“I’m old enough and you young enough.” She winked and slid her tongue across her bottom lip. Sweet Jesus! Why did she have to do that? I knew the wink was a flirt, but there was no telling what the lip-licking deal meant. I crossed my legs, hoping she wouldn’t see the bulge between my thighs. But if she got any closer to me, she’d feel it.
“I don’t believe that a girl like you ain’t got a new man yet. Shoot. I just hope he don’t come up in here and coldcock me for being alone with you.”
“You ain’t got to worry about nothing like that happening. I ain’t found me no new man yet.” Up until now, her tone had been real cheerful. Now it was dry and humdrum.
“The men around here must be blind or crazy.”
A sad look crossed Betty Jean’s face. “The one I lost was real good to me. I miss him on account of I sure hate being by myself.”
“Maybe you should get back with him.”
She shook her head and sniffed. I thought she was going to bust out crying. “He got a wife and four kids. He said I was taking up too much of his time so he decided to cut me loose.” She stared at the wall for a couple of seconds. When she looked back at me, the sadness was still in her eyes. “I want me some kids so bad. How many you and your wife got?”
“One on the way, but we plan to have a bunch.”
“I want a bunch of kids myself someday. What kind of work do you do?”
“I manage a full-service convenience store. Our slogan is: ‘We sell everything from aprons to mens’ pinstripe suits.’ We even have a meat counter and a produce section. It ain’t no real big store, but we usually have enough of anything we need at any given time.”
“Is business good these days? Half of the restaurants and stores we used to have, and all but one bank, done gone under. We have to go all the way to Scottsboro to shop for most things.”
“Business couldn’t be better for us. All the colored people in Branson, and quite a few white folks, come in at least once or twice a week.”
“That’s good for y’all. Things recently started to pick up again in Hartville. I just hope that when we get out of this depression, we won’t have to deal with another one no time soon.”
“I don’t think we will. Roosevelt and his wife keep coming on the radio saying things is slowly getting back to normal.” I didn’t like the way Betty Jean was looking at me. There was another smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye that made my heart pick up speed. I knew I was a handsome man, but I was almost old enough to be Betty Jean’s daddy. A few fast teenage hussies who shopped in the store flirted with me from time to time. That didn’t mean nothing, though. They flirted with Buddy, too. Some women was so hot to trot, they’d pull down their bloomers and spread their legs for any man that asked them to. I didn’t think Betty Jean was like that, but I could tell she liked me. She was looking at me the same way Joyce had the first time I met her. Just thinking about Joyce brung me back to my senses. “Um . . . I think I’d better get going—”
Betty Jean cut me off real quick. She rubbed my arm and scooted closer to me. It was a good thing I had on long sleeves so she couldn’t see the goose bumps on my skin. “Odell, don’t go yet. I was hoping I could get to know you better.”
I gulped and my chest tightened. “Better than what?”
“Better than I knew you when I first laid eyes on you.”
“W-why?”
“Because I really like you. Do you believe in love at first sight?”
I had used the same line on Joyce, and it had worked. “Uh, it’s possible, I guess.”
“Well, I do too,” she purred. “As soon as I laid eyes on you, I wanted you to be my man. Don’t ask me why because all I can tell you is that there is just something about you. . . .”
The shit I’d walked into was rising so fast, I’d have to swim my way out if I didn’t get going soon. But I couldn’t move. My butt felt like it had melted into the couch. I stared into Betty Jean’s eyes. “You must be the prettiest girl I ever seen and I do believe in love at first sight. And if I was still single, I’d be . . . well—like I told you, I’m married.”
“So what? Like I told you, the man I was with for two years got a wife and it didn’t stop him, so why should it stop you?”
“It’s . . . it’s complicated.”
“You can’t fool me, Odell.”
“Who said I was trying to fool you?”
“I know you like me so I don’t know why you trying to come up with enough reasons to scare me off.”
“No, it ain’t that.” I exhaled and gave Betty Jean a hangdog look. “I’m sorry to hear you feel that way. But I work forty hours a week and me and my wife do a lot of things together. Even if I wanted to be with you, I don’t have a lot of time to spare. And since I live fifty miles from you, I’d have to allow time to drive over here and back. Then I’d have even less time. You’d be in the same situation with me that you was in with your other man.”
Betty Jean leaned over and kissed me. If somebody had shot me with a crossbow, I couldn’t have felt more shocked. “Odell, if you
