Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

“A group of women formed a club about thirty years ago here in town. They call themselves the Sweetwater Belles, and they’ve got their fingers in everything, including the holiday and homecoming parades.”

When two women came in right away, Lettie rolled her eyes toward Tandy and Bryce. Tandy patted him on the back. “The older one is Mary Lou. The tall, blond, younger version of her is Anna Grace. You better think fast because you are about to have to sink or swim.”

Bryce finished putting on his white lab coat and glanced toward the front of the store to see two well-dressed women slide onto the bar stools in front of the soda fountain. The older one was wearing black slacks, a white silk blouse, and her diamond earrings sparkled under the fluorescent lights. If rich was a perfume, she would have reeked of it. The younger of the two was wearing a tight red skirt that showed half her thighs, and high-heeled shoes that matched her skirt. She had that competent air about her, but she didn’t come across as royalty like her mother did.

“Sink or swim!” Tandy said out of the side of her mouth.

“You’re joking, right?” Bryce asked.

“Not in the least.” Tandy patted him on the back. “Mary Lou wanted her daughter to marry a doctor, but she’s decided that a pharmacist will do since Anna Grace has passed the thirty mark.”

Bryce wiped sweat from his brow. “But I only just got here yesterday. You’re pranking me.”

“I wish I was.” Tandy removed her glasses and cleaned them on the tail of her blue scrub top. “I can never locate my glasses in the morning, and when my kids do find them, they leave smudges on the lenses. Someday I’m going to get contacts.”

Bryce wasn’t interested in Tandy’s smudged glasses or her four kids right then. He wanted her to tell him that she was hazing him. “Prank? Yes?”

“Prank. No.” Tandy twisted her brown hair up and secured it with a long clip. “Lettie Betterton called me last night and told me to warn you.”

“But…how…what…” Bryce stammered.

“This is a small town,” Tandy said. “Everyone knows what everyone is doing, who they’re doing it with, and where they did it. We only read the paper, which comes out today by the way, to see who got caught. Anna Grace won’t be subtle, and she won’t take no for an answer. Mary Lou has made up her mind, and when she does, it might as well be set in stone. Nobody crosses a Belle, except Lettie, Nadine, and Cricket. Oh, and Cricket’s sister-in-law, Jennie Sue,” Tandy whispered. “They never come in here for coffee in the morning, so you’ve probably got about five minutes to think up a reason not to do whatever she wants you to do. That is, unless you like what you see.”

Bryce’s neck itched with heat that was fast traveling up from his collar to put a blush on his cheeks. Lord have mercy! He had been a science geek in high school and in college. He’d never been one of those guys that the girls pursued and had no idea how to handle such a thing.

He’d been in town only a couple of days, and he had been brought up not to lie. What was he going to say if she asked him to dinner or to a party? Would not accepting her invitation ruin his business? He sure wished he had time to call his mother, or even his grandmother, and ask them for advice. Even though Bloom Drug Store was the only pharmacy in town, it wasn’t all that far to Sweetwater where folks would have a choice of several places to fill their prescriptions. What if he lost all kinds of customers because he refused to fall down at Anna Grace’s feet and kiss that big turquoise ring he could see sparkling on her finger? No wonder the previous owner gave him such a good deal on the drugstore—the old guy probably got sick and tired of playing small-town politics.

Tandy picked up a bottle of spray and a dust rag. “Ilene is taking her sweet time getting their coffee. She’s trying to give you time to get your ducks in a row, so to speak.”

“Bless her heart and thank you for the warning and for explaining to me about the Belles.” Bryce let out a long breath of air and tried to think of plausible excuses. His mama and daddy had taken him to church every single Sunday from the time he was born until he went to college. Then he went home on weekends that first four years and drove them to church. He sent up a silent prayer asking God to help him out of this big mess.

Before his prayer ended, Lettie and Nadine pushed through the glass door at the front of the store and headed straight back to one of the little bistro tables with the four chairs around it.

“Mornin’, Ilene,” Nadine called out. “Me and Lettie will have our usual. Neither of us wanted to cook breakfast this morning.”

“Two honey buns and two cups of hot chocolate coming right up,” Ilene said.

Anna Grace slid off her bar stool and started toward the back of the store, where the pharmacy was located. There was something about her pasted-on smile and the look in her eyes that let Bryce know Tandy and Ilene were not pranking him.

“Hey, Anna Grace, I heard that you and your dentist boyfriend broke up last week,” Lettie said.

“Is your poor little heart just plumb broken?” Nadine asked.

“No, I broke up with him,” Anna Grace answered.

“Well, honey, if you get down in the dumps, I suggest you watch a good movie. Me and Lettie like all the Home Alone movies when we’re feeling blue. They make us laugh,” Nadine said.