“We do not need to fix that, Lola. Cady will…when she wakes up, view things differently,” Mandy said as she eyed the coffee dripping into the pot. “You’re very slow this morning, Anthony. Breakfast should have been ready an hour ago.”

Anthony looked in the oven to check his cinnamon rolls. He plopped down on one of the kitchen chairs. “I quit! I’m going back to California, where people are just plain crazy. When I came here you told me we were all going to have a nice, quiet, uneventful retirement.”

“That was ten years ago, Anthony. For ten years we atrophied. Now it’s time we livened up a bit. Look at us, we look like three stiffs. Furthermore, I fired you last week, so how can you quit?” Lola demanded. “This is getting us nowhere. On top of that, we now have Agnes in the mix. Plus, I have to make some decisions where that no-account son of mine is concerned. Do we still have that campground in Oregon one of my husbands left me?”

Mandy threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know, Lola. Ask your new lawyer. The one Cady fired. Let him earn that handsome retainer you pay out every year. Why?” she demanded.

“I have to…what I have to do is, somehow, provide for Asa. I can’t let him continue to accept public assistance like it’s his due. Remind me to ask Agnes what he did with all the money I sent over the years. There was no reason for them to live the way they were living. I cannot believe she hasn’t eaten meat in years. There is no reason for something like that. No reason at all. Anthony, pencil in a visit to Peter Danson’s office. We’ll put him in charge. Asa never needs to know I’m behind his survival. Lawyers know how to be creative.”

“Cady fired your lawyer,” Mandy reminded her, sniffing.

“I’ll just rehire him.” Lola sniffed in return. “Breakfast of late, Anthony, has been a hodgepodge. I’m really hungry this morning, not to mention we have company, so we should be putting our best foot forward.”

“I quit, remember?”

“You can’t quit till after breakfast. Be specific, what do you want this time?”

“Nothing. I was just exercising my vocal cords. How do bacon and eggs sound?”

“It sounds wonderful, Anthony.” Lola smiled. She patted his hand in a familiar way that caused Anthony’s plump cheeks to turn pink.

“I know I don’t tell you two this often enough, but I love you dearly. You two, Cady also, are the wind beneath my wings. These past weeks have been the most wonderful in my whole life. I just want you to know that, and I’m sorry if I turn into a curmudgeon sometimes.”

Lola’s little speech had the desired effect. Both old friends wrapped their arms around her thin shoulders. “Whatever you want is fine with me, Lola,” Anthony said.

“I’ll make a schedule for today,” Mandy volunteered.