“That would be sweet. Let me talk to Yvonne. She probably won’t want to come, but maybe I can make it.”

“Well, I was hoping she’d come, too. Since you and her plan on taking Joyce out to supper, I’d like to do something nice for y’all.”

“Is Joyce going fishing, too?”

“She went to Lexington this evening with her folks to visit some relatives, and they’ll be spending the night. She’s going to go to work straight from there in the morning. I won’t get a chance to ask her until I either call her sometime before she leaves Lexington, or when she gets to work. I’m sure she’ll say yeah, though. But if she don’t, me and you and Yvonne can still go.”

I had never seen such a skeptical look on Milton’s face. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head. “Like I said, I have to check with Yvonne first. If you can slide through here again for a minute tomorrow evening, I’ll let you know then. If we can’t make it tomorrow or any other day this week, how about next week?”

“I might not be in the mood then. The weather is starting to get too cold to go fishing.”

“I can’t see how it could get too much colder in a week. Anyway, we’ll shoot for tomorrow. Now before you go, there is just one more issue we need to conversate about.”

“What?” There was no telling what Milton was going to tell me.

He licked his lips and gave me a tight smile. That made my chest tighten. “Me and Yvonne want to have a little leeway, so we’ll need another lump sum.”

I held my breath and glared at him. I was so stunned and enraged, I could barely stand still. “How much of a lump sum, and when do you need it?”

“I want another five hundred and I need it no later than next week on Friday.”

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. When I realized what he was saying, I was furious. “Milton, you can’t be serious. And you want it by next week?”

“I’m as serious as polio. That don’t give you much time to get the money, but I know you will. I’ll come by the store to pick it up on my lunch break, so you won’t have to be late going to visit your daddy that evening.”