After tucking the boys into bed a couple of hours later, me and Betty Jean got back on the couch and drunk some lemonade. Right after I finished my first glass and kissed up and down her neck, I slid a few inches away from her and crossed my legs. “Listen, baby . . . uh . . . I know you don’t like to fish at night, but I been hearing how good the carps been biting after dark. Tonight would be a good time to go.” I prayed she wouldn’t want to go with me. To discourage her, I went on. “I’d hate to get the boys back up to go out on that lake, though.”

Betty Jean clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Odell, I’m not getting my babies up to go fishing—especially as cold as it is tonight. I done already told you not to ask me to go no more. Shoot. The last time, it took me a whole hour to pick all them briars off my socks, not to mention all them creepy bugs crawling up my legs. And it’s dangerous to be on a fishing bank in the dead of night with quicksand all over the place.”

“We won’t have to worry about it being dark. I’m going to carry the kerosene lantern you gave me for Father’s Day.”

“You carried your lantern the last time and still stepped on three different snakes.”

“I won’t step on no snake tonight.”

“I won’t neither, because I ain’t leaving this house.” Betty Jean pinched the side of my arm. “Besides, I thought we was going to work on making our baby girl tonight,” she cooed.

“I’ll be back in a few hours, and we got tomorrow and Sunday to take care of the baby-making business.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about the five hundred bucks I’d swiped from my in-laws’ pantry last night and gave to Milton when he visited me on his lunch hour again today. I had gone to Mac and Millie’s house after they went to bed, and while Joyce was at home talking on the phone with a coworker. They slept like dead folks, so I didn’t have to worry about waking them up when I let myself in. Now I had to get that money back and return it to the pantry as soon as possible. I couldn’t keep pushing my luck. My biggest fear was that one day Mac and Millie would suspect something and set a trap for me. The thought of getting caught stealing probably would have caused me almost as much heartache as them finding out about Betty Jean. In either case, my life wouldn’t be worth a dime no more.