I cut Willie Frank off and finished his sentence. “Odell is definitely the one who tried to get rid of us.”

CHAPTER 15 - ODELL

CHAPTER 15

ODELL

I COULDN’T IMAGINE HOW MUCH WORSE THINGS WOULD BE FOR ME if Yvonne and Milton knew I was the one who had called Sheriff Potts on them. I wasn’t going to worry about it too much because nobody would think I had anything to do with it. Even though it had backfired, I was glad I’d done it because it shook them up and disrupted their business. What I was more concerned about now was how I was going to get that money to Milton by the end of this month.

I had enjoyed this weekend’s visit with Betty Jean and the boys. We’d ate supper at Po’ Sister’s Kitchen Friday and Saturday evening. After supper on Saturday, me and my two oldest boys had went fishing. Then we’d visited with one of Betty Jean’s cousins who lived about a mile down the road. We had got back home two hours later than I’d told Betty Jean we would. Me and the boys sat on the front porch making slingshots to shoot rocks at some of the pesky squirrels and coons that hung out around our house. I gave that up when Betty Jean started complaining about all the work she was doing by herself. So, I mopped all the floors for her. Just like I done with Joyce when she got overloaded with housework. Last week after I’d mopped every floor in our house, I cleaned out the kitchen closet, pantry, and the attic. Later that same day, I went out and got Joyce some roses and came home and cooked our supper. That had really impressed her. “Odell, if you’d been born a woman, you’d make the perfect wife. But I’m glad I got you as the perfect husband.” Her comment had made me feel so guilty; I’d slunk out of the room with my head hanging low. I couldn’t have asked for two better women than Joyce and Betty Jean.

Despite all the fun I’d had in Hartville this weekend, I was glad when Sunday evening rolled around. I was anxious to get home so Joyce could fuss over me. When I pulled up in front of our house a few minutes before seven p.m., she opened the front door and trotted out onto the porch before I even finished parking. “Come on in and give me some sugar,” she purred as I piled out of the car.

“Baby, I’m so glad to be home,” I told her, rushing up the porch steps two at a time. She took me by the hand and pulled me into the living room. “I swear to God, Daddy almost drove me up the wall this time,” I complained.