Chapter 20

Even though Adam was disappointed that there was not much of the food that he preferred, it was hard to tell once he began to stuff himself with three fried chicken drumsticks, a pile of mashed potatoes and gravy and a smattering of green beans to appease his mother.

Stella indulged with Thanksgiving in June—and she went back for seconds of the green pea dish.

After their hearty meal, Stella left a big tip—as normal, while the waitress gushed over them and told them to return.

"That chicken was the best! I mean, other than yours…" Adam said.

"Where should we go next?" She asked while looking around.

He paused to squint at her. "Are you scared of driving back up the hill?"

"Nope." She grinned at him. "But maybe we should go to the grocery store again so that we don‘t have to drive back down here anytime soon."

~*~

When Riley returned from town he saw that the Lexus was gone. He was curious about where his boarders had gone off to but then forgot about them as he sank into his reclining chair to watch SportsCenter on ESPN. For the first time since being fired he felt relaxed. A thousand bucks had been deposited into his bank and someone was sure to call him for a job, maybe even as soon as next week.

Even though he had been accused of something that he hadn‘t done, the people who knew him best didn‘t care and the ones that judged him wrongly didn‘t matter. He picked up the Daniel X book and read for a while before dozing off contentedly to the backdrop of a new sportscaster that had been covering high school sports in Texas prior to getting this sweet gig. Maybe life could be so good for him again.

Stella saw that Riley‘s truck was back in the drive-way when they returned from the grocery store. She and Adam had seen a small market right on Cobb Hill which had lunch meat for sandwiches as well as burgers and hotdogs that she hoped to put on that grill that she‘d seen in the back yard. She had even picked up some charcoal briquettes and corn on the cob, which was on sale for a steal.

As usual, she and her son had been met with the expected stares, and although staring was rude, the people were all pleasant. One lady even asked her if she was here to visit Ashleigh and Christopher—who she assumed was the other black family in the area.

She knew that the teeny refrigerator in the cottage was completely packed with the items that she had brought from home, so she decided to take Riley up on his offer to store some things in the walk-in freezer in the main house.

Carrying paper sacks of groceries, Stella tentatively knocked on the front door before remembering what he had said about the door being unlocked.

She pushed open the door slowly, but Adam barged right in, heading straight for the kitchen with his grocery bag in his arms.

"Hi Mr. Riley," he called casually, walking past the man that had been clearly dozing in an easy chair.

Stella closed the door in chagrin when Riley jolted, a book resting on his chest falling to the floor with a clatter.

"Sorry…you said that it was okay to use the freezer…" Stella said hesitantly.

His look of confusion quickly cleared and he nodded and yawned. "It‘s fine. I was just relaxing." In truth he had forgotten the offer, but he didn‘t have a problem with them using the old freezer. There wasn‘t anything in there anyways except for a few pounds of deer meat.

"I see you found J&B‘s Market." He said as he spied the brown paper sacks with the familiar logo printed on it. He rubbed his eyes, discreetly checking for bits of grit.

"Yes," she called over her shoulder. "It‘s a tiny spec but it has everything we‘re likely to need."

"And Mom won‘t have to drive down that scary hill." Adam added. Now that he was free of his package he was back in the living room checking out what Riley had been watching on television.

"It wasn‘t that bad," Stella said as she decided what items she wanted to freeze. Tonight she would grill some burgers and dogs. "Is it okay if we use that old grill out back?" She called.

Riley followed her into the kitchen and was watching as she unloaded her groceries. "Yeah. It‘s fine."

"We bought our own charcoal and lighter fluid."

His brow lifted. "Lighter fluid?"

"Yeah. You know that stuff to light the briquettes."

"Well, there‘s some hickory and pecan wood out back. You can feel free to use it. I haven‘t grilled out in ages so you might as well put it to use. You don‘t have to use anything to catch it on fire if you use the chimney." Besides why would someone spoil the taste of grilled food with fumes from lighter fluid?

"The what?" She asked in confusion.

"Well it‘s a," his hands formed a pattern when he found it hard to explain. "If you want I‘ll just light the fire for you."

She nodded. "Okay. But if you start the fire then you have to join us for dinner."

He shook his head but smiled. "No. But thank you, though. You don‘t have to do that."

She felt disappointed that he had declined the offer. It would have given her a perfect opportunity to find out more about him. "Are you sure? You could tell us more about Estill County. I did some research and it‘s very pretty. There‘s a lot of history here. Plus, we bought a lot of dogs and burgers and there was a sale on this corn on the cob."

He took in her hopeful expression and decided that she wasn‘t just offering out of politeness. "Okay," he conceded. "Thank you." He looked at half a dozen ears of corn still in a paper sack and hid his disapproval. "You don‘t have to buy any vegetables while you‘re on the hill. My neighbors give away their corn; they grow so much of it. There are all the tomatoes, beans, potatoes and onions that you can eat. One thing is for sure; a person won‘t go hungry on Cobb Hill. I tell you what--I‘ll bring a basket of veggies to add to the meal. Is that okay?"