Page 27 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“She’ll take someone’s eye out if those break free,” JD said under his breath, which made Zoe giggle.

Delores Heckler was voted the student most likely to fail at school, as she spent her time making eyes and a lot more with the boys and doing no work. She then fell in love with Red Heckler, and they married. Five kids later, they owned a large house and the bar and were a success story for anyone looking.

Dee, as she preferred to be called, wore tight-fitted clothes, had big hair, and was exactly who she wanted to be. Zoe envied her that. She’d thought she’d known who she wanted to be too, but now she wasn’t sure because her life had derailed.

“Jesus, Delores, don’t shimmy,” JD said under his breath.

“I love that she’s always been exactly who she wants to be,” Zoe surprised herself by saying. “Even if it’s not who I’d want to be.”

“Yeah, it takes a brave person to choose a path and stick to it,” JD said.

“Are you who you want to be?” she asked as they started moving. JD was leading, and it felt easier asking him these questions when he wasn’t looking at her.

“I am now. You?” He cut through the other dancers and circled back. Zoe could do this in her sleep, because she’d been doing it as long as she’d been walking.

“Who’s Henry?”

“Answer the question, Zoe.”

“What question?” Sawyer said as JD passed him.

“I was talking to your sister, not you, shithead.”

“We don’t like to swear when we dance. There is enough cussing in our everyday lives that we can hold off while we respect Shelly.”

“Sorry, Mrs. C,” JD said to the woman clapping to the beat beside the circle.

Zoe managed to swallow her giggle. JD shot her a dark look.

“You sure about her color, Jessie?” Nina shrieked, even though she was only a foot from the man.

“I have the timer in my pocket, Nina,” Jessie replied in a more subdued tone. Short, with the most beautiful head of red hair Zoe had ever seen, the man was a perfect fit for the Gnat. Nothing rattled him.

“Zoe, if you have the time to call by, June and I want your opinion on our furnishings. We’re changing things up,” Bart Matilda said. “We’re both no good with colors, and we could do with your expertise.”

“Ah, sure,” she said when nothing else came to mind. She looked at Mrs. C, but the woman didn’t seem worried that Bart was asking Zoe and not her. In fact, she was smiling, which told Zoe she’d orchestrated the whole thing.

“I’m retiring, Zoe, like I told you. I won’t be doing the town’s furnishings anymore,” she said. “You have what it takes now you’ve been away and studied. Petticoat Homeware would be a good fit for you now.”

JD snorted softly. “It’s like that’s a step up or something.”

“To them it is,” Zoe whispered so none of the other dancers could hear.

“That sounds like a grand idea, Zoe,” Bart Matilda said, smiling. “We’ll pay for your service, of course.”

“Oh, there’s?—”

“She’ll let you know what it costs,” JD said.

“I was just going to say that,” Sawyer added. “You need work, and this could be a start. Maybe consider what Mrs. C said.”

“I’m not staying, Sawyer.”

“I know, but this could be something to fill in your time before you tell me why you left Chicago.”

“I can’t take on a shop for a few months, and we’ve had this discussion. I’m not telling you.”

“I’ll pay you to work for me. You could do the days for a while until I’m feeling better,” Mrs. C said. “And you need to tell your brother why you left Chicago, and then the rest of us, dear.”

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