He took the toothpick out of his mouth and looked at me for a second.
“You own the place, ma’am?”
“Since 1997.”
He nodded slowly. “Then that’s reason enough.”
It took him two hours. While he worked, I carried the suitcases outside.
They were heavy. I’m seventy-one, and my back isn’t what it was. I had to stop twice on the porch steps and catch my breath. But I wasn’t going to ask Dwayne for help with that. I needed to do it myself.
Four suitcases. Six boxes. One white
