Lily closed the book and looked straight at Holly. “Are you going to vote when you’re eighteen?”

“Of course I am. Faith and I take our lunch to the library most days and do research. Tomorrow I’m going to look up World War I and women’s voting so I can write a little about it in my journal.” Holly slung her legs off the bed. She didn’t hug Lily that night, but she did stop at the door and say, “Thanks, Mama, for sharing this with me. I’m glad that our Matilda is living with Jenny now. That’s where she belongs, since she’s old.”

“Me, too.” A sudden cloud of guilt floated down to surround Lily like a thick fog. When her father died, she should have insisted that her mother live with her in Austin. They’d had plenty of room in the house she and Wyatt had lived in, so there was no reason Vera couldn’t have stayed with them. Lord only knew, she would have loved to cook for the family, and it would have given her something to live for.

“I could never leave your father’s memory, not even for a week,” her mother had said when Lily asked her about moving to Austin. “Besides, this is where we’ve always had the holidays, and I’ve already got the decorations up.”

That’s what she had said, but now Lily wondered if a little more begging could have convinced her to move in with her and Wyatt.

“I could have tried,” Lily said out loud as she gathered up her things to take to the bathroom. “But I was so wrapped up in my own life that I didn’t. And I haven’t even been to her grave since I got back. Some daughter I am.”

When she’d finished taking her bath, she opened the door to find Braden waiting with his clean pajamas in his hands, sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. He was small for his age, but a pretty boy, Lily thought, with his big brown eyes and dark hair. She could feel that he wanted to talk about something, so she sat down beside him.

“Got something on your mind?”

He nodded.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Why can’t Daddy be more like Mack?” Braden asked. “Daddy is always looking at his gold watch when we’re with him, like we’re not even there, or he’s texting or talking to Victoria. Mack don’t even wear a watch.”

“Your dad has always worked on a busy schedule, and his job has a lot of pressure involved, and he kind of always brought it home. Now that he does a lot of work on the road, I expect it’s even harder on him to forget about his work.” Lily tried to explain without saying that Wyatt was a jackass. “Mack has a different kind of job and doesn’t get in such a hurry.”

“Well, I wish you would have married Mack instead of Daddy.” Braden hopped up and disappeared into the bathroom.

Lily got up and slowly went to her bedroom. She wondered what her life would have been like if Mack had asked her for a date when they were young, and she’d gone out with him.

Chapter Fifteen

How on earth could it be Friday already—where had the whole month of January gone? Lily wondered as she went to work that morning. The month had gone by so fast, and she had enjoyed her work so much more than she had listening to people’s problems all day. She hummed a country song all the way to work. She couldn’t remember the name of the tune until she parked her car at the back of the shop between Teena’s van and Sally’s cute little sports car. Getting out, she sang the lyrics she could remember to “Hush, Hush” by the Pistol Annies. The group had a brunette and two blondes—just like Teena, Sally, and herself—and the song reminded her of small towns with their church potluck dinners, rumors, and gossip. She’d forgotten how much she missed living here until she’d gotten back into the middle of it all.

She used her key and went through the back door. At first she thought what she was hearing was giggling, but then she realized that someone was weeping. She removed her coat as she picked up her pace until she was practically jogging through the clothing room to the front office. Surely no one had died or Sally would have called her.

“What’s going on?” Lily threw her coat and purse on the counter.

Tears streamed down Sally’s face. “Ryder’s girlfriend, Macy, had a miscarriage last night.”

“I caused it,” Teena wailed. “I didn’t want him to be married and be a father at nineteen.”

Lily crossed the room and hugged Teena. “I’m so sorry, but this is not your fault. If we had that kind of suggestive power, then Wyatt would have dropped dead years ago, and Victoria would have lost all her money. They would both be living in a cardboard box in an alley behind a beer joint.”

“See, I told you that you didn’t cause it,” Sally said.

“Stop crying and go see Macy. Where is she right now? At her apartment?” Lily asked.

Teena nodded. “At her place, and Ryder is with her.”

“That’s even better. Go see both of them. This was Ryder’s child as much as hers. He has to be strong for her, but he needs your strength,” Lily said.

“Did you go with them to the ER?” Sally held the trash can out for Teena to throw in a fistful of tissues.

“Ryder didn’t call me until an hour ago, and he’d already taken Macy home.” Teena pulled more tissues from the box. “I came straight here. I didn’t want to be a grandmother, and now I feel like I’ve lost a part of me. It’s confusing as hell . . . and crazy! But you’re right, Lily. I need to go see them both, but not with my face a mess.”

Lily handed her the whole box of tissues. “Don’t do one thing to your face. Go just as you are, and let them see that you’re grieving with them. Remember how you felt when you lost that baby when the twins were a year old.”

“You were on a guilt trip then, too,” Sally reminded her. “You were devastated when you learned you were pregnant again, and then when you had the miscarriage, you thought it was your fault.”

“What’s that got to do with now?” Teena asked.

“You’re reliving the guilt,” Lily answered.

Teena took the box of tissues from Lily. “Should I take anything? Flowers? Food? I don’t know what to do.”

“Just take that box and give them both a hug,” Lily said. “The rest will take care of itself.”

Teena stood to her feet, put on her coat, and picked up her purse. “I’ve taken the day off work. I’ll be back after a while.”

“We’ll be right here,” Sally said.

“Thanks”—Teena took a step toward the door and then turned around to get the tissues—“for everything. I’m so glad that we’re back together.”

“Me, too,” Lily said, and she meant it.

Sally slumped down in one of the chairs behind the counter. “I feel drained and so sorry for her. I wonder if Ryder and Macy will still get married, or if they’ll grow apart now when he goes back to school.”

Lily dropped into the other chair. “How long have they been dating?”

“Since they were in the ninth grade,” Sally answered.

Lily vaguely remembered Teena being concerned about Ryder getting too serious about a girl when he was a sophomore—it must’ve been Macy. That’s what happened when Lily only saw her friends for a couple of hours once a month. She heard the stories, forgot them in the midst of all her own problems, and never got the full emotional impact of being a true friend.