“Yes and no. But not the one we told you about. We had to change our plans a little bit.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Um, one of our customers at the grill told us that they was doing some remodeling at that place in Mobile. We decided to go to a place we heard about in Hartville,” Yvonne said as we plopped down on the couch. “Folks say they serve some world-beating food.”

“Hartville? Hmmm. I haven’t been to that town since I attended a revival over there eight years ago. It’s such a countrified hick town, I can’t see them having too many nice places to eat. And they got grasshoppers as big as shot glasses hopping all over the place.”

“Joyce, I’m sure you’ll love the restaurant we going to, and you ain’t got to worry about no grasshoppers this late in the year. Now I don’t mean to rush you, but the sooner we get going, the sooner we can eat and get back home,” I said.

She darted out of the room and came back ten minutes later. “I didn’t take too long, I hope.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll still have plenty of time to enjoy our meal,” Yvonne said.

“Joyce, you look so nice in that pink flowered blouse and that matching pink skirt,” I commented. She looked like a pink giraffe and smelled like she’d been dipped in a bowl of rose sachet. “And you smell so good.”

“I know,” she said with a sniff. “Odell loves to see me in this color. He says it makes me look like a film star. Yvonne, you need to add a few pink pieces to your wardrobe. I’d be glad to help you pick out a few.”

“I’d like that, Joyce. I’ll come over one day and we’ll go through your Sears and Roebuck catalog.” Yvonne snuck a glance at me and rolled her eyes.

“Uh-uh. I think we’d be better off going shopping in town. The stuff in the catalog is too sophisticated for you. Besides that, it’s out of your price range.”

If we had to listen to this kind of talk all the way to Hartville, I was scared I’d be stir-crazy by the time we got there.

CHAPTER 36 - YVONNE

CHAPTER 36

YVONNE

THE COMMENTS JOYCE MADE BEFORE WE LEFT HER HOUSE DIDN’T ruffle my feathers no more than none of the other stupid stuff she’d said to me since we met. That was the reason I’d been able to stay calm and not say nothing to drag her down during the ride to Hartville. I had a feeling that when the trip was over, she’d be feeling so low, she’d never low-rate me again. Couldn’t nothing bring a person down quicker than them finding out they been played for a fool. Especially in Joyce’s case.