She said, “I put these up not too long ago. It’s a little thank-you for helping.”
Rae Lynn said, “And this is for you too, but I owe you so much more than this little ole cake. You saved my life.”
Del said, “Y’all didn’t need to bring me nothing. It’s not called for. I done what anybody would.”
Rae Lynn rolled her eyes at Cornelia and said, “Not anybody.”
Cornelia said, “That’s right.”
Del said, “Come in, come in. I was about to have a bite to eat.”
They went in and set what they brought on the table. Del was a bit embarrassed at his meagre little spread but felt he should at least offer them something to drink.
He pointed at the coffee pot and said, “Would y’all care for some? I could make some right quick.”
Cornelia shook her head and said, “It would be nice, but we got to get back before Otis notices us gone. He still had to close the commissary, so we came straightaway.”
Del said, “Well, thankee kindly. I know I’ll enjoy all this.”
Cornelia said, “It was Rae Lynn’s idea.”
This pleased him, but when he turned to Rae Lynn, she appeared struck by the tops of her boots. She wore them with the borrowed dress, and Del liked how she looked.
Cornelia said, “We best be getting back.”
The women went out, and he watched them link arms as they hurried away in the twilight, heads together, whispering to one another. As he started to go back inside, he noticed Crow back out on his porch. Crow was staring after the women like he’d seen something he didn’t like.
He gestured toward the women. “That’s what I’m talking about. That right there.”
Del said, “What?”
“Something’s off with them two.”
Del mumbled, “You’re one to talk.”
He went inside and shut his door, bothered by the man’s need to find trouble where there was none.
Chapter 24
Rae Lynn
Rae Lynn knew when to count her blessings. She could be driving a broken-down truck and needing to find work again. Instead, she still had a roof over her head and food to eat. It was early on a Thursday morning, and Cornelia had come along to help carry the few things she had from number forty-four. Cornelia stepped inside and looked around.
“I bet you had to turn it inside out to make it the least bit agreeable.”
Rae Lynn was pulling her sheets off the squalid mattress.
She said, “You have no idea.”
Cornelia peered closely at the stitching.
She said, “Woowee, that Ray Cobb, he sure can turn a fine stitch.”
They snickered a little at that, and later on, back at the Riddles, Cornelia went by her with an armful of laundry and said, “I’m real glad you chose to stay.”
Rae Lynn smiled a little as she prepared their noon dinner.
She said, “I’m grateful to you.”
“Honestly. You’re the best thing to come into this household since Mama sent me money to buy a bus ticket a few months after me and Otis was married.”
Rae Lynn held an empty can she’d been using to cut biscuits, her hands coated in flour. At Cornelia’s comment she went still and gazed out the window, a dreamy look on her face.
She said, “Law, I ain’t never rode on a bus. Was it fun?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t never go.”
“Why not?”
Cornelia raised her shoulders. “I wrote Mama to tell her when I was coming. I also told her how he was and said I didn’t only want to visit. I wanted to come home, you know, to stay. She wrote me back and said, in more or less words, don’t. She told me to use the money to buy me some pretties. Said my place was with my husband now. Shoot, Rae Lynn. How can a man be so different one day and then like somebody you never met the next? He won’t always like this, least not right away. He changed once I found out some things about him.”
“Oh? Like what?”
Cornelia shifted the laundry and didn’t answer. Rae Lynn let it go and went back to cutting the biscuits.
She said, “Well, I reckon you ain’t the first woman in such circumstances. And you surely won’t be the last.”
Cornelia sighed. “You’re right about that. Hey, Rae Lynn?”
“Um-hmm? ”
“What made you come here trying to act like a man? I mean, where’d you come from? What happened?”
Rae Lynn answered carefully. “I needed work, and somewhere to stay.”
Cornelia gave her an assessing look, while Rae Lynn acted like it was the most commonplace thing to do.