Jean Colson nodded, scooting over in the aluminum bleachers, patting a place between her and Caddy for Bentley. He was dressed in a red Ole Miss polo, khakis, and expensive-looking suede boots with zips down each ankle. Her mother had already told him twice how handsome he looked. Bentley couldn’t quit smiling as he offered Jean popcorn from his little paper bag. Always the gentleman.

“It’s awfully nice of y’all to include Brandon,” Jean said. “I don’t think he’s ever been to an Ole Miss game before. Of course Quinn always pulls for Auburn. He took a few classes there when he was at Benning. I don’t know who Maggie pulls for. Do you, Caddy?”

“Maggie doesn’t like football,” Caddy said. “She almost didn’t let Brandon play, says it’s too dangerous. Maybe she should quit marrying men who find pleasure in a damn war zone.”

Bentley and Jean didn’t respond, knowing better than to get in the middle of her spat with her sister-in-law. Caddy had been cold and a little distant with Maggie since Maggie asked her about Quinn hunting the Hawkins land, still pissed off as hell Quinn’s own wife would listen to such trash talk. Down along the high school track, a ragtag group of cheerleaders, little girls in street clothes, worked on some really mean-spirited cheers about the mommas of the Winona players. U-G-L-Y. You ain’t got no alibi . . .

“When did cheerleaders get so nasty?” Jean asked.

“Momma, they’ve been doing that cheer forever,” Caddy said. “Don’t you remember me doing the same one?”

“Did I ever tell you how much Elvis liked cheerleaders?” Jean said, reaching for some of Bentley’s popcorn. “He used to like the girls he was dating to dress up in those short skirts. This was after he and Pricilla got divorced, of course. Tight sweaters and pom-poms. They’d put on little routines for him down in the TV room. One night, we were watching The Carol Burnett Show . . .”

“Shh, Momma,” Caddy said. “Can we please just watch? Bentley doesn’t need to hear all about how you and Daddy used to go up to Graceland to shoot guns and ride horses.”

Bentley said he didn’t mind. In fact, he’d love to hear all about it. He said he had Elvis on SiriusXM Radio and loved listening to The George Klein Show, George always having great stories about his time with the Memphis Mafia. It had started to mist a little, the raindrops little specks in the hot white stadium lights.

“Shh,” Caddy said, holding up her hand, watching the quarterback pitch Jason the ball. Jason got around the end fast but got hit two yards off the line, spinning off a tackler and trying to find some daylight before three Winona boys brought him down.