Buzz grinned, clearly enjoying the compliment. “You tell that to my poor ole, broke-down knees.” He pushed his plate away. Lily expected him to wipe his mouth with his tie, but he didn’t. “So,” he said, clasping his hands on the table. “I hear you young people are in a spot of trouble. Why don’t you tell me a little about it?”
Ben launched into the story he’d concocted, devoting equal detail to the truths, half-truths, and outright lies. When he finished, Buzz turned to Lily. “You got a copy of Charlotte’s will on you, honey?”
Lily winced at the unsolicited endearment, but retrieved a photocopy of the will from her bag.
Buzz scanned the document, sucking his teeth. “Well,” he said finally, “it’s all here in black and white, ain’t it?” He slipped the document back into its envelope. “Well, first I’m gonna tell you kids what I always tell people. If you got a problem, the best way to settle it is out of court.”
Particularly with a lawyer like you, Lily thought, but she kept her lips clamped shut.
“My advice,” Buzz continued, “is invite Charlotte’s momma and daddy up to Versailles. Have ’em to supper at your new house, or even better, invite ’em over to the big McGilly place that oughta impress the hell out of ’em. Grill ’em some steaks, let ’em see that Mimi’s being taken care of and that y’all are just regular folks like anybody else. My hope is that when they see their granddaughter in a normal, family atmosphere, they’ll give up on this foolishness and let you alone.”
Lily looked Buzz in the eye. “And if they don’t?”
“If they don’t, then guess we’ll see ‘em in court.” Buzz glanced over at Big Ben, then looked back at Lily. “Let me put it to you this way, honey. When Big Ben and me played on the same team back in high school, we never lost a game.”
“I know what you’re thinking, Lily,” Big Ben said, as they got into Lily’s new ship of a car.
“Really?” She didn’t mean to sound snippy, but she still did.
“Uh-huh,” Big Ben said, “you’re thinking you and Benny Jack woulda fared better if you’d stayed in Atlanta and hired you some hot-shot lawyer.”
“Well,” Lily admitted, “when I look at Buzz Dobson, hot shot isn’t exactly a phrase that pops to mind.”
Big Ben laughed. “Well, I reckon not. The ole boy can’t even hit his mouth with his fork about half the time. But I’ll tell you this, Lily. He’s a fine feller, and he means well.”
Lily pulled out of the parking space and aimed her new tank in the direction of the Confederate Sock Mill. “I’ll try to bear that in mind when I lose custody of my daughter.”
To her surprise, Big Ben laughed. “She just don’t get it, does she, Benny Jack?”
Ben joined his father laughing. “She’s a city girl, Daddy. She’s not used to how things work in Faulkner County.”
“You see, Lily,” Big Ben intoned, “it don’t matter that Buzz Dobson barely graduated from a fourth-rate law school. We could hire a damn chimpanzee for a lawyer, and we’d still win. We’re McGillys, Lily. Me, Benny Jack, you and Mimi, we’re all part of the most powerful family in Faulkner County. And besides, me and Judge Sanders play golf together every Wednesday, and half the time I let him win. His son-in-law got himself in a spot of trouble a few years back, and I helped him out of it.
People in this county don’t forget names nor favors, Lily. There’s no way ole Jake Sanders would go against a McGilly.”
