Page 53 of Crash Course
Jake snorted. "Whoa, girl. Take it easy."
She peered up at her husband, then let out a laugh. "Right?! Listen to me carrying on." She faced Cilla again. "I get a little excited when it comes to my baby."
In that moment, Cilla loved this woman. Her openness and her ability to poke fun at herself. To own it.
"I envy you," Cilla said. "With what I do, it’s sometimes hard to get excited."
Behind the woman, the screen door came open and a girl—at least Cilla thought it was a girl given her pink jacket—about half the height of the woman stepped onto the porch. She appeared young, barely a teenager and Cilla’s gaze locked onto the scarf covering the child’s head.
Ohmygod.
"Speak of the devil," Sherry said. "This is our Brittney." She paddled her hand at her daughter. "Come on out. I want you to meet someone."
The girl hopped off the porch, her steps quick, her smile wide as a blast of wind blew Cilla’s hair in her eyes. She tucked the wayward strands behind both ears as this apparently bald child charged toward them.
As she came closer, Cilla noted the lack of hair sticking out from beneath the scarf. Focusing on the girl’s large brown eyes, Cilla held out her hand. "Hello. I’m Priscilla."
"Hi. You’re pretty."
Clearly, the girl inherited her mother’s talent for openness.
"In case y’all were wondering," Jake laughed. "She’s my wife’s mini-me."
"She sure is!" Sherry said.
Cilla grinned, enjoying the banter between them. "Thank you," she told Brittney. "So are you."
The child beamed up at her mother and something inside Cilla’s chest caved. Just imploded.
"Thanks," she said. "I like your hair. I have cancer and all my hair fell out, but when it grows back, I’m gonna cut it just like yours."
Cancer.
Oh, no. No. No. No. And Cilla had just told this woman she envied her. Terrible thing to say.
"Britt," Sherry said while Cilla’s intestines went loose, "this is the lady I was telling you about. Mr. Randolph’s daughter? The lawyer in Charlotte. This is her friend, Cruz."
Brittney’s jaw flopped open. "Wow. Cool. What are you doing here?"
Her youthful energy knocked Cilla’s thoughts back to focus and she glanced at Cruz who flashed that killer smile that somehow buoyed her.
"Oh, we’re just looking around."
"If this is about buying the farm," Jake asked, "I’m sorry we’re taking so long to get back to y’all."
"Yes," Sherry said. "You know, we’ve lived here so long and farming is all we know. We can’t decide if we should sell or not. We’d just have to buy another farm and . . ."
Jake touched her arm, silencing her.
"Oh," Cilla said. "That’s not . . ." She stopped talking, remembering Dad's motto.Never apologize. Never explain."Take your time. We’re just looking at the properties surrounding the plant. It’s been so long since I’d been out here, I wanted to see for myself what the layout was."
"We talked to the neighbors," Jake said. "They haven’t heard from your father yet. But I gotta believe he’s looking at that property, too."
She’d have to be careful here. "I’m not sure. I don’t work for the company, so I only know what Dad tells me."
Beside her, Cruz made a show of checking his watch. "I’m sorry to be rude, but we should probably get going."
Bless him. "You’re right." Cilla nodded at Sherry. "I’m sorry to have bothered you. We’ll be on our way."
