Free Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Stacy Campbell Page B

way she did my granddaughter, Annette.”
    â€œWhere was she all that time?”
    â€œUp in Atlanta with Clayton.”
    â€œMyles?”
    â€œMmm-hmmm. I still can’t look his ex-wife, Lorene, in her face. Looks like she would have known he was sweeter than a pecan pie, but she spent all those years holding on for nothing.”
    â€œWell, he is what he is. I’d rather he be himself than to pretend to want that woman and play with her feelings.”
    â€œNorma Ann Jasper, you’ve lost your religion! Ain’t nothing right about what you’re saying!”
    I race to the next aisle and confront the women. “If you have something to say about me or my family, say it to my face.”
    Norma is the weaker one. She breaks their semi-circle, drops her face, and allows me enough space to face the bully, Shirley. Shirley slings her purse over her shoulder and tightens her grip on the handle in case she decides to swing it my way.
    â€œI’m not changing one word. You should be ashamed to show your face around here. Pretending your mother is dead and acting like you don’t have family in this town.”
    â€œShirley, don’t.” Norma digs her fingers into Shirley’s arm, but she is stronger than a planted tree.
    Her voice grows louder. “It ain’t like Atlanta is Los Angeles. Bet you were so proud of yourself sitting up on TV during that interview, showing pictures of you and your sister, like nobody knew who you were.”
    â€œWhat my family does is none of your business.”
    A small crowd gathers as Shirley gains momentum. “It is my business when my granddaughter speaks to you while taking her class on a field trip and you act like you don’t know her!”
    Her granddaughter, also my fourth-grade classmate, Annette Cousins, spotted me at the World of Coca-Cola. Her students gathered around her as she handed them tickets. I heard my name, but ignored it because I was taking a break to clear my head from a hectic project.
    Her voice grew louder as I walked in the opposite direction. “Aren’t you Antoinette Willamson from Sparta? We went to school together years ago.”
    She stopped me and I faced her. “You have me mistaken for someone else.”
    â€œIt has to be you. I’d know you anywhere. Remember, the Hollywood Daddy game? Our shared bully, Lisa.” She laughed but regained her composure when I wouldn’t travel down memory lane with her.
    â€œTruly, I’m not the person you’re looking for. Sorry.” I walked away with a ton of remorse.
    Karma kicks in again as Shirley keeps going. “All she wanted to do was introduce you to her students since you’d done so well for yourself. She was so proud of her successful classmate.” Her air quotes as she says successful are hard and vicious.
    The crowd parts like the Red Sea as my aunt, uncle, and Whiplash approach us. “What’s going on here?”
    Shirley shifts her purse to the opposite shoulder. “Well, if it isn’t Queen Mavis, the Sparta Secret Keeper.”
    â€œWhat did you say to her, Shirley?”
    â€œOnly that she’s ungrateful and should be ashamed to show her face around here. Everything else she needs to know, you should tell her. Then again, that’s not the Lawton way, is it?”
    A few mmmm-hmmms and ain’t that the truths fill the aisle. Aunt Mavis turns on her heels and I attempt to follow her out.
    A familiar woman in the crowd in a stylish suit shoves a piece of paper in my right hand and lifts her fingers to her ear. “Call me.”

Chapter 11

Greta
    I should have never spoken to the paper. It’s been a few days and Toni hasn’t come to see me yet. I had this dream that she would run to the Cooper Building, demand to see me, then take me out to the courtyard and sit and talk with me like old times. I didn’t expect Willa to come, but Toni…I wanted her to come to my