Carmen grimaced. “I sure wasn’t very well prepared, was I?”

Diana whipped one out from the messy bun on top of her hair. “Here you go. It’s done its job holding up my hair. Now it can take care of your letter to Natalie.”

“I’m tempted to tell her about the divorce right now,” Carmen sighed.

Diana gave her a quick hug. “Don’t give in to it. She doesn’t need to hear that news until she’s through basic.”

“Diana’s right,” Joanie said. “And while we’re writing, I’m going to send something to Rebecca and Natalie, too. I remember Brett saying that letters from home meant so much.”

“Let’s all do that. We can tell them about the trip, the kittens, the storm, and all kinds of things.” Diana went into her room but left the door open.

“Don’t forget the meeting tonight,” Joanie called out in a loud whisper.

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed, Joanie realized that other than signing birthday cards or leaving a note stuck to the refrigerator door, she’d never written to her daughter. Should she be silly or serious?

Finally, she decided to go for what was in her heart. She put the pen to the paper and wrote: My Dearest Zoe, I miss you so, so much. From there the story fell into place as she told her about the trip and the family reunion. She didn’t mention the divorce or the fact that Diana was attracted to Luke. She did tell her that Luke was Smokey’s nephew and that from the early pictures in the Scrap house, he looked a lot like Smokey did as a young man. When she wrote Love, Mama at the end of the fifteenth page, an hour and a half had passed. When Zoe got the letter, she’d know all about Brett getting out of the service. She wished her two friends could share their stories as easily as she’d done, but that wasn’t possible.

It was almost eleven o’clock that night when Tootsie brought out a bottle of wine from her secret stash on the top shelf of her closet and piled sugar cookies high on a platter. Meetings weren’t held in the South, especially Texas, without food and something to drink, so it was only right that the first official meeting of the empty nesters should at least have something.

In a few minutes the girls were all in her bedroom. “Make a circle in the middle of the bed, and as the oldest member of this club, I’m calling it to order. Old business will be discussed first. Did you all get your letters written?”

“Yes, but we forgot stamps, so we can’t mail them until we get to town,” Diana answered.

“I always bring a whole roll with me,” Tootsie said. “What I don’t use to write to y’all and the girls while I’m here, I use up to send out my Christmas cards when I get home. Problem solved. The stamps are in a little box above the fireplace. Help yourselves. Any other old business?”

She waited a few seconds and then said, “Okay, new business. We’ll start with Carmen. How are you really feeling?”

“It helps to have a kitten to love, but down deep, I’m still angry, a little bit depressed, and a whole lot antsy,” she admitted.

“It’ll take time, but one day you’ll realize that you hardly ever even think about him anymore,” Diana said.

“I believe you, but I sure wish that day would be tomorrow.” Carmen finished off her wine and held her glass out for more. “Now, Tootsie, tell us your new business.”

“I still talk to Smokey every night and lots of times through the day. Sometimes he talks back to me. Don’t tell anyone that I have voices in my head. They’ll think I’m crazy, but it brings me comfort to know that his spirit is still with me,” Tootsie admitted. “I may never get closure, but I’m strong, and I will survive.”

“I’d like to talk to Eli,” Carmen said.

“Okay.” Joanie set her glass to the side. “I’m Eli. Tell me off.”

Carmen narrowed her eyes. “You sorry bastard. I’m most mad at you because you had sex with me and told me you loved me when you walked out the door the next day, and you were planning to leave me for another woman, a pregnant woman, the whole time. I always deferred to you on everything because I never felt like I was good enough for you. I gave you my best, and now you’re getting out of the army, and you’re going to raise her son instead of our daughter. It’s not fair.” She took a deep breath and went right on. “And besides all that, I couldn’t have more children because you didn’t want them, and I couldn’t have a cat because you said you were allergic. And while we’re at it, I hate that living room suite you picked out. I may take it out in the yard and burn the damn thing. I can always use lawn chairs until I can afford to buy another one.”

She realized that if she’d been pointing a gun at Eli, she would have unloaded a full clip into him and then shoved in a new one for the next round. She downed the rest of her second glass of wine. “Damn, that felt good.”

“Anyone else got anything to say about this new business?” Tootsie asked.

“Just that I did the same thing with a therapist after Gerald left, and you’re right, Carmen, it felt damn good to unload on him even though he wasn’t Gerald.” Diana handed her a second cookie. “You need this to soak up some of that wine.”

“Moving on, then, Joanie, you got any new business?” Tootsie asked.

Joanie set her glass on the bedside table. “Hello, my name is Joanie, and I’m carrying around guilt like a security blanket.”

“Why?” Tootsie asked.

“I still have a husband that I love very much. My dream of having him home every night for supper is about to happen, and Carmen is going through this divorce, and Diana’s already been through one, and it’s made her so wary of dating that she’s afraid to even give Luke a chance.” She stopped for a breath. “Why should I be happy when y’all are in turmoil? Even you, Tootsie—getting your dreams shattered by losing Smokey—and here I am sitting on the top of the world. Why me? What did I do to deserve happiness when y’all don’t have it?”

Diana picked up Joanie’s glass and handed it back to her. “Give us the guilt blanket. We’ll burn the damn thing and scatter the ashes over the Red River. We’re so happy for you; not one of the three of us would ever want to throw shade on your sunshine. So let us share in your happiness.”