There was silence for an infinitesimally split second, and then all hell broke loose.
“I DON’T THINK the Jefferson boys are the men we thought they were,” Katy said to Hannah as they walked home. “Laredo brags, Tex is a ladies’ man and Ranger’s off with the enemy.”
Hannah nodded. “For a minute I thought Ranger might have liked me. He sure seemed to.”
Katy’s heart melted at the sound of sadness in Hannah’s voice. “It’s just that darn Cissy Kisserton. She knocks men down at their kneecaps.”
“But if he’d really liked me, he wouldn’t have even seen her,” Hannah said. “You notice Laredo didn’t so much as shake her hand.”
Katy brightened a little. “I suppose he didn’t.” Then she faded again. “But he’s still a braggart. If I were to fall for another man, I know I’d want one whose actions match his words.”
“That may be the impossible holy grail, Katy. All men pad their résumés. So do women.”
“I don’t.”
“You do,” Hannah insisted. “I’ve noticed that since Laredo hit town, you’re trying to stand like our competition does. Tush out and breasts stuck forward.”
Together, they walked up the back-stair entrance of the salon and went upstairs to Katy’s room. “It’s true,” Katy said. “That’s exactly what I was doing. But if I don’t shift things around, I’ll never stand a chance against a girl like Cissy. She’s got all the moves. And it’s only a matter of time before those girls set their aim on Laredo. I just don’t want to be around when they score a bull’s-eye.”
“Now, now.” Hannah sank onto the bed and stared down at Rose the mouse. “Courage. Laredo seems loftier in morals than most men.”
“I don’t know. I noticed a marked decrease in loftiness when Cissy came by. We brought picnic baskets, and Cissy brought a tight skirt and high heels.”
Hannah frowned slightly. “I thought I might like Ranger, but it was one of those moments where you look at someone and see someone they’re not because you want them to be something else. I must be in a needy phase. I’ll have to be more careful.”
Katy sat beside her, and patted Hannah’s hand. “What happened to daring?”
“That’s you, not me.” Hannah perked up. “Katy, stand up,” she said.
Katy complied, her eyes widening when she saw the scissors Hannah picked up from the table. “Not my hair, Hannah,” Katy protested. “I know you’ve been itching to cut it for a long time, but it’s unwise to give up an inch for a man. Truly, short and sassy isn’t me.”
“It is when you’ve got nice legs you never show,” Hannah said, picking up the hem of Katy’s long dress. She decisively cut up to Katy’s knee.
“Hannah!”
“Hold still, I’m gauging your siren potential. I think another two inches,” Hannah murmured, continuing to cut.
“I’m too short for short dresses,” Katy protested. “I’ll look even more like a baby-faced doll than I do!”
Hannah tossed the red fabric aside. “Nope,” she said happily. “Now that’s enough to give Laredo whiplash.”
“Hannah.” Katy knelt down to look into her friend’s eyes. “Listen to me. Laredo Jefferson is the last man I need. He doesn’t fit the description. In fact, in some ways he reminds me of Stanley.”
Hannah cocked a wry brow. “In what ways? Stand back up so I can gauge the hem length.”
“Laredo’s ogle-meter. And that’s enough to tell me that he’s not even remotely close to…date material.”
“Did Stanley ogle Becky before the two of them met like ships passing in the bridal chamber?”
Katy wrinkled her nose. “Not that I ever noticed. I think that was why I was so shocked.”
“Something doesn’t add up about that. What made those two suddenly jump in each other’s arms?”
“My virginity.”
“No.” Hannah sighed, pulled out a needle from a drawer in Katy’s nightstand and threaded it with red thread. Industriously, she went to work turning up the hem of Katy’s dress by an eighth of an inch. “Linen’s hard to sew by hand,” she murmured. “I’m going to take tiny stitches, so stand very still.”
“Don’t you need a chalk or tape?”
“This will do for the lunch hour. I need you to concentrate. Did you ever tell Becky anything about Stanley?”
“I told her everything! She was my best friend, my maid of honor.”
“Did you tell her anything personal? Like, oh, that you two hadn’t slept together?”
“Everybody knew that, even my mother. We had a nine-month proper engagement. Stanley used to say he was proud to be marrying a virgin.” She wrinkled her forehead.
“Don’t do that. Your face will look like a race track,” Hannah instructed.
“I told Becky everything a girl tells her best friend. Just like I tell you. She also knew that Stanley didn’t like to kiss me.”
Hannah stopped sewing. “What?”
“Stanley didn’t like to kiss me. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Hannah shook her head. “Why didn’t he?”
“He said it was too much temptation, since we couldn’t…um, you know.”
“And Stanley’s family is wealthy?”
“Right. Stanley Peter St. Collin III, of St. Collin Faucets and Hinges.”
“Oh, of course. Naturally.” Hannah grimaced. “And Becky’s family was where on the social register?”
“Well, way below ours, if you must use social register terms. Her mom and dad divorced a long time ago, when she was a child. And her mom worked as a waitress at night to make ends meet. Becky worked two jobs, too, after we graduated from high school.”
“And your parents were the Goodnights of Goodnight Protective Arms, starting with well-heeled British immigrant parents and going back three pedigreed generations in your hometown. And you dutifully and impressively went to college and obtained a degree in chemistry.”
“Well, it was the easiest thing to do,” Katy said. “Chemistry is much easier than economics or something.” She shuddered. “Columns of figures and business principles, or putting cool stuff like hydrogen chloride into test tubes and seeing what blows up. Protons. Dissection. No contest there, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. I can see where chemistry is the easy answer. Miles and miles of chemical configurations.” Hannah went back to sewing.
“After I sort myself out—and I’m just about done, thanks to Miss Delilah—I’m going to teach chemistry at Duke in North Carolina in the fall. Of course, my original plan was to marry Stanley and become a perfectly manicured, Mrs. St. Collin III. Luckily, I’d sent out lots of applications after I graduated from college and before Stanley proposed. He didn’t like me interviewing at Duke. Did I tell you that I was invited to interview at Cornell, too?”
“Peachy. Turn.” Hannah moved the needle in and out without glancing up. “These pretty legs are wasted on a chem prof.
“So, Duke in the fall.”
“Yes.” Katy sighed. “I should never have given up chemical calculations for a man.”
“Not Stanley, anyway. But you can’t throw marriage overboard and closet yourself in a lab.”
“Look at me, Hannah, please.”
Hannah complied, and Katy smiled at her friend.
“You have all been wonderful to me. But it’s time for me to strike out on my own and realize my true potential. I’m not man savvy. I’m not sophisticated. I spent too many years studying while my girlfriends were hanging out at frat houses to have learned the feminine ropes. If life is based on sexual chemistry, I got an F in the sexual and an A plus in the chemistry. But being smart means I can take care of myself. I think I might have gotten a little nervous about my life, and when Stanley proposed, I jumped at it. Maybe I didn’t want to be the smartest virgin spinster.” She sighed, looking down for just a moment. “In a way, Stanley dumping me at the altar was the best thing that could have happened. It made me realize I’m much safer if I just rely on myself.”
Hannah shook her head. “I think if you hadn’t told Becky that Stanley didn’t like to kiss you, she still would have stolen him. She needed a way out of her life, and you only thought you did. I think you subconsciously gave her the invitation to steal him.”
