“Speak for yourself. I figure that sex is like riding a bike. You don’t forget something that important. And”—she shook her finger at Ada Lou—“don’t underestimateme, Ada Louise.”
I wasn’t naive, and I wasn’t a virgin. But I sure felt like I should make the sign of the cross over my chest. Old women shouldn’t be talking about sex—should they?
Ada Lou slapped Nancy’s finger away. “Don’t call me that. I might be named for my Aunt Louise, but I despised that woman. I’m plain old Ada Lou, and don’t you forget it.”
“Then don’t question my ability to spy on the neighbors.” Nancy winked at me. “I’m up early to listen to the birds while I have my coffee in the mornings, and I hear him driving away. And I walk down to the mailboxes to get my mail at the same time he comes homeeach evening,” she said. “But don’t you doubt for one minute that I haven’t stood on a stool to figure out what I want to know. I have ways of finding out things. Tomorrow, I plan to welcome him to the neighborhood with a plate of cookies. And don’t even ask me to bring any of them to you. If you don’t share your information, then I don’t share my cookies.”
“Downright bitchy today, are we?” Ada Lou said.
While they argued, I studied the board in front of me. This was a word game that used tiles, which were scattered off to one side of the table, and the game was scored according to how they were placed on the tiny squares.
“If you are through pitching a hissy fit, we should start this game. I need to be out of here by five so I can wave at the new resident when he gets home,” Nancy said in a teasing tone.
“I was not having a fit,” Ada Lou countered. “You know how much I love your cookies, especially those snickerdoodles.”
“That’s exactly what I’m making,” Nancy said.
“You were a baker. Why don’t you make your own cookies?” I asked Ada Lou.
If looks could freeze, I would have turned into a Popsicle.
“I have not baked since my daughter died.”
“Sorry I asked,” I said.
Ada Lou’s chin trembled, but she soon got control. “Now you know. We’ll take turns drawing tiles, and Nancy will start the game.” Secrets all around these parts, it seemed.
By the time it was my turn to make a word, I had a pretty good idea of what was happening. I createdforeverby playing three of my tiles on the wordever, which Nancy had made. I didn’t get any extra points like Nancy did with the letterV, but I was proud of myself for catching on so quickly.
I won the first game by three points. Nancy declared that it was beginner’s luck, and maybe it was, because Ada Lou flat-out beat thesocks off us in the second one. It was hard to believe that two hours had passed when Nancy pushed back her chair.
“I’ve got about enough time to get to the mailbox in time to wave at Jackson. I’ll bet you a plate of snickerdoodles that I know more about him than either of you by next Thursday, when we meet again for a rematch. And if I win, you will have to bake me a red velvet cake.”
Red velvet was not my favorite, but maybe she would make me a plain old chocolate one if I won the bet.
Ada Lou shook Nancy’s hand. “Deal.”
“I can’t believe that you want to win so badly, you would turn on the oven,” Nancy said.
“I won’t lose,” Ada Lou said with conviction.
“What if I win?” I asked.
They both looked at me like I had a horn growing out of my forehead.
“You don’t even know how to spy on people,” Ada Lou said.
“From what little you told us about your past, you are a drifter,” Nancy added. “Watch us and learn if you want some pointers. But for now, all is fair in love and war.”
I bit back a smile. Poker players are professional spies. We read people in brief moments, and we listen when they talk. To make two old ladies happy, I would let them teach me what they knew. But I was the one who’d had a late dinner with Jackson and had planned another one sometime in the future. Like Nancy said,All’s fair in love and war, and I did not like to lose any more than Ada Lou did.
I stuck around long enough to help put the game away, fold the chairs and table and stash them in the hall closet, and have a second cup of hot chocolate.
“I’m going to take a late nap. You run along now,” Ada Lou said with a glimmer in her eyes. “If you are lucky, you’ll get to wave at Jackson, too, as you pass by the mailboxes.”
“I thought Nancy was going to do that,” I said.
“When she wasn’t looking, I set the clock on the microwave up twenty minutes,” Ada Lou whispered. “I’ll teach her to bake my favorite cookies and not share with me.”
