Read Barbecue and Bad News for Free Online Page A

horses. I don’t know what else is coming to our town, but things are changin’.”
    “Can I walk there from here?”
    “Where?”
    “The concert.”
    “Well, you could, but you’d be tuckered out and probably miss the whole darn thing if you tried to walk all that way.”
    “Hmm. Okay, well I guess I’ll go back down to the garage and pick up my car, then.”
    “Your car down at Bobby’s?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Just keep heading north and you’ll see all the signs. Probably hear the racket. No one plays good music anymore. Not since Sinatra. Even Tony Bennett has abandoned the good ranks, doing duets with those pop stars. What the hell is that all about?”
    She stifled a laugh at the ol’ curmudgeon. “Probably just trying to stay relevant in changing times.”
    “Change. Someone ought to ban that word from the dictionary. Nothing good can come of change.”
    She sure hoped he was wrong, because she was ready for a change. A big one.

    Evelyn: IDEA! Call me now.
    The day Evelyn became text savvy had been a bad day for Savannah.
    The woman was relentless with the number of text messages she sent out. It hadn’t taken Savannah long to learn that Evelyn considered everything an emergency. When she’d first started working for her, Savannah would drop everything and practically fling herself on the phone to respond to Evelyn’s call-me-now requests. Not anymore. Now she’d known her long enough to know that she could respond when it was convenient . . . no matter how urgent it sounded. If it was really an emergency, Evelyn would put a #911 on the text.
    Savannah pressed the button on her phone to speed-dial Evelyn. “What’s up?”
    “I just had the best idea.”
    “Uh-oh. Your ideas always mean more work for me.”
    “It’s only because you’re the best, dear. Take it as the compliment it’s meant to be.”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    “I need that filler piece, but we need more than just one little story.”
    “The one I didn’t agree to yet, you mean?”
    “Oh, you’ll do it. Quit being hard to get along with. You write that story about your seven-over speeding ticket by that amazingly hot piece of ass. It’ll be funny. People love to hate cops. You know I’m right. Then, follow up with maybe a series that I can run once a week about small-town mishaps.”
    “Look, I’m so over the Advice from Van thing that I want to poke my eyes out rather than read another e-mail to that account. You promised you’d get me off of that assignment.”
    “Maybe this will be your chance, and you just might score a nice date with that cute man behind the badge if you try hard enough in that little town. Where are you again?”
    “Adams Grove. And you know I don’t want a date.”
    “Oh, live a little, girl. You don’t have to marry the guy. Just have a little fun. You can’t just work all the time.”
    “Why not? You do.”
    “And I’m old enough to be your mother’s older sister. Much older. Besides, I already had the love of my life. I outlived him, but there won’t be another like him. This is a choice I’ve made. You don’t even have a social life.”
    “I have a social life.” Savannah didn’t like having this conversation with Evelyn. It wasn’t the first time they’d had it.
    “Uh-huh. Going out for drinks once in a while and playing cards with the guys once a month is not a social life.”
    Savannah pushed up her sleeves, biting back any argument. Problem was, Evelyn was half-right, but she really liked it the way it was.
    Evelyn’s voice held that don’t-be-a-fool tone. “You’re too young to not find true love.”
    “I’m making a choice too, and I’m happy with it. I’d be happier if you’d get me off the Van column, though.”
    “Anyway . . . here’s what I’ve got for you.”
    Savannah could hear the papers shuffling on Evelyn’s desk. She was on speaker—as usual.
    “While you were watching the parade, I made contact with a very nice man. His name is . . . here it