Hogs! Stinky old pigs wallowing in a mud puddle in the hot summer. Now that could bring her to the acceptance stage pretty damn quick. She took a few steps toward her old truck. “What do I do? Well, Mr. Roberts, I’m not sitting at home, wasting away to nothing. I’m a strong woman, and I’ve got good friends. If you see Lyle you can tell him that. If you’re asking what I do for a living, I make custom wedding dresses for plus-sized women.”

“What are plus-sized women?” He got up and followed her to her truck.

She turned around. “Larger ladies. Everyone deserves a perfect dress.”

“Everyone deserves a perfect life. Guess you didn’t get it, did you?”

“Bit of a smart-ass, aren’t you?” She leaned against the truck. “Do any of us ever get a perfect life? Is there even such a thing?”

“Not in my world,” Quincy chuckled. “And I’ve been called worse. So where are you living now?”

“My partners in the business and I live above the shop. It’s in an old two-story house on Main Street. Shop is on the ground floor,” she told him.

His eyes went to the pitiful garden. “What happened to that little garden is a shame. I know what it takes to keep one weeded and watered.”

According to what she’d heard, Quincy could buy the town of Celeste, have it bulldozed, and then turn the whole thing into a hog pen. Why would he even have a backyard garden?

“You looked surprised. I told you I like to get my hands dirty,” he said.

“Me, too, and I’m sure I’ll miss having a place for one next spring,” she said. “It’s nice to have met you, Mr. Roberts.”

“My friends call me Quincy,” he said.

“But we’re not friends,” she told him, but she wondered what it would be like to get to know him better.

“We could be, Jody.” He settled his hat back onto his head. “Is it okay if I call you Jody?”

“Sure,” she agreed. “Like I said . . . Quincy . . . it’s a pleasure to meet you. And just a heads-up, Lyle is anxious to sell, so hold out for those mineral rights.” She didn’t care if Lyle even got fair market price for the place, because she’d never get anything out of it.

“Oh, I will. I don’t give up easily.” He tipped his hat toward her and turned around.

She could see a white pickup truck on the far side of the property. She’d probably been thinking so hard about how she’d like to strangle Lyle that she hadn’t even heard it when Quincy drove up.