“Let’s get started upstairs.” She looked at Penelope. “You’re still dressed.” She leaned across the table. “What was so important outside you had to take care of it before changing out of your Sunday-go-to-meeting duds?”
Penelope’s face grew warm. “Nothing. I told you. I’ll make a quick change while you start stripping beds.”
Still mulling over the bikers’ brawl and the possibility of Tiny being part of it, Penelope almost didn’t see Mary Lynn start for the front room. “Don’t go in there!”
“Huh?” Mary Lynn’s hand dropped away from the glass doorknob.
“This weekend’s guests stayed on the third floor.” Penelope thought she might be babbling.
“Which room did those men have?”
“Bradley’s old room, but I’ve already cleaned it.”
Mary Lynn’s hand snaked back to the knob on the door of the front room and had it open before Penelope could utter another protest. “This room’s so big you could put another double bed in here and…” Her mouth fell open. “This room’s not clean!”
“Close the blessed door, Mary Lynn.”
“Who…”
“Just leave it alone.”
Mary Lynn peered at her friend through narrowed eyes. “Penelope Corinne Louise, there’s something you’re not telling me.”
“So? Close the door.” Penelope turned her back and stalked off down the hall to change her clothes.
They cleaned the third-floor apartment in total silence. On their way downstairs, Penelope said, “If you say one blessed word about that front room—and I mean to anybody, even Harry—you will no longer be my best friend.”
Mary Lynn snorted. “What’s the deal, Pen? You have a secret lover or something?”
Penelope stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I do not! That’s a terrible thing to say.”
“I was only joking.” Mary Lynn chewed her bottom lip. “But it does look suspicious.”
“Thanks for helping me clean. Now go home.”
“You’re a bad liar, you know.”
Penelope shrugged. “We can’t all be talented like that. I remember the time you tried to convince Miss Maude Pendleton to give you an extra week on your English term paper because you’d been at the bedside of a dying uncle in the Bronx.”
Mary Lynn giggled like the school girl she’d been. “She’d have bought it, too, if she hadn’t known somehow that both my parents were only children.”
“She knew everything.” I know stuff. Tiny’s words rang in Penelope’s ears.
Mary Lynn grabbed her purse from the mirrored hat and coat stand by the front door. “Well, if you need to confess anything in the wee hours of the morning, better call me instead of Fr. Loeffler.”
“Not a word, Mary Lynn. I mean it.”
Penelope waited to hear Mary Lynn’s car peel away, then went back upstairs and cleaned Tiny’s room. Or Sam’s room. Whoever he was.
****
She baked pork chops and made scalloped potatoes for dinner, though which Jake regaled her with the Toney Twins’ latest exploits. They’d driven over to a car show in Nashville in their ’67 Mustang and gotten stopped by the state police three times going and four times coming home. “Showed me seven warning tickets, all for the same busted tail light,” Jake said, almost choking on his last bite of potatoes.
“That tail light’s been broken for at least a year, ever since old Mrs. Murdock backed into them at the Garden Market. Or they backed into her. Bradley gave up trying to find out.”
“You know that, and I know that, but seven different smokies don’t.”
“That’s not fair, Daddy. The state troopers are just trying to do their jobs. I think it was pretty nice of them to just give the Toneys a warning.”
“Seven of them!” Jake almost screamed with laughter. “Seven!”
Penelope took out the lemon icebox pie and set it on the cabinet. She’d just touched the knife to the whipped cream topping when she saw a shadow zip past the window over the sink and round the corner of the garage. Letting the
Penelope’s face grew warm. “Nothing. I told you. I’ll make a quick change while you start stripping beds.”
Still mulling over the bikers’ brawl and the possibility of Tiny being part of it, Penelope almost didn’t see Mary Lynn start for the front room. “Don’t go in there!”
“Huh?” Mary Lynn’s hand dropped away from the glass doorknob.
“This weekend’s guests stayed on the third floor.” Penelope thought she might be babbling.
“Which room did those men have?”
“Bradley’s old room, but I’ve already cleaned it.”
Mary Lynn’s hand snaked back to the knob on the door of the front room and had it open before Penelope could utter another protest. “This room’s so big you could put another double bed in here and…” Her mouth fell open. “This room’s not clean!”
“Close the blessed door, Mary Lynn.”
“Who…”
“Just leave it alone.”
Mary Lynn peered at her friend through narrowed eyes. “Penelope Corinne Louise, there’s something you’re not telling me.”
“So? Close the door.” Penelope turned her back and stalked off down the hall to change her clothes.
They cleaned the third-floor apartment in total silence. On their way downstairs, Penelope said, “If you say one blessed word about that front room—and I mean to anybody, even Harry—you will no longer be my best friend.”
Mary Lynn snorted. “What’s the deal, Pen? You have a secret lover or something?”
Penelope stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I do not! That’s a terrible thing to say.”
“I was only joking.” Mary Lynn chewed her bottom lip. “But it does look suspicious.”
“Thanks for helping me clean. Now go home.”
“You’re a bad liar, you know.”
Penelope shrugged. “We can’t all be talented like that. I remember the time you tried to convince Miss Maude Pendleton to give you an extra week on your English term paper because you’d been at the bedside of a dying uncle in the Bronx.”
Mary Lynn giggled like the school girl she’d been. “She’d have bought it, too, if she hadn’t known somehow that both my parents were only children.”
“She knew everything.” I know stuff. Tiny’s words rang in Penelope’s ears.
Mary Lynn grabbed her purse from the mirrored hat and coat stand by the front door. “Well, if you need to confess anything in the wee hours of the morning, better call me instead of Fr. Loeffler.”
“Not a word, Mary Lynn. I mean it.”
Penelope waited to hear Mary Lynn’s car peel away, then went back upstairs and cleaned Tiny’s room. Or Sam’s room. Whoever he was.
****
She baked pork chops and made scalloped potatoes for dinner, though which Jake regaled her with the Toney Twins’ latest exploits. They’d driven over to a car show in Nashville in their ’67 Mustang and gotten stopped by the state police three times going and four times coming home. “Showed me seven warning tickets, all for the same busted tail light,” Jake said, almost choking on his last bite of potatoes.
“That tail light’s been broken for at least a year, ever since old Mrs. Murdock backed into them at the Garden Market. Or they backed into her. Bradley gave up trying to find out.”
“You know that, and I know that, but seven different smokies don’t.”
“That’s not fair, Daddy. The state troopers are just trying to do their jobs. I think it was pretty nice of them to just give the Toneys a warning.”
“Seven of them!” Jake almost screamed with laughter. “Seven!”
Penelope took out the lemon icebox pie and set it on the cabinet. She’d just touched the knife to the whipped cream topping when she saw a shadow zip past the window over the sink and round the corner of the garage. Letting the
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