“I apologize. I couldn’t send an unaccompanied lady to Billy Riggs.”
So he knew all along I had no chaperone. With my cheeks ablaze, I draw myself up as if there were a string attached to my crown pulling me to the sky—Hammer Foot’s power stance. “Now that you have seen that I am quite capable, will you not tell me where to find him?” Bear scoops up my hand with her head, asking me to pet her. Nathan combs his hand through her backside.
“On two conditions.”
A group of men saunter toward the Church, hats turning at the sight of us, but offering no comment.
“I will come, and you must tell me why.”
“Why what?”
“WhyMiss Sweetie?”
Our petting—me on the engine, him at the caboose—becomes more vigorous. Bear will be bald soon at the rate we are pawing her. Now that I have been revealed, company would be nice. As for the why of things...
“Your family”—I begin to say, and then hastily tack on—“businesshas helped me, over the years, understand the world. I wanted to thank you in some way.”
He blinks. “How... remarkable.” The air between us thickens with unexpressed words.
Straightening, he brushes the wrinkles from his coat while I pick grass off my sleeves. “Well then, Miss Sweetie, to Collins Street.”
The bottom branch. That sounds more like it. He offers his arm. And though my own legs have done a fair job getting me down the pavement all these years, I take it.
Twenty-Four
Dear Miss Sweetie,
I recently purchased a straw hat off the shelf that is too small. How do I make it fit?
Hatless in Atlanta
Dear Hatless,
Fire up the teakettle. Aim the steam at the inner ribbon, rotating the hat so that the steam dampens the inside brim evenly. Watch your fingers! Once the hat has cooled enough, carefully fit it over your head. You will have to wear the hat for at least two hours so the hat can dry in its new shape.
Yours truly,
Miss Sweetie
—
“I confess, you are not who I expected,” says Nathan after a painful stretch of silence.
“I never am.”
Another silence follows, during which we try not to bumpinto each other. Bear pads on the other side of me with her tail high, the only one of us at ease.
“I’ve had so many questions, and now I cannot think of a single one of them.”
“Then silence is your best option.”
“Whoareyou?”
“If that is how you plan to snare the ladies, you should consider rewiring your trap.”
He snorts. “We are well past introductions, yet I still do not know your name.”
“Jo Kuan.”
