“Hush up and stop overreacting. You know I didn’t mean no harm.” I stopped him from speaking again by covering his lips with mine. The next thing I knew, his arms was around me. He started grinding against me so hard, I was tempted to wrestle him to the floor and have my way with him. I decided to wait until our guests left to do that. I gazed deep into his eyes. I loved how he looked at me when he got hot. “Baby, don’t get too carried away. We got guests to tend to,” I panted.

“Then stop egging me on, Jezebel,” he teased, making a slurping noise with his tongue. “You know what a passionate man you married.” He laughed and that made me feel better.

“Tell me about it.” I laughed, too, and pried his arms from around me. “I wonder why Joyce didn’t come with Odell tonight.”

“He said something about her having a bellyache.” Milton paused and snickered. “He ailing one day, she ailing on another day. I ain’t never seen two people take turns getting sick so regular. We better pray that they don’t get too sick to function until after we get our money.”

Milton’s last comment really shook me up. That was something I didn’t want to hear. “Hmmm. Maybe we shouldn’t wait too close to the deadline then. You ought to tell Odell he has to get that money to us by next Tuesday. Next Monday would be even better,” I suggested.

“I agree.”

“The store will be closed for Thanksgiving and the day after. He won’t be available again until Monday, or Sunday when he get home from . . . visiting his sick daddy.” We laughed, but got serious again real quick. “If you don’t let him know until Monday when he is back at the store, he might not have enough time to get it to us on the same day. After we leave Dr. Patterson’s house tomorrow, let’s go tell Odell we definitely need that money earlier than we said.”

“What about Joyce? We can’t ask him for no more money with her too close by. She won’t let him out of her sight as long as we over there.”

“Milton, you let me worry about her. I’ll make up something that’ll get her out of the room.”

“Oh, okay. And don’t forget, this particular business transaction is between me and Odell. In case you get stuck with him alone before we can get out of there, don’t you say nothing to him about it.”

“I won’t.”

CHAPTER 28 - YVONNE

CHAPTER 28

YVONNE