"Well, it's been over a year," the bird lady said. "He needs him a new horse is what he needs. Swing back up in the saddle!"

"Martha!" the others gasped.

"Oh, don't act like such a bunch of prissies!" she snorted. "I changed that boy's diapers. I watched him raise hell all through school. He just needs a good woman, that's all. Trouble with him is, he don't know it! Thinks we're all the same, faithless hussies! Thinks work's all there is to life." The ladies sighed collectively. Martha was a loose cannon.

Flo was walking back toward the table, and everyone but Martha set about shoveling beans into their mouths.

"Ain't that right, Flo?" Martha said.

"What's that?" She was smiling, settling back into her seat and reaching for her tea.

"Don't Marshall need him a new woman?" Flo looked over at me and laughed. "Yes, Lord! But don't go scaring Miss Maggie! She'll think we're desperate to marry him off."

"Well, aren't we? Who's the one wanting after grandkids?"

Flo sighed and looked at me. "You know how it is, a mama just hates to see her baby hurtin', no matter how old they get or how tough they act."

"I know just what you mean," I said. "I got a baby of my own."

Flo smiled. "You know, you just might like my boy, and I know he'd like you."

"Oh, well, maybe I'll meet him sometime," I said casually.

"Oh, you most certainly will. He's due to be here any minute. He wouldn't miss one of our pinto bean lunches. Brings all those boys he works with, too!"

Bonnie choked and started coughing wildly.

My heart started pounding and the only thing I could think of was escaping. I looked over at Bonnie, trying to catch her eye.

"Honey," I said loudly, rising out of my seat and moving over to hers. "Let me help you! "

I snatched Bonnie up out of her chair, grabbed my purse and hers, and looked back at my luncheon companions. "Well be right back! These spells just come on her so sudden, and the only thing for it is fresh air."

I started Bonnie toward the front doorway of the fellowship hall only to see a group of men approaching. I recognized one as a detective and quickly spun Bonnie on her heel and made for the rest room at the back of the long room.

"Quick!" I said. "Get in there before he sees us!"

We headed almost at a dead run for the bathroom, with me praying for escape and Bonnie barking like a dog. I ducked into the pink-tiled room and took stock of our situation.

"What're we gonna do now?" Bonnie gasped.

I looked around the room, taking in the three stalls, the two sinks and the one window.

"Bonnie," I said, "tough times call for thick skin. We gotta get out of here."

"But he'll see us! You don't want that, do you? You want him to know you've been querying his own mama? That's liable to make him mad."

I walked over to the frosted glass window and pushed it open, staring out at the cemetery that lay behind the church.

"Bonnie," I said, "you first."

"I can't do that!" she shrieked. "What about the kids?" She was right. She couldn't go off and leave her kids.

"All right," I said, trying to sound calmer than I felt. "You go back in there and quietly round up the young'uns and leave. If anyone asks where I am, just act like you don't know." But I knew she'd be lost the second he looked at her. Bonnie was not a professional liar. "Just try to slip out without Flo seeing you. Can you do that?"

Bonnie looked nervous, and she fumbled with the clasp of her purse, like maybe she was going for a cigarette.

"All right," she said finally. "I'll do it."

"Good! And Bon, could you do one more thing?"

"What? I don't think I can take much more pressure!"

"It's simple," I said, slipping off my shoes. "Just give me a boost out the window."

With Bonnie's help I squeezed up onto the windowsill, over the ledge, and out, landing with a thud on the ground outside. Bonnie's frizzy blond head popped over the edge, looking down.

"You all right?" she asked.

I stood up, brushing fresh grass clippings off the back of my skirt and slipping my shoes on. "I'm fine. All right, get to it, or they'll really be looking for you! I'm gonna make a run for it."

Bonnie giggled. "Maggie, I've gotta say this is a side to your personality I've never seen before."

"Well, I can't let him get the upper hand," I said. "He knows way more about me than I know about him."

"I think there's more to it than that," she said softly.

I didn't answer her. Instead I walked quickly to my car, watching my back for signs of the ever-present Weathers. Finally, I had something to go on, some little tidbit to give me an edge. Only trouble was, I felt sorry for him and felt not at all like taking the upper hand.

"Well, you just harden your heart, girl," I said out loud. "He's got them all fooled. He's not broken-hearted, and he's not feeling the least bit sorry for you."

I thought about the way he'd kissed me, the memory of that kiss filling my body with long-buried anticipation. No, he wasn't feeling sorry for me. He was pure danger, ready to use any trick in his bag to reel me in.

Chapter Twenty-One

The Irving Park Country Day School looks like a Norman Rockwell painting, with red brick buildings, thick white Grecian columns, and green sodded lawns. Even the students seem to have stepped off the canvas, with one lonely exception. Sheila was sitting in the middle of the front lawn, her long straight hair falling across her shoulders and hiding her face. Her shoulders were slumped miserably over her crossed legs. She was all alone.

She hadn't seen me pull up. I took advantage of that, and sat watching my belligerent baby. Life in Daddy's world wasn't turning out to be the piece of cake she'd been hoping for. Girls walked past her in little groups of twos and threes, all chatting amongst themselves, never saying a word to Sheila. I had my hand on the door handle, ready to run up to her, when he arrived.

Keith, the miserable slob, pulled up in a brand new red 4Runner. At first, I didn't want to believe it was him. I just knew he couldn't afford a snazzy vehicle like that. But there was no mistaking Keith. He pulled up in the circular drive, clearly in violation of the sign that said BUSES ONLY, and jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Sheila!"

At the sound of her name, Sheila's head jerked up like a marionette's, and her sullen frown was replaced by a broad smile. Clearly she'd forgotten that I was supposed to be picking her up, not this baboon.

I stepped out of my car and started walking toward the happy couple. What did she see in him? This was not going to be a pretty confrontation. Sheila, wasn't going to be happy to be hauled off by her mama. I tried to put myself in her place, to remember what it was like to be sixteen and in love for the very first time.

His name had been Tony, and my mama hadn't liked him worth a flip. A flat-topped greaser, Mama had seen right through his smooth line of talk.

"Honey, that boy's nothing but bad road and foolish decisions," she'd said. But I didn't listen. That's the thing about adolescent hormones and bad-picker genes, you can't hear the voice of reason when you're walking down the road of desperate love. It'd been desperate love with Tony. He was gonna be my ticket out of the reality of my daddy's drinking. Trouble was, Tony was just like Pa, only mean to boot.

I saw that same desperate look in Sheila's eyes.

Keith was her key to salvation. It wouldn't matter so much that Vernell had gone back to drinking full-time or that her Uncle Jimmy was dead, or that the girls at Irving Park looked right past her when she entered the room. Keith was gonna fix all that.

"Hey, sweetie," I said, breezing right up between them. "You must've forgotten that I was picking you up." I didn't give Sheila a chance to answer. "Keith," I said, turning to him, and trying not to stare at the fluorescent pink dog collar around his neck. "I hate for you to have ridden all this way for nothing."