“Honey, you’ve got two guys who think you are a little princess—Payton and Wyatt both—and you don’t have to do anything but be adored.” Tawny started for another bite, but Harper shoved her spoon out of the way.

“That’s mine. It’s in my corner and I’ve had my eye on that pecan.” Harper’s tone was as cold as the ice cream.

Using her spoon as a battle sword, Tawny shoved Harper’s away and grabbed the bite with the pecan half and shoved it into her mouth.

“You brat!” Harper sank her spoon into Tawny’s corner and brought up two pecan halves. “See what you get for that stunt.”

Dana leaned over and took the whole bite off Harper’s spoon. “What got your panties in a twist this mornin’ anyway, Tawny?” she said when she finally swallowed.

“Matt came to see me last night,” she said.

“And who is Matt?” Brook asked.

“He’s my Ryson, only I was Cassidy instead of you.” Tawny was amazed at how easy the words came out.

“And what did your Matt want? For you to sell drugs?” Brook asked.

“He wanted me to go to Europe with him for a summer of luxury. But there would have probably been drugs and for sure a lot of alcohol.” She reached over into Dana’s part of the ice cream and got her hand slapped.

“Please tell me you aren’t going. Is that why you’ve been an old bear? You don’t want to tell us?” Brook stuck her spoon in the ice cream and folded her arms over her chest.

“I’m not going, darlin’ girl. I’m stayin’ right here, and the reason I was so cranky is because”—she took a deep breath—“y’all have been open about your problems. I haven’t and . . .” She went on to tell them the whole story.

“So that’s why you got so mad at Ryson. You done been there and done that and got in more trouble than I did,” Brook said.

“Yes, ma’am.” Tawny stuck her spoon in the center of the ice cream and leaned against the sofa. “Must be the calories and sugar, but that wasn’t as hard to tell y’all as I imagined. I can’t stand that Granny is gone, but—” Tears welled up in her eyes, and there was no way she could get the lump in her throat to go down.

“But if she hadn’t died when she did, we’d all be in trouble, right?” Dana said. “Y’all ever watch that television show Saving Grace? Uncle Zed was talking about it today.”

Harper raised her hand. “It was showing when I was in the unwed mothers’ home. I wished I had an Earl in my life.”

“Who’s Earl?” Brook asked.

“He was this big, burly angel who took care of the leading lady, Grace, in the show,” Harper said.

“I’ve never seen it,” Tawny said.

“Me neither,” Brook said.

“Wild child. Second-chance angel,” Dana explained. “So I feel like Granny left Uncle Zed behind to be our Earl. He’s kind of stepped into her boots as best he can and helped us get to this place. We’ve survived a day when we’ve all been a hell of a lot less than our best.”

“It was the chocolate ice cream,” Brook said. “That will fix anything.”

“Amen!” Harper said.

Dana sighed. “I was fired from my job. I didn’t quit like I let y’all believe. My boss got the mistaken notion in her head that I was sleeping with her husband and stealing money, too. She said she’d give me a bad recommendation wherever I went, so I was between a rock and a hard place. Then Uncle Zed called and, Lord, I felt guilty for being grateful that Granny had left this place for us. I still do.”

“Amen.” Tawny raised a hand.

“Well, hot damn,” Brook said loudly, raising both hands into the air.

“Brook!” Dana scolded.

“Hey, after the way y’all been today, I’m entitled to one cuss word. I had to live with the bunch of you moping around like a bunch of babies,” she said.

“Girl’s got a point.” Harper got one more bite of ice cream, then put her spoon in the middle of what was left.

“Thank you.” Brook did a mini bow from a sitting position. “I’ve been dyin’ to tell y’all my news all day, but I didn’t want to say anything until you all made up.”

“Made up?” Dana asked.

Brook waved both hands in the air. “That’s what I said. I have a new friend. That’s my news.”

Tawny was happy for Brook. But in that moment she realized that she didn’t have any friends. The ones that she and Matt had partied with distanced themselves from her when she was expelled from college. The ones she had before Matt had already taken a step back because they weren’t included in her new circle of rich friends.

“Good. What’s her name?” Dana asked.

“Not her. His name is Johnny Eagle and he’s a Native American boy.”

“Oh, really.” Tawny’s eyebrows shot up as she remembered her best friend in high school. She crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped that Dana didn’t react to this new person the way that Retha had when she brought Andre home for a study night. The yelling when he left that evening was almost as bad as the one right before Harper left.

“Yep, he was in suspension for being late to class too many times. He gets all wrapped up in a book at noon and doesn’t hear the bell.”