Page 37

“I’ll see you soon,” Ruby says in my ear. “Hurry up.”
Then she hangs up.
I stare at my phone.
She hung up on me.Whatis going on?
The doorbell rings again. Then there’s a knock.
I’ll admit, I open the door with trepidation. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on. I’m always the one in charge. I call theshots. I make the plans. This all feels very out of my control, and that makes me wary. And grumpy.
I brace myself, then swing the door open anyway.
Three women are standing on Ruby’s front porch.
“Good morning, Henry,” the white woman in the middle says. She has blond hair with gray streaks, a friendly smile, and a plate of cinnamon rolls.
“Um. Good morning, ladies.”
“I’m Mandy. I have the cinnamon rolls.” She’s in blue jeans, a pink T-shirt, and a long light blue cardigan.
“Well, I guess that’s good. Ruby mentioned I was supposed to have rolls. Maybe you can tell me what they’re for.”
“For Dick’s.” Mandy hands me the plate. “April and Ruby need them.”
I take the plate. “Yes, so I gathered. Is there a reason you’re bringing them here instead of taking them to the bar?” I’m happy to take them. I’m definitely heading to the bar. But I’m very curious about what’s going on.
“Oh, I can’t take them to the bar,” Mandy says. “Will’s there. He might see me.”
“Who’s Will?”
“My husband.”
Okay. “Your husband is at thebar? This early in the day?” I look down at the plate. These look amazing. The plate is slightly warm, the icing is thick and is melting just a bit, sliding down the sides of huge, fluffy, golden-brown rolls, and I can smell the buttery cinnamon scent even through the plastic wrap covering the plate.
“He goes to Dick’s every morning at seven for coffee and breakfast.”
“To thebar?” I clarify. “That seems…odd, doesn’t it?”
“It’s where their friends are. They can sit around and watch TV, bitch about politics and the weather, play their games, andstay out of our way,” the Black woman to Mandy’s left adds. “I’m Ada. My husband Ben is there too. And if those rolls don’t show up soon, he might come home, so you need to move it.” She’s wearing a purple pant suit, a multi-colored silk scarf, and her long dark hair falls in braids nearly to her waist. Multiple gold bangles jingle at her wrists.
“But it’s a bar,” I say again. Though why do I care?
Because if these guys are there, Ruby has to be there. And April. That’s really the only reason. If these men need a place to go and everyone has decided that should be a run-down bar on the edge of town, that’s none of my business. As long as it doesn’t get in the way ofmyplans.
“It’s a building that has everything they need,” the taller white woman behind Mandy and Ada says. Her silvery hair is cut in a bob and she’s wearing gray linen trousers, and a baggy gray sweatshirt that says A Woman Without A Man Is Like A Fish Without A Bicycle.
“You need to get moving,” Mandy says, pointing at the plate. “Don’t want those to get too cold. They need to think April baked them in the kitchen at the bar.”
“It’s that big of a deal they don’t find out they’re from you?”
“It’s good for them to know someone other than their wives can do things for them,” Mandy says.
“If they’re not going to learn to do things for themselves,” the woman at the back says with an eye roll.
“We’ve tried, Cecelia,” Ada says. “You know that. Ben can do everythingbutbake.” She looks up at me. “How a man who taught college physics for forty years can’t figure out how to make a fucking chocolate chip cookie is beyond me.”
“But April doesn’t actually make cinnamon rolls?” I ask.