“Baby, I’m sorry. You can still go, but I’ve changed my mind about going with you. I know Lonnie will be happy to see you and I know you’ll be glad to get out of the house for the night. But you need to skedaddle if you want to get there before him and Ellamae go to bed. You know they don’t get back up to answer the door for you or nobody else.”
“As soon as I empty my bladder, I’ll be on my way.”
“And you can stay the whole weekend if you want to. I already told Mama and Daddy I’d go to church with them on Sunday and you know how long-winded Reverend Jessup is, so we’ll be there most of the day. After church, they want to have dinner with some of the choir members. I’m not sure I’ll go with them to that. But if I do, that’ll take up the rest of the day for me. And tomorrow, I think I’ll do a few things around the house that I’ve been putting off.”
“You sure you don’t mind spending the whole weekend by yourself?”
“Uh-uh! If I run out of things to keep me busy tomorrow, I’ll go next door and hang out with Yvonne and Milton. Now, you get going and try to enjoy yourself. And don’t you get too close to anybody and give them your germs.”
“I won’t.”
Chapter 35
Odell
BETTY JEAN WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE ME, SHE SHOWERED ME WITH hugs and kisses as soon as I walked through her door. “You sweet thing you,” she squealed. “What you doing here? Alline told me you called her at work and said you wasn’t coming today on account of you had to go check up on your daddy.”
We kissed again. And then I coughed a few times so I could have a few seconds delay before I answered her question. I needed time to line up my lies so I could keep them straight and make them sound believable. “I went by Daddy’s house for a little while this evening, and he is doing so much better. Come to find out, he had made other plans to go out with one of his friends and forgot I was coming. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here no sooner.”
“Oh well. You here now and that’s all I care about. I hope you didn’t already eat supper. I got some greens and neck bones on the stove.” Betty Jean waved me to the couch and we sat down. Before I could get comfortable, she hauled off and kissed me on my neck and poked my crotch. “You sure do feel good, baby. I can’t wait to get you into our playroom.” She giggled and nodded toward the door to the master bedroom.
“Same here,” I said with my voice sounding like a bear growl. She had already poked me enough to give me a hard-on, so I pushed her hand away from my pecker. Then I pulled her into my arms and kissed her long and hard. Joyce was a better kisser. I didn’t think about that too much when I was with Betty Jean, though. I wanted to reach up under her skirt and slide her panties off and do my business right on the couch, but I didn’t want no audience. I sat up. “Where my boys at?”
“When I told them you couldn’t come today, they got real upset. Roy was here when Alline came by and told me you had to cancel, so he offered to take them with him and his kids to Mobile to visit the duck pond and eat at one of them roadside burger places. After they do that, he might visit his brother and spend the night at his house, so they probably won’t be back until tomorrow evening or Sunday.”
“They took the baby, too?”
“Yeah.” Betty Jean nodded and started looking impatient. “I’m happy I get to take a little break. I’m with them boys seven days a week and taking care of them is hard work. But that’s something you wouldn’t know about. . . .”
“Please don’t start up on my case again. It make me feel right shitty,” I whined.
“Forget what I just said. Anyway, we done spoiled Leon and he is already a handful. Can you imagine the mess I would have had on my hands if they’d made him stay home?”
“Leon is too little to get close to them ducks, and I don’t like him being around a lot of water yet unless he’s with me or you.”
“I know and I don’t like that neither and I tried to keep him home. But he cried up a storm, so Roy let him tag along. Roy’s kids is old enough to keep a eye on him so they won’t let him get too close to the water myself, eat a bug, or wander off and get lost.”
“Is there anyway you can get in touch with Roy? Maybe we can drive over to Mobile and pick up the boys. Or maybe he ain’t left his house yet.”
“They went straight from here to Mobile.”
I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to see my boys tonight. But I was pleased that I would at least have a chance to spend some time alone with Betty Jean. We could start working on that baby girl we both been itching to have.
“How long can you stay?” she asked. “Me and you can still do something nice. We could take a long drive or go fishing.”
“I’ll stay the night and maybe we’ll take a drive in the morning.”
“The boys will be upset when they find out you came by anyway this weekend and they didn’t get to see you.” Even though Betty Jean was slightly upset herself, she was still able to show her love by caressing the side of my face and rubbing my chest.
“I know. But tell them we’ll do something nice soon. I seen
