“Then let’s load up and get going,” Mack said.

“Shotgun!” Braden yelled.

“We don’t mind riding in the back seat, do we, Holly?” Lily asked.

“I’d rather ride in the back with you than up front with that spoiled brat.” Holly pointed at her brother.

“Hey, I’m not spoiled.” Braden grinned. “You can’t spoil the favorite child.”

“Dream on, little brother.” Holly did one of her famous head wiggles. “I’m the favorite since we moved to Comfort, and you don’t get to ever be favorite again.”

Lily immediately thought of Adam. How many times had he lorded it over Mack with similar words? “Hey, now,” she said, “you’re both my favorite. Braden is my favorite son, and Holly, you’re my favorite daughter.”

“But I’m your favorite favorite, right?” Holly pressed.

“Tell you what.” Lily pointed at her daughter. “You can each be the favorite three days a week, and Sunday is my day to not have a favorite kid.”

“Today is mine, right?” Holly kept it going.

“Nope,” Lily said. “It’s like this. You each get three days, but they can change according to your behavior. It’s up to me to decide which kid gets that day, and right now I haven’t decided who’s the favorite today.”

Braden answered by sticking his tongue out at his sister and running out the back door toward Mack’s truck. Holly ran after him, yelling that if she beat him, she was going to ride shotgun.

“Ain’t life grand with kids in the house?” Mack asked. “And FYI, I liked your answer a lot. I wish Mama would have told me and Adam something like that when we were kids.”

“Thank you, but I’m not sure Adam could have handled it,” she said.

He put a hand on her lower back and ushered her out to his truck. “You got that right. He’d have gone into a depression for sure, but it would have been good for him.”

“Probably so.” She nodded.

He opened the truck door for her, waited until she was seated comfortably, and then closed it. She could hear him whistling all the way around the front side of the truck to the driver’s seat. He started the engine, and the radio came on right then to Blake Shelton singing, “Goodbye Time.”

Lily had so many goodbyes to say that she didn’t know where to start. She’d gone through all the stages of grief for the deaths of her parents and the divorce—all except for the acceptance part at the very end. Yet it was definitely time for her to say goodbye to all of it so that she could begin to look forward to a future that looked brighter than she’d ever imagined it might be.

Chapter Ten

Surprisingly enough, the kids didn’t fuss about getting up for church that morning. They’d carried on the previous week like they had to get a shot at the doctor’s office. However, that morning, they were both up and ready to go by the time Mack pulled the truck around to the front doors.

The church lot was full that morning, and Mack had to park all the way out at the edge of the street. When they made it inside, Mack, Holly, and Braden left Lily in the sanctuary with Sally, and the three of them hurried on back to their Sunday-school class. Braden helped Clay set up the chairs, and Holly went right to the Sanchez twins to whisper and giggle before class began.

Once Sunday school was over, Mack noticed that several people craned their necks as he entered the sanctuary with Holly and Braden by his side. Mack couldn’t hear the whispers, but the buzz told him that folks had something to say about his new living arrangements. He’d learned long ago, after the first fiasco with Adam, to let rumors slide off his back like water off a duck. He just hoped that what people said didn’t affect Lily or the kids.

They had to sit in the second pew and were so cramped that Mack’s shoulder and hip pressed right up against Lily’s. Not that he minded, but it sure raised the temperature in the church by several degrees. His tie started to throttle him, and his pulse raced. He reached for the last hymnal at the same time Lily did. His hand closed over hers, and the sparks almost scorched the book.

“We’ll share,” he whispered.

She gave him a brief nod. Should he have offered to share with Braden, who was sitting on his other side? They sang a congregational hymn, and then the preacher started his sermon. Mack tuned him out and thought about how nice it would be to have a woman like Lily in his life—someone who would be willing to listen to him, and even more so one that couldn’t be swayed by Adam’s charms.

Mack had really enjoyed the routine that they’d all settled into the past couple of weeks. Mornings were hectic for the most part, with all of them getting ready for school or work, but in the evenings the kids spent time in their rooms pretty often, and he and Lily had wound up relaxing in the living room by themselves.

Could it be possible that he was ready to move on again? He probably shouldn’t be thinking of the Blake Shelton song he’d heard on the radio on the way to the feed store a few days before. He should have come to the realization long ago that Brenda and Natalie were as much to blame as Adam. If they’d really loved him, even just as another person, Adam wouldn’t have been able to seduce either of them. It was time to say a final goodbye to all the anger in his soul and let it go for good. The words of the hymn they’d sung that morning replaced Shelton’s song—one line said that we cannot see beyond the moment. With that in mind, he should make the most of every second he was given. A loud clap of thunder rattled the church windows, and Grandpa Wilson, who’d been snoring in the pew right behind Mack, sat up straight.

“God spoke pretty loud right then,” Drew chuckled. “Evidently, he wants all of y’all to hear my final words, and that is God has something for all of us if we’re patient. Now if Grandpa Wilson will deliver the benediction, we’ll try to get y’all home before the rain starts.”

The elderly gentleman rose to his feet and mumbled a short prayer, and then the rain started coming down in sheets. A strong north wind accompanied it, blowing it fiercely against the stained-glass windows and slamming it against the roof with so much force that it sounded like hail.

Most of the folks ran from the church to their vehicles without even stopping to shake the preacher’s hand on the way out. When Mack’s group reached the back pew, he noticed that Granny Hayes had stayed seated. An old black felt hat with a peacock feather stuck in the band was crammed down on her head. Two long gray braids fell to her waist, and her face was weathered and wrinkled.

“Could I take you home, Miz Hayes?” Mack asked. “It would be quite a ride out to your place in this weather for Dusty.”

“Or you could have Sunday dinner with us,” Lily said. “We’ve got a nice big roast in the oven at home, and a cherry pie for dessert.”

“Dusty don’t like storms. I reckon he’s already broke his tether and is halfway home by now.” Granny Hayes looked past Lily and Mack and focused on Holly. “That’s a pair of my earrings you’re wearing.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Holly’s face lit up in a grin. “They’re my favorite pair. I wish I knew how to make more.”