“Thank you, Uncle Zed, but you do know those things are bad for you.”

He sent one more ring into the air. “And that one is for Brook. You remind me more of your granny every day. She might have chosen the easy way a couple of times in her life, but not many. Most of the time, she thought about the long haul and the peace and happiness it would bring into her world.”

“Thank you, Uncle Zed. I need her wisdom more and more.”

“Don’t we all, darlin’.” He disposed of the cigarette butt and stood up slowly. “These old bones are cryin’ for the easy chair.”

“You don’t have to come outside to smoke, Uncle Zed.”

“Yes, I do. I promised Annie that I’d never smoke in the house. Have a good night now. I understand we’re havin’ some kind of get-together at Dana’s tomorrow night. Brook’s planned the night, so there’s no tellin’ what we’ll be doin’.”

“It’ll be fun just to spend time with everyone. ’Night, Uncle Zed.”

“’Night, Tawny.”

Zed took a shower, put on his pajama pants that were getting bigger every day, and then eased down into his recliner. “Well, our third baby has come clean about why she was so eager to get here, Annie. You always said that God works in mysterious ways.”

He pulled a quilt that Annie had made special for him from the back of the chair and covered with it. “Seems like I get colder than I used to, but an old man’s skin is thin and his body wears out. I was scared tonight, Annie. I saw that fancy feller come rollin’ up in that shiny sports car and I commenced to prayin’ real hard. But she made the right decision. Not that I’m any kind of angel. Lord knows, it’ll take a lot of beggin’ from you just to get me through them pearly gates, but I felt a lot like that angel in the show we used to watch. What was his name? Edward? No, that wasn’t it.”

He tugged on his ear and frowned, then slapped his thigh. “Earl. That was his name. Remember how he could be there for the girl for support, but God wouldn’t let him interfere. Man, I sure felt like Earl tonight.”

His eyes fluttered shut, and he sighed from deep inside his chest. “You sure put a lot of faith in me to leave me here to do this job. I just pray every mornin’ that I can get the job done, darlin’.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

It was a normal Saturday morning. The cabins were full, which meant lots of extra cleaning, but Brook was home to help all day. Tawny had unloaded her burden to Zed and made a decision that she swore she’d have no regrets about. So why did she feel like a weight was tied to her heart that morning?

She stared at her reflection in the mirror and wished she could see past the superficial and actually take a peek at her heart. Maybe then she’d know how to remove that heavy feeling. As she passed by her trinket shelf, she added a cigarette butt that she’d found beside the bench the night before and made a circle above it with her forefinger.

“Thank you, Uncle Zed.”

She had a chip on her shoulder when she reached the café, and it just got bigger when she heard Harper whistling and Dana talking to Brook about the evening. They deserved their smoke rings, but she didn’t, because she didn’t have the nerve to tell them her big black secret. If they knew, they’d never trust her again, not with the company’s books or even to fold towels in the laundry room.

“Good mornin’,” Harper said.

“What’s so damn good about it?” Tawny popped off.

“We’re alive. We’ve got jobs and we’re makin’ good money,” Dana answered.

“Sounds to me like someone has some regrets, after all.” Zed’s face popped up in the serving window.

“What’s got your panties in a twist, Aunt Tawny?” Brook asked.

Tawny stormed off to the kitchen without answering her. She made a plate of bacon, eggs, and biscuits and pulled up a stool to eat right there in the work area.

“Young lady, you take that to the dining room or else everyone will want to eat in here and they’ll get in my way. What’s put you in this Jesus mood anyway? I thought you were in good shape last night.” Zed’s tone left no room for argument.

“They’ve come clean with everyone and I can’t. And what is a Jesus mood?”

“Annie got in one about once a year. It’s when not even Jesus himself, nor all the angels in heaven, could live with a person in such a mood. I reckon you got that from her along with the ability to make the right decision. It’ll pass, but it’ll take at least a day,” he answered. “Now get out of my kitchen. I don’t allow no Jesus moods in here. Time’s too short for anything but sunshine and happiness.”

She shot a dirty look toward him and carried her plate back to the dining room, where she sat down at a table in the corner so that she wouldn’t have to talk to her sisters. Did they get the gene for a Jesus mood, too? If they did, she sure didn’t want to be around them when it hit, because it was miserable.

Zed had a radio in the kitchen, and he kept it on classic country music all day. If the folks who came into the café didn’t like country, they could stay away—Granny Annie’s words. She stabbed a fork full of eggs and was about to put them in her mouth when Kenny Rogers started singing “The Gambler.” Even after the song ended, the lines kept running through Tawny’s mind.