“What are you going to tell the baby when she asks?” Jody asked.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I have to. Maybe I’ll tell her that he died.”

Mitzi gave Paula a sideways hug. “Which might be the truth if he messes around with another woman with a temper hotter’n yours.”

“We can always keep an eye on the obituaries from that part of the state,” Jody said.

Paula leaned forward and hugged Jody. “Or I could make a voodoo doll and poke pins in all the appropriate places.”

“Now that sounds like a good thing, only I’d rather take him out in the woods, nail one of those appropriate places to a tree stump, and give him a knife. When he’s brave enough to cut it off, he can try to make it home before he bleeds to death,” Jody said.

“Whew!” Paula wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “And I thought I had evil thoughts today.”

“Not as evil as I did,” Mitzi said.

“I can only imagine.” Paula turned to look at her. “Let’s talk about all that shit about praying for Rita.”

“Graham and I are going to talk about it tomorrow,” Mitzi said.

Paula grabbed Mitzi’s hand in her left one and Jody’s in her right. “Let us pray.”

Without hesitation, both of them bowed their heads. “Dear Lord, I know that You have said that vengeance is Yours, so I’m leaving Clinton in Your hands. I expect You to deliver Your method, whatever You see fit, quickly and with much pain. And while You’re in a vengeful mood, please take Rita out of the picture. I’m not asking You to kill either of them, however, please don’t ever let us have to look upon their faces again. And one more thing, if Kayla has sent up a prayer, go ahead and delete it. It’s not a good one. Amen.” Paula squeezed their hands and raised her head.

“Amen,” Jody said.

“Amen,” Mitzi added.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Graham grew more anxious as the time with Mitzi drew near. He leaned on the porch post and watched for her. After what had happened in the party store, he should be honest with her, but he damn sure didn’t want to spend all their time together talking about his ex-wife. His heart kicked in an extra beat when he saw her coming down the street. Yesterday morning she’d worn her hair down, but now she’d piled it up on her head in what his girls called a “messy bun.” He wanted to go meet her, take her hand in his, and walk beside her, but he stood still until she started up the steps.