Miss Lola.

Merlin cont'd

Rhonda looked upset too as she quietly  took her seat at the table.

I didn't know what to say, the tension between my sister and mother was thick enough to cut with a knife and finally Mr. Hollis nervously cleared his

throat and asked mother if she needed help serving the dessert and she tossed him a sizzling glare and snapped,

"No, thank you."

"So, anyway, my wife might be interested in a new car. She drives a Volvo but it's giving her some trouble." I said to cover the awkward moment.

Hollis dragged his eyes away from Mother and said, "Why don't you bring it by and I'll have one of my mechanics take a look at it."

I realized that this would give me the perfect excuse to call Gwen sooner than I'd intended and for some reason, I felt a sense of relief because Gwen couldn't possibly think that I'm begging her to come home if I called her about the car.

"What time?"

"Oh, any time will be fine with me." Hollis said with a careless shrug. "We open at eight thirty in the morning and usually close at seven p.m." He was talking to me but watching mother like a hawk.

Mother began serving the dessert and I noticed that she'd given Rhonda and Hollis the smallest slices of the tart and only one scoop of peach cobbler.

The dessert was delicious, and I had a big bowl of peach cobbler and two slices of the strawberry tart. Man, I'd surely missed my mother's home cooking.

Gwen does the best that she can although now that she's gone vegan, all Gwen serves at home are vegetables and tofu burgers which just aren't satisfying and that's another thing which I plan to address.

Hell, I don't mind a juicy steak every now and again and if Gwen wants to eat rabbit food for the rest of her life then fine.

But why must I have to suffer too?

In fact, the entire meal had been perfect and mother had outdone herself tonight but when I politely complimented her on the meal she barely even looked my way.

After dinner, since Hollis and mother had other plans, I volunteered to do the dishes and when Mother excused herself and went to retrieve her purse from her bedroom, Rhonda sighed, rolled her eyes and said,

"Mr. Hollis do you know of any other car dealerships who wouldn't charge an arm and a leg for a decent used car?"

Hollis thought a moment and then removed his wallet and handed Rhonda a card.

"He's a good guy. Just tell him that I sent you and he'll take care of you."

"Thanks." Rhonda said vaguely, while studying the little, red and green card.

When mother returned, Mr. Hollis  immediately stood up, saying how nice it was to meet all of us and how much he was looking forward to spending more time with us and the man actually seemed sincere too and then they were out the door.

"So, what was the screaming match in the kitchen?" I asked my sister.

Rhonda grimaced and rolled her eyes.

"I guess she think I want her man or something. But that ain't even how I roll."

Frowning, I arose from my chair and begin gathering up the dirty dishes and after a brief hesitation, Rhonda sends her kids to the front room and helps me.

"You'll wash and I'll dry." She suggested.

"Didn't you know? Mother bought a new dishwasher." I carried the first load into the kitchen and ran cold water into the sink as I scraped the left over food into the garbage disposal before loading the Whirlpool.

"Well, we better scrub the dining room down until it sparkles because you know how she is." Rhonda said.

"No matter what we do, she'll just go behind our backs and clean it all up again." I say.

We look at each other and crack up laughing like we used to do when we were little and were stuck doing the dishes and in that moment I realize just how much I'd missed my twin.

"Were you serious about mother thinking  that you want her man?" I ask.

Rhonda shrugs, "Why else would she go off on me just because I asked Mr. Hollis about a car? I honestly can't think of another reason. I swear, sometimes Mama be bugging."

"But surely you don't really think that."

"No, I guess I'm tripping." Rhonda said. "Mr. Hollis obviously got eyes only for Mama and she could eat him up with a spoon."

"What do you think of him? I actually might like this guy."

"He alright." Rhonda allowed. "But he slick. Mama better watch out."

"Oh, I think that she can handle him." I said with a knowing chuckle.

Rhonda asked me about Gwen.

"Oh, she's good. Gwen and Haley are visiting her family in Alabama for a little while."

"Oh."

And the way Rhonda said that one, simple word let me know that she was suspicious but there was no way that I'd tell Rhonda what was really going on  because as much as I love my sister, that mouth of hers is reckless.

Rhonda looked like she wanted to keep the conversation rolling but just then her cellphone started playing DMX and she quickly excused herself to take the call in the other room leaving me to wipe down the dining room table and mop the floor.

When I was finally done, I stood back to critically survey my handiwork which looked fine to me so I switched the light off and joined the kids in the front room.

"Uncle Merlin, can you loan me a dollar?" Tommy asked.

"And why would you be needing a dollar, little man?"

"I wanna buy some candy."

So I pulled out my wallet and of course the other kids wanted a dollar too.

"Well, a dollar might not be enough." Tommy was squinting as if he were in deep thought. "Five might do the job."

Chuckling, I handed all three kids crisp, five dollar bills and was putting my wallet away when Rhonda joined us.

"It's been real but I got to take these rugrats to Miss Nancy. They want me to come in early tonight."

"The Bargain Barn?" I asked.

"Umm..yeah. Come on kids, let's jet."

I walked them to their car, I actually hated to see them go.

"We need to keep in touch, Sis."

"Sure. I'll call you sometime." Rhonda strapped her brood in, hopped inside her hoopty and tooted her horn at me as she drove away.

10/30/21
Edited 12/20/21.