Sweet Sue had to walk into the grill behind Willie Frank and keep her head bowed, the way a servant would. With her ordinary looks and a head that looked like a brown peach, I suspected that the white folks present today thought she was his family’s mammy. The colored folks on the premises who knew better, knew better than to do or say anything that would blow their cover.

Yvonne seated Sweet Sue in a booth right away and Willie Frank walked me to where he’d parked his truck on the side of the road. “Thank you again, buddy. I hate to keep pestering you for your truck,” I told him, giving him a playful punch on his arm.

“Aw shucks, Milton. You know you can borrow my wheels any time you want to. Besides, Sweet Sue had a itching to eat lunch here today. She likes to take her time, so we’ll be here at least a hour and a half. Pleasing her is important to me,” he said with a dreamy-eyed look on his face. “You know, someday I would like to let the world know how I feel about that gal. It’s a shame people in love have to go around hiding it just because their skin colors don’t match.”

I couldn’t relate to Willie Frank’s situation, but I could see how important it was to him. Today was the very first time I seen him get emotional over a woman, and I felt sorry for him. I wanted him to be as happy in love as I was. “Well, things change all the time. I hope we live long enough to see new laws that will allow colored and white to be in love without worrying about going to jail or getting lynched.”

“That would be a dream come true.”

“In the meantime, you show your love to Sweet Sue any which way you can.”

“Oh, I will. She feels the same way about me.”

“And all the rest of her tricks.” I laughed, but Willie Frank didn’t. I held up my hand and tried to look apologetic. “Look, I didn’t mean nothing by that. You know I don’t know when to shut up. I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers.”

“Pffft. I know that. I know what Sweet Sue is, but it don’t matter none.”

I glanced toward the front door. When I looked back at Willie Frank, he was grinning from ear to ear. I was glad to see he had perked back up. “By the way, I been meaning to ask you—what do you see in her to be so lovestruck? Her face ain’t too bad, but she is damn near bald-headed and she skinny as hell. You ain’t been with no other woman but her lately. There is better-looking, thick-bodied women working at Aunt Mattie’s place to fall in love with.”