Page 18 of Driftwood Daffodil

A heavy breath came from Maw Maw as she tipped her head and gave me a scowl. “What am I going to do with you, child?”

I leaned back, shot her a smile and sang, “wish me well in my mediocre life of waitressing and divorces?”

Maw Maw shook her head, “Do you take anything seriously?”

“Yes,” I was completely serious about the divorces. I figured somewhere around three.

“Pastor John called.”

“That wasn't my fault.” All I did was point out how illogical it was to fit two of every animal in one boat. Was every breed of dog in there and if not where did the other ones come from? “I warned them against having me teach Sunday school.”

“Those children had nightmares for a week, Novalee.”

I shrugged. “One of them asked about hell.”

So I put on a movie. Looking back, horror probably wasn’t the best genre to go with.

“Please tell me you didn’t make them watch Show Girls?”

I rolled my eyes as Memphis walked up to the gate.

“My goal wasn’t to scar them for life.”

His blonde hair glinted in the streetlight as he chuckled and shook his head. Tall jackass didn’t even bother to open the gate. He just swung one of his long legs over the two foot fence and strutted in the yard.

I tried that once – the latch on that plastic piece of crap was a pain in the ass to open – I ended up knocking half the fence down. Maw Maw was less impressed with that than she was my language.

“Memphis,” She sang with a happy tone. “What a nice surprise.”

My best friend was the angelic grandchild Maw Maw hoped I would be. I swear sometimes she thought the sun shone out of his ass.

His light eyes brightened as he smiled back. “Hi Mrs. Broussard.”

“Good lord child, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Billy-Jo?”

I swallowed down the need to remind my dear sweet grandmother that Memphis preferred the less fairer sex.

It was sickening how girls fawned over him. If angels were a thing I imagined they’d look a lot like my best friend. His big honey eyes were far brighter than they should’ve been and there was the exact right amount of wave in his golden hair.

Tie that in with his fair complexion and pleasant smile and even I might’ve found him attractive. That is if I didn’t know he peed the bed until he was five, or that he ate a worm when he was eight. Somethings you just can’t forget.

“Sorry mam, but I believe in respecting my elders.”

Gag.

“Aren’t you sweet,” Maw, Maw shot me a look. “Novalee could learn a thing or two from you.”

Oh I learned a few things from him, like don’t drink three cups of water before going to sleep.

“Don’t you let her corrupt that baby anymore.”

Seriously? The kid was busy trying to devour one of her precious gnomes and she was worried about me corrupting him. It was pretty clear which one of us had murderous tendencies in this scenario.

“I won’t.” I rolled my eyes as Memphis lifted his hand in a salute. “Scout’s honor.”

“Pfft scout,” I scoffed. “I think you need to go to more than one meeting to be considered an official scout.”

He was all for the Boy Scouts until he found out that they camped in tents and went fishing. Why Memphis’s father was so surprised when he came out, I never understood. Our childhood was filled with obvious signs.

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