“Don’t pay no mind to me, Mr. Charlie. You go on now, and I’ll be fixing your dinner.” She put away her handkerchief and straightened her back. “You a sweet cat,” she told Diesel as she patted his head.

“Okay, Lily, but if you need anything, let me know. I’ll be upstairs.” As I walked out of the room I glanced over my shoulder to see whether Diesel would follow.

He didn’t. He stayed near Lily, and I saw her smile down at him. I knew he would help her feel better, more so than I could, so I left them together.

I decided a hot shower and some aspirin might take care of the tension headache, and they did. I felt much better a half hour later, and I headed back downstairs to see what was cooking and to get some iced tea. As far as I knew, Diesel was still in the kitchen with Lily. He hadn’t put in an appearance in the bedroom.

As I approached the kitchen I heard Stewart’s voice.

“So good to see you, Lily. It’s been way too long.”

“Mr. Stewart, I sure do miss you coming over to see Mr. Hank. Just ain’t been the same, you not visiting like you did.” Lily sounded truly regretful.

I paused in the hall, not wanting to interrupt, yet curious to hear more. I should have been ashamed of eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Well, Lily, things just didn’t work out. Hank and I saw things differently, I guess.” He sounded regretful, too. “Tell me, is he doing okay? Is he still gambling?”

“He swears he ain’t going to no more, but he said that before. I’m afraid they go’n’ lose everything, Mr. Stewart. They had to let me go, and they been selling the furniture. They ain’t hardly nothing left.”

“I didn’t know it had gotten that bad. If I could help, I would, but I’m the last person Hank would accept any help from.”

“And you the best friend he ever had. I can’t think what’s wrong with that boy. Now he done took up with, well, he done took up with somebody else, and I don’t think it’s right.”

“I didn’t know that. Who is this new ‘friend’ of his?” Stewart sounded both annoyed and curious.

“I don’t rightly know. You have to ask Mr. Hank that yourself,” Lily said, and she sounded evasive to me.

“Are you sure you can’t tell me, Lily?” Stewart would have his most winsome, wheedling expression on full force now, I was sure.

“No, I can’t, Mr. Stewart. Like I said, I don’t rightly know. You have to ask Mr. Hank.” Lily was stubborn in her refusal. I was sure she did know the identity of Hank’s new boyfriend, but for whatever reason she wasn’t going to tell Stewart.

Not that it was any of my business, or Stewart’s, for that matter. I had eavesdropped long enough. I backed up a few steps, called out, “Diesel, where are you?” then strolled into the kitchen.