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Miss Taffy’s got her hands full of workers.”
    “Well now, what’s the problem?” Joel asked. “Did I hear you sayin’ Gemma’s got to go now?”
    “I ain’t got to go,” Gemma said quickly.
    “We came to carry her home,” I told him sharply. “My daddy sent us to, and I don’t have no plans on leavin’ till I do what my daddy sent me to do.”
    “That right, Gemma?” Joel asked, his gaze searing through her. When she didn’t answer, he reached out and raised her chin. “I said, that right, Gemma? ’Cause we sure could use your help around here a while longer.”
    Now it was Luke who was getting upset. I could feel it just by standing next to him. He was angry the very first time I ever saw him, and I’d grown to know his anger well. It radiated off of him like heat waves.
    “Seems her daddy wants her fetched home,” Luke told Joel in no uncertain terms. “So I suppose that’s what we’ll do.”
    “I got work to do, Luke Talley,” Gemma barked, her eyes meeting ours for the first time. “I got work, and I intend to finish it.”
    “Then how’ll you get home?” I argued.
    “I ain’t no baby, Jessie. I ain’t got to have a keeper always.”
    “We ain’t got time to argue, and your daddy ought to know what’s best for you.” Luke reached out to take her arm. “Come on. I’m takin’ you home before your daddy worries.”
    Gemma wrenched her arm free, her face painted with an anger I’d never seen aimed at any of us before. “I ain’t got no daddy,” she snapped. “Now get on home and let me do my work.”
    Her smart tone and harsh words made me cringe inside. Gemma had always loved my father, even before he’d taken her in as his own. I’d never heard her say such things about him.
    Luke was about to lay into her; I could tell by the way his jaw tensed up and he hunched his shoulders like an angry cat. But he was interrupted by Joel Hadley.
    “Now, if all this arguin’s about gettin’ Gemma home safe, then I’ll ride her home in my car. Ain’t no sense fussin’ over a problem when it’s so easy to fix.”
    “She ain’t ridin’ home with you, Joel Hadley,” I said. “No sir! I ain’t gonna sit by while you shove my Gemma into no backseat again.”
    Horror spread across Gemma’s face. “You ain’t got no callto be sayin’ those things to my boss, Jessie,” she said, seething resentment turning her voice into a near whisper. “You ain’t got no call to go humiliatin’ me, neither.”
    “I wasn’t humiliatin’ you. I was defendin’ you.”
    “You wasn’t doin’ nothin’ good. I’ll get my ride home with Mr. Hadley, and you can get on out, both of you.” Gemma turned away from us, pausing to say over her shoulder, “I got work to do. You done slowed me up long enough as it is.”
    Joel stayed where he was, a tidy little smirk painted on his face, no doubt finding great satisfaction in our dismay. Then he nodded at us both, tugged the bottom of his dressy jacket down to straighten it, and said, “Y’all have a good evenin’, you hear?”
    Luke’s fists were fixed to his sides, and he had his mouth clenched so tightly I thought his jawbone would pop out of his skin. “You best keep your filthy hands off that girl, Hadley. I swear if I find out you hurt her in some way, I’ll break your scrawny neck with my own two hands.”
    Joel’s hands were in his pockets, and I was sure he had them crammed there to keep us from seeing them shake. He shrugged nonchalantly and forced his eyes to square up with Luke’s. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
    Luke made a quick jerking motion as though he was about to pounce, and Joel jumped back, leaving no doubt of his true fears. It was Luke’s turn to smirk, and he watched Joel with a wicked glare as he turned and followed in Gemma’s path, veering off only to go around to the front door, where Gemma would never have been welcomed.
    My whole body shook from the anger and fear that filled me up