Miss Lola.

Lola.

I was nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs but the tension melted away when Hollis arrived. I swear that man works on my nerves like chamomile tea or Xanax.

"Hollis!" I shouted, hopping out of my car and rushing up to him and would you believe that the first thing this wonderful man did was to haul me up inside of his arms?

And as I clung to his solid shoulders, his strong arms wrapped around my body, pressing me against his rock hard chest for the longest, most satisfying clutch and then he was holding me at arm's length and worriedly peering into my face.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm straight, but Avis is the one all torn up."

"Well, she should be." Hollis says sternly. "Lola, I know she your friend and everything but this really isn't your problem."

"It may not be my problem Hollis." I said. "But Avis is my girl and I want to help her."

"And you should." He said, grabbing my hand and leading the way to his car where he opened the door for me to slide inside before getting in on the driver's side.

"Tell me what happened." Hollis said.

"I really don't know." I pushed my honey brown hair out of my eyes, sighed deeply and shook my head.

"Avis called from the county jail saying that she shot at Ronald, he's her husband, and the bullet must have knocked him down because she say he

was just laying on the ground like a long chunk of wood and one of her neighbors must have heard the gun shot because the neighbor called the cops."

"Avis shot him or shot at him?" Hollis asked.

"What difference does that make whether she shot him or shot at him? Avis is still sitting up in jail."

"Well, it'll matter to her lawyer." Hollis said reaching over to pat my knee. "I can find a good one for her Lola. So don't you worry about that."

"Thank you Hollis."

"So, what do you want to do now?" He asked.

"Go back to work, I guess." I said because there was nothing more to be done for Avis's trigger happy behind. First it was the bat and now this and I hadn't even suspected that she harbored such a violent streak.

I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover and what had possessed her to shoot the man? I still don't get it and like Hollis had said, it really isn't my problem. Hell, I hadn't shot nobody today.

He walked me inside, promising to call me later.

By two o'clock the news had spread all over town and a couple of people stopped by the shop just to ask a bunch of inappropriate questions about the

incident and I told them where they could stuff their questions which pissed several people off but I was beyond caring about their burned feelings.

People should show more consideration.
This ain't no doggone reality show.

This is real life and no one seems to care about poor Avis who is probably scared half to death and no doubt crying buckets full of tears right now.

I'm scared for her because she ain't tough enough to survive in prison and I can see her being some big, corn rowed stud's "wifey" right now. The realistic image made me shudder.

Poor, poor Avis. Man, has she gotten herself into a mess of trouble this time and all these gossip mongers care about is rehashing the grisly details.

I sure hope that Hollis can find her a good lawyer because she's going to need one.

At 6 p.m. on the dot, I hustled everyone out, quickly locked the place down and drove home only to find a strange car parked on the street in front of my house and guess who was posted up on my front porch?

Merlin S.r.

The nerve of him! I sat inside of my car, hoping that he'd get the point and just leave but he eased off the porch and sauntered over to my car as if I'd personally invited him to do so and tapped at the window until I reluctantly powered it down.

"Hey, Lola. Can we talk?" He asks.

"What could we possibly need to discuss, Merlin?"

"Come on, now. Don't be like that."

"Look, I've had a helluva day and I'm seriously not in the mood for any more foolishness today. And how do you know where I live?" I demanded.

"I followed you home the other night." Merlin said.

"Oh, so you're stalking me now? You do know that's illegal?"

"I'm not stalking you. Look, do you want to hear what I got to say or not?" He asked, a tad impatiently.

"I might as well." I say because he ain't gonna leave otherwise. "But we'll have to talk out here where my neighbors can see us."

"Whatever." Merlin complained with an eye roll. "You act like I want to murder you or something. So anyway, I'm leaving tonight but I wanted to give you this before I go."

He reached into the pocket of his skinny jeans and handed me a folded check which made my eyes pop when I unfolded it and saw the amount.

"I know it's not nearly enough to cover the many years when you had to support our children alone but it's a start." Merlin said. "And I'm really sorry for hurting you in the past and I hope that you can one day find it in your heart to forgive me."

And then he simply turned and walked away like this was the perfect mic drop moment, leaving me to stare after him in amazement and I didn't leave my car until the strange car was heading away from my house with him inside of it.

Well, dang!

Rhonda called later, right after I had deposited the check into my bank.

"Mama, I heard about Ms. Avis. Did she really kill Mr. Ronald?" She asked.

"Child, you asking the wrong person." I said.

"What? You haven't heard about it?"

"The only thing I know is that Avis either shot Ronald or shot at him. I ain't heard nothing else."

"Dang. That was crazy. Why'd she try to kill him?" Rhonda asked.

"I guess she was target shooting and he got in the way. Rhonda, did you speak to your father before he left?"

"Yes ma'am. Why?"

"Did he seem alright to you?"

"Yes. Why are you asking about Dad?"

"I'm thinking about forgiving him and letting bygones be bygones." I said.

"It's about time! I just wish this could have happened sooner." Rhonda said.

"Rhonda." I say sweetly.

"Yes, mother?"

"Shut up."