Aunt Mattie laughed. “Girl, you ain’t got to worry about me blowing the whistle on you. I declare, that kind of tattling would be bad for my business. Folks would stop trusting me with their secrets. But if you had come to me sooner, you would have been a mama yourself a lot sooner.”

I sighed. “I still give the credit to God,” I insisted.

Aunt Mattie nodded. “I do too. He sent Clarabelle to me for you.” Aunt Mattie smiled and patted my shoulder. “Have a nice life, Joyce. You deserve it.”

“You too.” We hugged for a brief moment. When I reared back and looked in her eyes, I was surprised to see tears.

“I liked Milton, but Yvonne is the one I really miss.” She sniffled.

“Me too,” I admitted. I left the room because I didn’t want Aunt Mattie to see that I had tears in my eyes, too.

Despite the fact that Yvonne had betrayed me, too, I actually missed her. She’d been the closest female friend I’d ever had. I was sorry I had said so many unflattering, patronizing things about her to her face. I’d talked down to her because I was jealous of her good looks. Making her feel inferior had made me feel better about myself. I promised God that I would never treat another woman that way again, no matter how pretty she was. Yvonne had said things to hurt my feelings, too. But I think it was only to get back at me for putting her down. Odell had also said things to her and Milton that were unflattering. But I had no idea if it had been jealousy on Odell’s part, too.

I returned to my job at the school in September and talked Mama and Daddy into letting Buddy and Sadie co-manage the store. They were so elated, you would have thought they’d just landed jobs at the White House. Daddy also hired a couple of dependable folks Reverend Jessup had recommended to work the cash registers. The same stock boy who had been employed when Odell died, was still on the job. Even though Buddy and Sadie were co-managers, I delivered the profits in brown paper bags to my parents every Friday.

“These bags sure is a lot bulkier than the ones Odell used to bring,” Mama commented after I’d made the first few deliveries.

Daddy responded before I could. “Hmmm. I guess them bags he brung didn’t look as full because he folded the bills up neater so they’d take up less space.”

“He must have folded them real neat,” I threw in. I was glad my folks were too naïve to realize I was being sarcastic. The bags I dropped off were bulkier because I never skimmed money off the top the way Odell had. “Did y’all ever count the money after he left it?”