Her mother’s boyfriend for the past ten years was a grifter named Gene, who spent more time in lockup than he did in the house he shared with Cheryl.

“My birthday isn’t until November,” Celia said. “And how would Gene get his hands on Louis Vuitton handbags?”

“He’s got his ways,” Cheryl said airily. “Anyway, it’s too bad about your job. I was thinking it might be nice to come visit you. I’ve never been to North Carolina.”

“Why would you suddenly want to visit me now?” Celia asked. “Did Gene kick you out of the house?”

“Hell, no!” Cheryl said. “I just thought it would be nice to see you. It’s been a real long time.”

Not long enough, Celia thought. It had been six years and counting. She’d dropped in and out of college and was waitressing at a steakhouse when a good customer there offered her a job as a traveling sales rep for a company that sold a line of hospital linens. She’d “borrowed” her sister Veronica’s car and headed out that night for St. Louis, with nothing more than the clothes on her back. The wad of cash she’d found in the glove box was a pleasant and unexpected bonus.

“Now is not a good time,” Celia said flatly.

Never would be the perfect time to be reunited with her family.

“Maybe you could come on back here, while you’re between jobs,” Cheryl suggested. “There’s plenty of room in the house. You hadn’t even seen Jaymie’s twins, and they’re almost six. And Terri’s boy Richie, he’s a big old thing. Nearly twelve, I think. He’s already started shaving, you believe that? And Jasmine, she’s nine and just as tall as her mama.”

“Are they all still living with Daddy in the double-wide?” Celia asked.

“I don’t ask,” Cheryl said. “Those girls don’t care nothin’ about their mama. I don’t even get a card on Mother’s Day. Doyle’s the only family they care about.”

Most likely, Celia thought, what her two youngest sisters cared about was their father’s latest disability check. Neither Jaymie nor Terri had bothered to graduate from high school, or to marry the various fathers of their children. Instead, they’d gotten an early and thorough education in the art of scamming from Doyle Wakefield.

Celia peered through the Saab’s windshield, at a booth near the window of the restaurant. “Look, Mama,” she said. “I gotta go now. I’ll give you a call with my new address when I get settled.”

And when hell freezes over, she thought. She really was going to have to get a new phone number now.

“You do that, precious,” Cheryl said. “And you know, if you did happen to have a few extra bucks laying around, you could send ’em my way.”

*   *   *

Davis Bayless sat across the table from Celia at the Waffle House on the bypass and wished he were somewhere else.

“You have to do something,” she told him.

“What?” Davis said. “I can’t hold a gun to his head, Celia. I can’t make him marry you if he doesn’t want to.”

“He did want to,” she insisted. “Right up until the minute that Annajane Hudgens crooked her little finger and decided she wanted him back.”

Davis shrugged. “What can I say? My big brother is a big sap. Ole Annajane must know some tricks in the sack that we ain’t heard of. Anyway, I’m the last person he’s likely to listen to these days. My advice is, take what you can get and move on down the road. He offered to buy out your contract, right?”

“That’s peanuts. If we’d gotten married, and the Jax deal had gone through, it would have been worth millions. To all of us. Now, I walk away with what? Maybe fifty thousand dollars? Screw that!”

Celia glared at Davis. “You have to make this right, Davis. I’m the one who brought Jerry Kelso and Jax to the table for this deal. Kelso had never heard of Quixie until I met him in that hotel bar in Atlantic City. I’m the one who made them understand what this brand is worth. Most importantly, I’m the one who sucked up to your mother, gained her trust, and then hammered it into her silly southern belle head just how much cash she will get out of this sale, and just how much she needs to get out of the godforsaken town of Passcoe, North Carolina.”

“I know what all you did, and I appreciate it, Celia, I really do,” Davis said soothingly. “And don’t you worry. Once we get that deal with Jax inked, getting Celia Wakefield on board in an executive position, that’s gonna be my number one priority. Jerry and I have already discussed it.” He winked and then reached under the table and squeezed her thigh. “Davis is gonna take good care of you, baby.”

She slapped his hand away. “I don’t need taking care of that way. The only thing I want from you is an ironclad, signed agreement that I will be fairly compensated for my participation as a go-between in Jax’s acquisition of Quixie.”

“Sure thing,” Davis said. “You have my word.”

Celia’s laugh had a nasty edge.

Like I would take the word of a man who’d fuck his brother’s fiancée?

“I’d prefer to have it in writing,” Celia said. “Just so there won’t be any misunderstandings.”

“Hey, now,” Davis said, rearing back. “I’m on your side, remember? Didn’t I help you out with that little problem you were having?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

Davis slid his hand over Celia’s, trapping it on the tabletop. “Why, trying to get you knocked up, what else? Don’t you think I figured out why you were in such a hurry to get in my pants Friday night? And me without a condom? I’ll admit, my feelings were a little hurt when you first came to work at Quixie and immediately set your sights on Mason, instead of me, but I got over it eventually. Hell, I was even willing to take one for the team and let you pass off my baby as Mason’s, if that’s what it took to seal our little deal.”

He glanced around the restaurant. It was only eight o’clock, past the dinner hour, too early for the night owls, and nobody he knew ever frequented the Waffle House, which was why he’d agreed to meet there.

“Hey, uh, you don’t think Mason knows, do you? You know, about us? I mean, you didn’t happen to mention that, right? Because that could make things kind of awkward. Him being my brother and all.”

The seed of an idea took hold in Celia’s imagination. If you got right down to it, they were both from the same gene pool, so one Bayless was as good as the other, wasn’t it? Davis wasn’t the man Mason was. He never would be. But once the Jax deal was inked, he’d be just as rich.

“It’s our little secret,” she assured him.

She was about to pay for her coffee and leave when her cell phone rang. She grabbed for it, still not totally convinced Mason wouldn’t have a change of heart. She saw the caller ID too late.

“Sissy! Is that really you?” Her baby sister Jaymie sounded drunk.

“Hey, Daddy! I got Sissy on the line,” Jaymie called. “Hang on, hon, Daddy needs to talk to you real bad.”

“Where did you get this number?” Celia said through clenched teeth.

“Veronica gave it to Terri and me,” Jaymie said. “Listen, Sissy. Daddy’s not doing too good. That last accident, he messed up his back. For reals. He’s in a wheelchair…”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid you have the wrong number again,” Celia said pleasantly. She clicked the Disconnect button and dropped the phone into her purse. Davis was staring open-mouthed at her.

Celia took a deep breath. She really had to work on keeping her cool. “On top of everything else some lunatic keeps calling me over and over again. I’m going to have to get a new number.”

“Yeah, tough luck,” Davis said. He pushed away the money Celia placed on the tabletop. “I’m glad we got together to talk tonight. Cleared the air. No hard feelings, right?”

She sighed and tried to look forlorn. It wasn’t her strength. “Maybe it’s for the best,” she said, giving her imitation of wistfulness, standing to go, giving him the shot he was hoping for. She leaned over and gave him a lingering kiss, just to remind him of the good times.