“They’re about the same, except that she’s got a screened porch and a deck beyond that. She’s got two lots, and we’ve only got one,” Joanie answered. “Is this friend someone that would fit in with folks on our block?”

“I think he just might,” Luke said. “Tell me more.”

“The houses are all what they call spec homes. They’ve got different-colored brick on the outside, and they sit a little different on the lot, but they’re three bedrooms, full bath in the hallway, and a half bath in the master bedroom. About fourteen hundred square feet, which isn’t a bad size,” Diana told him.

“But they’re twenty years old, so they are pretty standard brick homes. You’ve been in Tootsie’s place, right?” Carmen asked.

“Only the day of the funeral, and things were so hectic that I don’t even remember meeting any of y’all,” Luke answered. “I always visited them in the fall when they came up here to Scrap.”

“You were there?” Carmen asked.

“If y’all will remember, we spent a lot of the time on the screened porch with the girls,” Joanie said. “They were so upset. Smokey had told them he’d be at their graduation from basic if he had to crawl there on his hands and knees.”

Tootsie sniffled. “He’ll be there in spirit, just like he’s here. Thanks for sharing that. I knew he was proud of them but had no idea he’d said that.”

“I didn’t mean to make you sad,” Joanie apologized.

“It’s okay,” Tootsie said. “Always, always feel free to talk about my precious Smokey. It keeps him near to me to hear y’all tell stuff that he said and did.”

After supper they got out the decks of cards to play canasta but decided that since they had an odd number, they wouldn’t play partners. Luke had the biggest hands, so he shuffled the big stack of cards and dealt the first round.

“I remember when Uncle Smokey did this job. Last time I was here, he finally let me do the shuffling. I was prouder than if I’d sold a new game for a million bucks,” he said.

“First time we all played this game was at Tootsie’s house,” Joanie said. “I was Smokey’s partner so he could teach me the ropes, and Carmen was Tootsie’s partner.”

“Where was Diana?” Luke asked.

“She and Gerald took Rebecca to a movie that night. Our husbands had already left on a mission, but Gerald had an extra day,” Joanie answered.

“The next morning after he left, we taught her the game to keep her mind off the sadness of telling him goodbye.” Carmen arranged her cards in a fan.

Diana’s face lit up in a smile. “I remember the first time I beat him. He used it as an excuse to break out a brand-new bottle of Jameson, and we all had a shot to celebrate.”

Joanie had to swallow three times to get the lump in her throat to go down. She knew in her heart and soul that she was doing the right thing, but she was going to miss times like this so much.

Make the most of them. Maybe God gave you these weeks so that you could have the memories to take with you to your new place, Smokey’s gruff old voice whispered in her ear.

You’re so right. Joanie nodded. It’s not the end for any of us but a new beginning for every one of us in some way.

Chapter Sixteen

It would make more sense for Tootsie or either Carmen or Joanie to go to town with Luke that Saturday since it was Diana’s day in the kitchen. When she realized that, she altered her plans after breakfast and put a pork roast in a slow cooker to make pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. If she and Luke weren’t home, the rest of the family wouldn’t be eating cold cuts, and she’d make chicken Alfredo for supper. All she needed was whipping cream, and she would pick that up at the store.

The truck wasn’t as smooth riding as the motor home, but the wide bench seat reminded her of riding with her dad in his last vehicle. She’d wished dozens of times that she hadn’t sold it when she was settling the estate, but at that time, she was in college and had a car.

“We haven’t had that talk yet,” Luke said. “Since we’ve got some time alone, it might be a good time to do so right now. I’ll start. If we met in a church social or in a bar and I asked you out, would you go with me?”

“Maybe,” she answered.

“How many dates would we go on before you asked me how old I was?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” she answered. “Where are you going with this?”

“Okay, then I’ve asked you out to dinner and maybe a movie afterward, and I’m even okay with a chick flick,” he said.

“Whoa! Who says I like chick flicks? I’d rather have dinner and then go home and cuddle up on the sofa to watch a Bourne DVD. I own all of them, so you can choose the one you like best.” She turned on the radio and found a country-music station. She imagined a dimly lit room. She and Luke would be sitting on the sofa. His arm would be around her, and maybe her head would rest on his shoulder.

“That sounds great. So we’ve been out on one date. I kiss you goodbye at the door and ask you out again. This time I suggest a picnic at a park and then watching the sunset as we talk well into the night,” he said.

“That sounds nice.” Her thoughts shifted from a romantic evening in the living room, maybe with snow falling outside, to a spring setting. A quilt spread out on the ground, the bubbling sound of a creek close by, the two of them lying side by side and talking about their hopes and dreams.

“Third-date time now, and you still haven’t asked me if I’m younger than you are, have you?”

She shook her head. “I’m having too much fun and wondering what you’re going to come up with next.”

“Then what the hell are we doing dancing around this birth-certificate crap?” he asked. “I’m attracted to you, and you kiss like you feel the same, so if I ask you out when we get back to Sugar Run, will you say yes?”

What he’d said made perfect sense, so she nodded in spite of her doubt. “Dinner and a movie at first, but no commitments. Deal?”

“Are you seeing other guys right now?” He made a turn to get on the highway going south to Clarksville.

“Nope. Are you seeing other women?” Diana held her breath, expecting him to hem and haw like other men she’d dated.