she looked back at it. “But I won’t dance.” That, to her, was as far as she was willing to concede. She absolutely refused to make a complete fool of herself.
At least she would be among friends, she consoled herself.
For the time being, what Miss Joan had heard seemed to be enough, though she shook her head as if despairing over the young woman. “I guess you can lead the filly to the dance floor, but you can’t make her dance. Still, something is better than nothing, I always say.” She patted Holly’s shoulder. “Good girl. Remember to have fun. That’s an order,” she added with a near growl.
“What did she say?” Laurie asked, venturing forward rather quickly once Miss Joan had made her way to the opposite end of the diner. Laurie looked as if she was dying of curiosity.
Holly began putting down fresh place settings at each table that was no longer occupied. Rather than helping, Laurie just started to follow her around again, oblivious to her obligations as a waitress who was not on a break.
“She told me to go out with you, Cyndy and Reta on Friday,” Holly told her.
Laurie’s eyes all but lit up. They were definitely wider. “Really? How about that? There’s hope for the old girl yet.” Laurie laughed, glancing over her shoulder to where Miss Joan was behind the counter. And then she turned her attention back to Holly. “So you gonna listen?”
Holly was fairly certain that Miss Joan wouldn’t fire her over something as trivial as this, but if she were honest with herself, she wasn’t a hundred percent sure. Miss Joan had been known to do some very strange things in her time, all because she felt she was right. The very last thing Holly wanted was to challenge the woman.
Besides, on the outside chance that Miss Joan had meant what she said, she definitely couldn’t afford to lose her job. Granted, there were other jobs in Forever, but she had gotten comfortable in this one. There was the added fact that Miss Joan allowed her to take leftovers home to her mother and Molly.
It might not seem like a lot to someone else, but she was of a mind that every tiny bit helped. Someday, when she finally got her nursing degree and her courage up to ask Dr. Davenport if he’d hire her as his nurse, she intended to pay Miss Joan back for all the times the older woman had looked the other way and allowed her to bend the rules.
Like the time that her mother and Molly were both sick and she had to stay home to take care of them. Miss Joan not only allowed her to take the two days off, but she paid her for them as if she was at work. And, on top of that, she’d sent over one of the waitresses with soup for her mother and niece, and food for her because, “If I know her, that fool girl will be so busy taking care of her family, she’ll forget to eat herself.”
Miss Joan had been right, Holly recalled. She had been so busy caring for the two patients she’d entirely forgotten to eat.
Miss Joan always covered all the bases, Holly thought with no small amount of affection.
Her eyes dancing, it was obvious to Holly that Laurie was making even more plans for Friday night. The young waitress looked as if she was ready to go now rather than have to wait until the end of the week.
“If you don’t have anything to wear,” Laurie suddenly said, turning toward her, “you can borrow something from my closet. We’re about the same size,” she guesstimated, looking Holly up and down. “I’ll be happy to share anything I’ve got.”
Did Laurie think that she was that poor? “I’ve got a dress,” Holly protested with a touch of indignation she didn’t bother hiding.
“Oh.” Holly’s response had clearly surprised her. “Okay, then you’re all set,” she said happily. “I’ll come by to pick you up at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.”
She didn’t want Laurie going out of her way. “Why don’t I just meet you there?” Holly suggested.
“Because you won’t,” Laurie responded. She looked at her friend. “I know you, Holly, so don’t even go there. I’ll pick you up,” she repeated. “And we’ll have fun,” she promised with feeling. “You’ll see.”
With all the things she had on her mind, Holly thought, she highly doubted it. But she knew better than to say so.
So instead, she forced a quick flash of a smile to her lips, then murmured something about having “inventory to do” as she walked away from Laurie and headed toward the tiny back office.
Chapter Three
Her time factor down to the wire, Holly stared into the small, narrow closet in her bedroom. She’d been staring into it for a couple of minutes now.
It wasn’t as if she was trying to decide what to wear, because there was so much to choose from. There wasn’t. She knew every article of clothing that hung there by heart.
She had exactly one all-purpose dress that she’d worn to her high school graduation, to the funeral of a friend of her mother’s and to a small number of other, lesser occasions. Money was tight. She saw no reason to spend it on something frivolous when there were so many more worthy items that needed to be bought first—like toys that lit up Molly’s eyes and clothes for the girl’s ever-growing little body.
The all-purpose, A-line, navy blue dress was certainly still in decent condition, but she had to secretly admit that part of her wished she’d taken Laurie up on her offer when the waitress had suggested lending her a dress for this evening.
The next moment, Holly shrugged the thought away. Murphy’s wasn’t all that well lit anyway, and besides, she was not looking to impress anyone. She was just giving in and going out tonight so that Laurie and Miss Joan would stop saying she needed to get out more and socialize.
After all, it wasn’t as if she was bored. God knew she had more than enough to keep her busy, and she didn’t feel a lack of anything in her life. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or a husband. Her heart definitely wasn’t up for grabs.
It was already spoken for.
She’d been in love with Ray for as long as she could remember. That wasn’t going to change, and as long as she felt that way, she wasn’t about to go looking for a boyfriend. She wouldn’t feel right about it. Her heart definitely wouldn’t be in it.
She’d never been one of those girls who felt she needed a man at her side to complete her. She knew better than that. She had always been her own person, and that person was as busy as any two or three people had a right to be.
“You know, it doesn’t matter how long you stare into it, nothing new is going to pop up in that closet,” Martha Johnson said as she wheeled herself into her daughter’s small, tidy bedroom.
“I know, Mom,” Holly acknowledged wearily, still staring into her closet. “I was just wondering if it wouldn’t be better all around if I just stayed home tonight.” She certainly didn’t need to dig for excuses. She had plenty of those. “I’ve got that test to study for and Molly’s just getting over a cold—”
“At this age, Molly’s always going to be getting over a cold,” Martha pointed out patiently. “And from what I understand, the beauty of taking those courses in the isolating privacy of your own room is that you can take those tests whenever you want—on your own schedule, not the teacher’s or whoever it is that’s hiding on the other side of that monitor. Anyway, you’re going and that’s that.”
“Mom, what if Molly wakes up—” She got no further. Her mother had raised her hand, calling for silence.
“So she wakes up. I’ll handle it. Don’t make me feel any more of an invalid than this chair already makes me feel, Holly,” she pleaded. “Besides, you wouldn’t want this dress to go to waste, would you?”
“What dress?” Holly asked, finally turning around to look at her mother.
That was when she saw it. What her mother was talking about. There on her lap,