Free Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] by Mother Road

front door.
    “No, honey. Daddy didn't come home,” Leona said hurriedly. “It probably belongs to Mr. Yates, and he's going to let us use it for a while.”
    “He's nice. I like him.”
    “ 'Cause he gave her gum,” Ruth Ann said knowingly to her aunt.
    “He didn't eat all the candy,” JoBeth said in Yates's defense after she peered beneath the cloth covering the platter.
    “You can't have any now. It will spoil your dinner. Now change your dress and go out and play while I get it ready.”
    “Do I have to change my dress?”
    “Of course you do. That's your Sunday dress.”
    Leona desperately wanted to be alone. Her nerves were usually strung tight after a trip into town. She would never get over the hurt and the humiliation of being shunned by people she had known all her life. Now that the news was out about Andy being in the hospital and a
cousin
staying with them, the gossips would have a heyday. They would be sure that she was sleeping with him, just as they were sure she had been sleeping with Andy.
    She stood in the middle of the kitchen after the girls went out and pressed her palms to her hot cheeks. Heat had come up her neck to cover her face when she recalled that Mr. White had raised his brows when he told her that Andy's
cousin
had already paid for her purchases. Then, with his back to her, he had informed her that the
cousin
had wanted to know how long she had been
living
with Andy.
    After she set the few items that she had chosen to buy back on the shelves, she squared her shoulders, looked him in the eye and told him that Andy's
cousin
would be taking them to Oklahoma City to see Andy, and that they would stop on their way back and do their grocery buying in Elk City.
    She had been pleased to see that her words had shaken the narrow-minded, opinionated man. She hoped he stewed all day about what his loose words might have cost him. It had taken all the willpower Leona possessed to leave the store with her head up. Now, alone, she couldn't keep the tears from her eyes.
    It was too much!
Cousin
had bought an oven to go on the kerosene stove.
    “Aunt Lee! Aunt Lee!” The front door slammed behind JoBeth. “Mr. Yates fixed the swing. I'm playin with the camper kids.”
    “That's good, honey.” Leona bent over the washdish in the dry sink. “Run along. I'll call you for dinner.”
    Leona dabbed at her eyes with the towel, but the tears would not stop coming. Through a blur, she built a fire in the cookstove. Damned if she would use his darned old oven! She didn't know how to use it anyhow. Standing at the tin sink, she peeled several potatoes then sliced them into the iron skillet she had set directly over the flame after she had removed the round stove lid.
    Cousin
would get the warmed-over pork chops he hadn't eaten last night, and she would make his damn biscuits.
    In the large granite bowl, she made a well in the flour and added salt, baking powder and a lump of lard. After adding the buttermilk, she wiped her eyes before she began mixing in the flour with her hand. She had done this a million times and didn't even have to think about what she was doing. The dough was about ready to pinch off and put in the baking pan when Yates's voice came from the doorway.
    “Leona?”
    She straightened her shoulders quickly and made a hasty swipe at her cheeks with the back of her hand.
    “What?” Thank God, her back was to him.
    “The ice man is here.”
    “He knows what to do.”
    “Do I pay him?”
    “Pay him out of what you've taken in and write it down.” She pinched off dabs of dough and formed them with her hands before putting them in the pan. “I'll call you when dinner is ready.”
    Silence. Her nerves screamed when she heard him leave the doorway and come toward her. He didn't stop until he was standing over her. She kept her head bent over the dough.
    “Why aren't you using the oven I bought?”
    “Because I don't want to!” she snapped.
    He reached out and cupped her chin in his