“Sherman isn’t that far away. You should go over and stay in the same hotel with Clinton. That way when he’s off shift, you could spend time with him,” Paula suggested, wondering how Kayla was so stupid that she didn’t even think of why Clinton wouldn’t want her and Clay to stay in the hotel with him. But then she shouldn’t brand Kayla with that word when Paula had been dimwitted enough to believe his lies.

“That sounds like a great idea. Don’t know why I didn’t think of it. Clay loves to swim and Clinton mentioned the hotel having a pool, and like you say, when his shift is done we could at least be together,” Kayla said.

“Two hundred forty-nine dollars and fifty-two cents.” The lady set several bags on the counter.

Paula bought a baby rattle and a pretty little pink dress after Kayla left and then hit four more baby shops afterward. She stopped by a drive-through for takeout on the way back to Celeste. The gauges on her dash said that it was ninety-eight degrees and one o’clock when she got back to the shop. Hoping that Jody was home when she arrived, she hurried into the cool house by way of the back door, dropped two armloads of bags on the kitchen table, and yelled up the stairs.

“Jody, you here?”

The pink phone, sitting on a small end table right beside her, startled her when it rang loudly. She picked it up and answered, “The Perfect Dress.”

“Paula?”

“Yes, who is this?” she asked.

“It’s Clinton. You almost ruined my marriage,” he said.

“Want to explain?” she asked coldly.

“Kayla just walked in on me in a hotel room with another woman.”

“And that’s my fault, how?” Paula giggled. “Maybe karma has finally bitten you on the butt. You are a horrible husband.”

“She said that she saw you in a baby shop and that you suggested she could stay with me,” Clinton said. “So thank you for trying to tear apart my family.”

“Hey, that’s not on me, big boy. You told me you were separated and you never mentioned that you already had a son. I didn’t tell Kayla that to hurt your marriage, but to help it. Goodbye, Clinton, and don’t call here again.” She hung up the phone and slumped down on the nearest sofa. The baby kicked, and she laid her hand on her stomach.

“We can do this on our own, baby girl. We’ll do just fine with your aunts Mitzi and Jody.”