“Sweetie, I already told them we’d give them a hundred.”

“Say what?”

“Odell, I told you that already. We discussed it last Sunday. Don’t you remember?”

I gulped so hard I almost choked on some air. “Oh yeah, I remember now. I just wish you had talked to me before you made such a generous offer. That’s a heap of money. They expect it now. We’d look bad if we didn’t give them that amount.”

“Then only give me the thirty you just offered. I’ll chip in the rest. Giving up seventy dollars won’t kill me, I guess . . .” I could just picture the pout on Joyce’s face. “Never mind. I can give them the whole hundred myself.”

I wanted to scream. But I said in the calmest tone I could manage, “Joyce, you don’t have to shell out nothing. Keep your money in case you want to do some shopping this weekend. I’ll give them the whole hundred out of my pocket.” The reason I was so calm now was because I suddenly decided to swipe the hundred bucks from one of them paper bags in her folks’ pantry. So, in the long run, Joyce would be “chipping in” the whole amount.

“Odell! That’s so generous of you!” she yelled.

“Well, I know my Bible, so I know that being generous is a virtue.”

CHAPTER 19 - JOYCE

CHAPTER 19

JOYCE

THE WEATHER HAD GOTTEN A LOT COOLER IN THE LAST COUPLE OF weeks. The days were getting shorter, and they seemed to be rolling by faster than usual. Thanksgiving was only eight days away and Odell and I were looking forward to it. I had already started planning the menu for the lavish supper I was going to prepare. We hadn’t invited any guests, and if somebody showed up anyway, we’d probably not answer the door. Odell had made it clear that he wanted me all to himself that day. I had even bought a sexy negligee to wear later that night. I laughed to myself when I thought about how fast Odell would take it off me.

We went next door a few minutes past seven tonight. The door swung open as soon as Odell started knocking. “Come on in and get loose!” Sweet Sue greeted. “I was wondering where y’all was at.”