“Hell yes, it bothers me. But what good would it do for me to make a fuss? It didn’t make no difference none of them other times.”

I narrowed my eyes even more. “How do you know I won’t come back for more after you give me that five hundred?”

“Look, Milton. I’m sure you’ll have more demands in the future. I’ll deal with them as they come up.”

My breath caught in my throat and my eyes got wide. “Do you mean to tell me I can keep this up as long as I want to?”

Odell nodded. “That’s about the size of it.”

I didn’t know what to make of Odell. He was one of a kind. Not only was he a complete fool, he had to be one of the wimpiest men alive to let me and Yvonne take advantage of him in such a big way. But I had to admire him for being sly enough to keep two women happy and lead two separate lives. I would never try to pull off hanky-panky that extreme without the help of Aunt Mattie’s hoodoo black magic. Yvonne was way too smart to let me get away with a on-going story like his “sick daddy” tale, without doing some serious investigating. Anyway, I was glad Odell was our fool. It was a shame I hadn’t caught him with Betty Jean sooner. If I had, me and Yvonne would be eating steak on a regular basis instead of pig ears, and we’d be sleeping up under eiderdown quilts. “I declare, we sure do appreciate your generosity.”

“I’m sure y’all do,” he snapped. He gave me one of his usual mean looks and stormed out of the room. By the time I got back to the living room, he was gone.

* * *

Joyce came to the house Friday and Saturday. Odell didn’t come again until the following Wednesday. And he only stayed long enough to give me my weekly payment. He never mentioned us going fishing with him again and I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up.

CHAPTER 35 - MILTON

CHAPTER 35

MILTON

I WAS GLAD THE BIG FRIDAY HAD FINALLY ROLLED AROUND. THIS TIME I borrowed Mr. Cunningham’s truck to drive to Odell’s office. There was a lot of customers in MacPherson’s when I got there shortly after noon, so Sadie and Buddy didn’t notice when I whizzed past them.

Odell didn’t even look surprised, or mad (yet), when I strolled into his office and closed the door behind me. When he held up his hand, I stopped in front of his desk. “Don’t bother to sit. You won’t be staying long,” he said in a flat tone.