Chapter 23
Around three in the afternoon the next day, Shirley poked her face in my screen door. Dressed in a lovely purple blouse and a long flowing black skirt, she stood on my back porch with Troy. “Hello, hello,” she called out.
I pulled my oven mitts off and gestured for them to come in. “You look great. Going somewhere?”
“Well, it’s Saturday and Roy and I have a date. Troy is gonna spend the day with his cousins, aren’t you, little guy?” She was surveying the mess that was my kitchen. “You’ve been baking and cooking all afternoon?”
I wiped my brow and stopped moving for the first time in hours. “Shirley, I haven’t slept since I hung up with Hank yesterday afternoon. I’m a hot mess.” I winked at Troy. “Mister went a little crazy in here, didn’t he?”
“Yeah…” Troy went to the count
