Sweat beads had formed on Mitzi’s upper lip by the time she returned. She set the box on the table and grabbed a paper towel to dab at her face. But before she could get the job done, her maternal grandmother, Fanny Lou, slipped in through the back door. Mitzi’s dad had bought the house for them to put their business in, but Fanny Lou had given them the seed money for fabrics, new sewing machines, and the separate air-conditioning unit for the dressing room. She refused to be called a partner, but she loved to drop in at any old time. Not that Mitzi minded. After being away for so many years, she loved to have her grandmother around, no matter what time of day it was.

Fanny Lou wasn’t quite as tall as Mitzi, unless she was wearing her cowboy boots. Her bright-red hair sat on top of her head in a messy bun that looked somewhat like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. Set in a bed of wrinkles, her bright-blue eyes always twinkled behind wire-rimmed glasses. On this day she was dressed in bib overalls, a faded red T-shirt, and her signature boots. She set a paper bag filled with tomatoes and cucumbers on the table.

“Hotter’n the devil’s pitchfork out there. I brought y’all some stuff from my neighbor’s garden. Lord knows I can’t eat all that and if I could, I wouldn’t. Old women like me don’t have to eat their vegetables. They can eat doughnuts when they want.” She sniffed the air. “I smell something wonderful.”

“Orange spice tea or coffee. We’ve got both made. Which one?” Mitzi asked.

“Thanks, darlin’. I’m not much for tea, but coffee sounds wonderful.” Fanny Lou picked up a doughnut and bit into it. “God, this is good. Now what’s put a frown on your face, Mitzi?”

“Yeah, somebody’s got her panties in a twist this morning.” Jody had always been a bit chubby and short, barely coming up to Mitzi’s shoulder, but after high school she’d lost weight. Now her faded jeans hung on her frame.

“It was some stupid guy who was in line at the pastry shop. He was talking to his buddy over in the next aisle about some woman he’d taken out over the weekend. He said there were advantages to dating a fat girl. They provided shade in the summer and warmth in the winter.” Mitzi carried two cups of tea to the table and went back to pour her grandmother’s coffee.

“What did you do?” Paula asked.

“I hope you snatched him baldheaded and then slapped the thunder out of him for not having any hair,” Fanny Lou said.