Wedding Bell Blues - [19]

you’d drive us on into town, you’ll have plenty of time to pick you out some stuff over at American HomeFurnishings before we meet ole Buzz for lunch at the Bucket.”

Lily, still leaning against the blank wall, smiled wanly. All her needs were supposedly being takencare of, and yet she had never felt so empty.

CHAPTER 7

Lily and Ben had just finished a grueling forty-minute shopping spree at American HomeFurnishings, during which Lily kept protesting that Big Ben was spending too much money on them, andBen the younger kept complaining that all the furniture in the store was too tacky to go in any house ofhis. “It’s bad enough,” he said, “that I have to live in a ranch-style house. Now I have to furnish it withcrap that’s just a cut above cardboard!”

“Oh, for godssake.” Lily sighed. Her furniture preference was for antiques and junk-store finds,but if somebody was gracious enough to buy her a houseful of furniture, she wasn’t going to be rudeenough to complain about the store’s limited selection. “Okay,” she announced, “we’ll take that sea-foamgreen sofa and armchair and the coffee table that goes with it. We’ll also have that round table and chairsover there for the dining room, the oak bedroom suite, the Jenny Lind nursery set, and the maple bedroomsuite for the spare room.”

The oversolicitous furniture salesman grinned at Ben. “There’s something to be said for a ladywho knows what she wants.”

Every item on the Dinner Bucket’s lunch buffet was represented on Buzz Dobson’s tie. The factthat he seemed to have trouble conveying a forkful of food to his mouth didn’t exactly fill Lily withconfidence in his legal abilities. Could a man really have mastered the art of Socratic dialogue if he hadnever learned how to feed himself?

“So,” Lily asked, “where did you go to law school, Mr. Dobson?”

“Oh, call me Buzz,” he said, trailing his too-short tie through his mashed potatoes as he reachedfor his iced tea glass.

“Buzz,” Lily corrected herself. While trying not to stare at his gravy-soaked tie, she found herselffocusing on Buzz’s toupee, a dark brown, vaguely hairlike mass that was perched on his head like ajaunty hat.

“Ahh, I went to law school at your old stomping ground... down in Atlanta.”

“Emory?” Lily asked, picking at her overcooked macaroni and cheese.

“Naw I went to the Bushrod Washington School of Law...it’s off of Peachtree.”

“Oh, yes, I know it.” Under the table, Lily used her index finger to trace the letters l-o-s-e-r onBen’s thigh. Spelling out words in this way was a method of communication Dez had invented in order tosit through dull plays and lectures.

Ben traced back on Lily’s thigh: It’s okay.

Lily wasn’t sure she believed him. The Bushrod Washington School of Law was housed in adilapidated, graffiti-sprayed office building. It was widely known as the Last Resort School of Law, aninstitution whose only entrance requirements were a pulse and a checkbook.

“Yup,” Buzz said, discarding a thoroughly gnawed chicken bone, “took me six years, but I finallygraduated.”

Lily was trying to calculate how quickly she could gather Mimi and her belongings and return toAtlanta when Big Ben said, “Yup, me and Buzz go way back. Ole Buzz was the best running back,Faulkner County High School’s ever seen.”

Buzz grinned, clearly enjoying the compliment. “You tell that to my poor ole, broke-down knees.”He pushed his plate away. Lily expected him to wipe his mouth with his tie, but he didn’t. “So,” he said,clasping his hands on the table. “I hear you young people are in a spot of trouble. Why don’t you tell me alittle about it?”

Ben launched into the story he’d concocted, devoting equal detail to the truths, half-truths, andoutright lies. When he finished, Buzz turned to Lily. “You got a copy of Charlotte’s will on you, honey?”

Lily winced at the unsolicited endearment, but retrieved a photocopy of the will from her bag.

Buzz scanned the document, sucking his teeth. “Well,” he said finally, “it’s all here in black and white,ain’t it?” He slipped the document back into its envelope. “Well, first I’m gonna tell you kids what Ialways tell people. If you got a problem, the best way to settle it is out of court.”

Particularly with a lawyer like you, Lily thought, but she kept her lips clamped shut.

“My advice,” Buzz continued, “is invite Charlotte’s momma and daddy up to Versailles. Have ’emto supper at your new house, or even better, invite ’em over to the big McGilly place that oughta impressthe hell out of ’em. Grill ’em some steaks, let ’em see that Mimi’s being taken care of and that y’all arejust regular folks like anybody else. My hope is that when they see their granddaughter in a normal,family atmosphere, they’ll give up on this foolishness and let you alone.”

Lily looked Buzz in the eye. “And if they don’t?”

“If they don’t, then guess we’ll see ‘em in court.” Buzz glanced over at Big Ben, then looked backat Lily. “Let me put it to you this way, honey. When Big Ben and me played on the same team back inhigh school, we never lost a game.”