the hell do I get myself into these situations? But I’ll play along, if this is how we can get the land away from that conniving bastard Brad. “Hear that, dumplin’? We’re the talk of the town.”
“I heard.” Tiger must’ve forgotten that I make my living with my right hand because she clamps down on my fingers in a vice grip.
“About the sale of the land, Elva …”
She places her hand on her throat. “I’m not sure, Cash. I just have so much on my mind that I don’t think I can make a decision right now.”
“What kind of things, Elva?” Tiger’s still kneeling beside the chair, and she’s still holding my hand.
“Oh, dear, you don’t want to know about an old woman’s problems.”
“Sure we do.” My fake girlfriend yanks me down to kneel in front of said old woman. “Don’t we, honey bear?”
“Um, yeah. What’s put that frown on your pretty face, Elva?”
A schoolgirl titter that clashes with her wrinkled face rolls from her lips. She wags a finger at me. “You are a devil, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea,” Tiger murmurs.
“What, dear?”
“Nothing. Tell us how we can help, Elva.”
“Well, I’m sure you saw those bird’s nests in my gables when you drove up. I need to get them down.”
I stand and pull my phone from my pocket. “Done. I’ll call Garrett’s Handymen, and those nests will be down by the end of the day.”
A fragile hand stills my arm. “I appreciate it, Cash.” She shakes her head. “But I don’t want strangers around.”
“You know Buck and Tanner Garrett, Miss Elva. You taught them English Lit.” Maybe her memory is failing her.
Her paper-thin lips go between her stained teeth. “No, Maxine and I will figure it out.”
Is she kidding? She’s eighty if she’s a day, and Maxine’s the same age as my mother. No way I’d let my mom on a ladder that tall to clean out some bird’s nests. “Tell ya what, my friend Duke and I will take care of those nests this afternoon.”
“Oh, I can’t ask you …”
“I’ll help,” Tiger pipes in, cheerful as can be. “I took a personal day today, so my afternoon is clear.”
Tears pool above Elva’s lower lids, and her hand goes to her heart. “Y’all are the sweetest. Thank you. I’m sure once that’s done, my mind will be free to think about the rec center. But I don’t see any need to sell the land to Mayor Watson, if you all have the money for the lease.”
I pull Tiger to her feet, and we make our way to the door before Elva has time to change her mind. “See ya this afternoon.”
She gives us a finger wave and mouths, “Bless you.”
Out on the front porch, I eye the nests in question. We might have a problem. I’m pretty sure there’s a clause in my contract that prohibits me from performing tasks that would put me on a twenty-foot ladder.
Tiger leans her warm body into mine. “Hey.”
I glance down at her smiling face. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
Any clause in the contract is forgotten. I’ll climb a hundred twenty-foot ladders just to keep that look on Tiger’s face.
Twenty-Eight
Cash
“Just a little to the left, Cash, darlin’.”
Elva is sitting on her front porch in a giant hat and cat-eye sunglasses, directing me and Duke as we move a wrought iron bench to just the perfect place in her yard.
“This is the last time you’re picking this thing up, do you hear me, King?” Duke whisper-yells from the other end of the bench. “I shouldn’t have let you pick it up even once. How’s your shoulder?”
“It’s fine.” And surprisingly, it is. My pulse skitters at the thought that I might actually be back with the team if they make the playoffs, if McKay can get us there.
Elva must sense Duke’s rising irritation, because she claps her hands and announces, “Yes, right there.”
We lower the bench to the ground under a huge pecan tree full of nuts. I glance around and see several other pecan trees, each one fuller than the next. “You sure have got a lot of pecans, Elva.”
“Yeah, it’s a shame that they’ll probably rot on the ground. I just can’t pick them up anymore, and I can’t ask Maxine to get out here and pick ’em up. That’s not in her job description.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Duke says from the side of his mouth. “We’ve got a workout to get to, then I’ve got to head back to Fort Worth for a couple