any tears, at least not yet.

Eldora stiffened, stopped humming, and her e
yes popped open. Tizzy’s heart hammered in her chest, slamming against her ribs. “What? Did you get something?”