“I’m not getting married until I’m thirty,” Holly declared.

“That’s smart,” Nora agreed.

Lily remembered when Holly wanted to be a rock singer, and Braden declared he was going to be a fireman. They would probably change their minds a hundred times before they graduated high school, but it was good to hear that their goals were a little more grounded and realistic.

Mack had set three chairs up on the south side of the barn so his father would be sitting in the warm sunshine that morning. Orville was wearing his rubber boots and his old work coat, and he was having a good day. Could it be, Mack wondered, because he felt at home in the presence of goats and was dressed in old familiar clothes?

“What makes you like goats?” Orville had asked Braden first thing when he’d sat down.

“They’re cute and they’re little,” Braden answered honestly. “Cows and horses kind of scare me. My mama is short and so is my dad, so I’m probably not ever going to grow up to be tall like Mack. I can hold my own with a goat. I might not ever be able to do that with a big animal.”

“Where’d you get that black eye?” Orville asked.

“Well, sir, it was like this . . .” Braden started telling the story of the day before the fight when the two bullies had taken his lunch money, and ended with, “I guess I had just had enough of them.”

Orville chuckled. “Boy, I don’t reckon you’d have a bit of trouble with a big animal.”

“Thank you. Why’d you raise goats?” Braden asked.

“I raised premium goats, and I sold them to kids from all over Oklahoma and Texas for their livestock shows. What I didn’t sell went to the market once a year and paid for two boys’ college educations. See that one out there with the star on her face? She’ll be a prime show goat next spring. And that young ram over there that you call War Lord could take the prize home when you show him. My son . . .” It was evident he was trying hard to remember a name. “My son Adam—no, that’s not right. Aaron is the one that likes to go with me to take care of the goats.”

Mack nodded in agreement. “That’s right, Dad. Now tell me about the rest of my new herd. Which ones should I sell as premium stock, and which ones will bring less money?”

“Aaron?” Braden asked.

“Aaron Matthew Cooper is my birth name,” Mack explained. “They started out calling me Matt, but my brother could only say Mack, and that’s what I’ve answered to ever since.”

“Adam is at college. He’s coming home this weekend,” Orville said. “But he doesn’t like to do anything that gets his hands dirty. See that black-and-white one over there, Mack? The one that looks like a Holstein cow—that’s your best one of the lot. I hear you’re steppin’ out with that Miller girl. She comes from good people. You should marry her.”

Mack felt the heat rising from his neck to his cheeks. Of all the things for his father to say in front of Braden, that dang sure wasn’t what he wanted Orville to get started about. “Yes, she does, and she’s a good woman. Now how about that brown goat out there? The one jumping up on the hay bale—you think she’s top-notch?”

“She’s a grade below the black-and-white one but still ain’t too bad. Have you moved in with the Miller girl? You moved in with Brenda, and Adam married her. Maybe you better not live with Vera’s daughter.”

“Maybe not,” Mack agreed.

“But he already lives with my mama, only he lives downstairs and we all live upstairs,” Braden told him.

Orville acted like he hadn’t heard. “I’m getting hungry. You reckon your mama has dinner ready yet?”

“Maybe,” Mack answered, glad that his dad was getting away from the subject of Lily and marriage. “Why don’t we go see, and if she doesn’t, I know that she keeps the cookie jar filled.”

Orville stood up and started walking straight out from the barn. Mack stood up and hurried to catch up with him. “We’d better go this way, or we’ll have to climb a fence.”

Orville chuckled. “I got turned around a little.”

Lily leaned her head back on the sofa that evening and let out a long whoosh of air—something way beyond a sigh. Mack had taken Holly and Braden over to the Torres place, and now he was out doing the evening chores. Thank God she had thought to invite Polly over for the afternoon. Orville had gone to Mack’s room for a nap, and Polly had caught Nora up on all the town gossip.

It had been years since she’d had an all-day event with anyone, including her two best friends, Sally and Teena, or even Mack. On Saturdays, he was usually in and out of the house, doing one thing or another out around the place. Lily closed her eyes and had started to doze off when her phone rang. She fumbled across the end table for it, barely opened one eye a slit to find the right icon to answer it, and said, “Hello.” She halfway expected it to be one of the kids wanting to know if she’d bring them the Harry Potter collection of movies.

“Is that you, Lily?” Wyatt asked. “Your voice is even huskier than usual.”

Her eyes popped wide open. “What? It’s me. Why are you calling?”

“Victoria kicked me out and moved a younger man into her house and into her life,” he said flatly. “I’m in a hotel in San Antonio with no job and no place to live. I lived on room service and paced the floor for two days before I decided to go to a therapist. After two sessions, I figure I owe you an apology.”

“Accepted,” she said. “Goodbye.”

“Wait a minute!” he almost shouted. “Give me a little time here. I want to come clean. Victoria wasn’t my first affair. I started cheating on you right after Holly was born. I tried to straighten up after Braden came, but”—he hesitated—“I couldn’t do it. I liked the thrill.”

Lily closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Are you trying to torture me by telling me this crap?”

“No, I just want you to know so you can move on with your life, too. I was smart enough to save my paychecks for the last year, so I can survive and won’t be begging off you. Evidently, I got my comeuppance with Victoria. I’ve been faithful to her, but she prefers younger men. I’m sorry for the things I did, and you deserved better than you got from me, and I hope you find it. I’m interviewing Monday for a job, and when I get my life in order, I want to be a better father and have a better relationship with the kids.”

“Well, I guess you’d better get started because that’s going to take a while after that motel stunt,” Lily said.

“Probably so,” he relented. “Now, a question, and you don’t have to give me an answer right now. You can think about it. If you aren’t coming back to Austin, will you sublet your apartment to me? The kids told me that their furniture is”—another long pause—“still there, and when I do get things right in my life, maybe they’d feel more comfortable coming to visit me there than in hotels. I’ll understand if you say no, but would you think about it?”

“I will,” she agreed. “Anything else?”

“You have my number. When you make a decision about the apartment, give me a call. Good night, Lily.”