Free Small Town Girl by Lavyrle Spencer

makeup her features broadcast the photogenic quality that had put her on the covers of dozens of magazines both in and out of the music trade—milky skin with a hint of freckles, almond eyes with auburn lashes and a pretty pair of lips. Her hands were eye-catching as well, her trademark nails nearly an inch long, painted persimmon and cultured to catch gazes. Judy lifted her cup with blunt fingers whose nails were cropped short and unpainted.
    Given the marked difference in the two women's size and appearance, a stranger who walked in would never have guessed they were sisters.
    Judy said, "The truth is, I really didn't think you'd come."
    "The truth is, I didn't like how I was asked."
    "I suppose nobody you work with gives
you
orders."
    "You don't know the first thing about the people I work with or how we operate, because you never ask. You just make assumptions."
    "That's right. And I
assumed
you'd do like you've been doing since you left Wintergreen, which is to leave every bit of Mother's care up to Renee and me and the guys."
    "You could have
asked
, Judy."
    "And what would you have said? That you had to go on tour in Texas, or that you had some rehearsals for some awards shows or whatever else is so God-almighty important that everything in the world should revolve around your schedule?"
    "When did I ever say anything like that?"
    "You didn't even come home for her birthday! Or last Christmas!"
    "I sent her a birthday gift from Seattle, and last Christmas I was so exhausted I had only forty-eight hours off."
    "She doesn't want gifts, don't you know that? All she wants is to see you now and then."
    "You make it sound like I
never
come home."
    "How long since you were here last time?"
    "Judy, could we just…" Tess raised both hands as if pushing open a heavy plate-glass door. Her eyelids slammed closed, then opened again. "Shelve this and try to get along while I'm here? And the next time you need something from me, don't call and issue an imperial order. Just try asking, okay? I'm not sleeping in the farthest bed from the steps anymore, and I'm not your baby sister who's always getting into your diary and using your makeup. I'm all grown-up now and I don't take orders from you, okay?"
    "Well, you did this time, didn't you…
Mac
?"
    Nobody in the family called her Mac. To them she had remained Tess, while Mac had become her professional nickname. It was the one her fans had coined, the one they chanted as they waited for her to come onstage, the one that was printed on the shirts she sold at concerts, the one the nation recognized as they recognized only a select group of other entertainers who'd gone by single names—Elvis, Sting, Prince.
    Mac.
    While the word reverberated in the room, a woman in a white uniform came to the door and said, "Miss McPhail? I heard you were in here. If it's not too much trouble, may I have your autograph? I'll just leave this on the table and you can drop it at the nurses' station whenever. My name's Elly." She was the ideal fan, in Tess's eyes, bringing respect along with good taste in her request. Tess loved the way she'd asked. Leaving the room, the nurse said over her shoulder, "Thanks a lot. You've got a super voice."
    It was more than Judy had ever said in her life.
    Tess sat down at the table, set her cup aside and signed the paper while Judy looked down her nose in silence.
    As Tess finished, Renee showed up in the doorway. "Hey, you two, here's where you are! I just passed somebody in a uniform who says they want us down the hall before they take Momma in. Come on."
    Tess got up and took off like a shot, passing Renee in the doorway.
    "What's wrong with her?" Renee asked Judy.
    "Same thing as always. Thinks she's too good for the rest of us."
    "Judy! Do you have to be at her all the time? She just got here, for heaven's sake."
    " 'Bout time, too," Judy grumbled as the two followed.
    In the hall Mary was lying on a gurney, covered to the shoulders. By turns, her children bent over