“Son of a bitch is blamin’ her,” Tootsie said through clenched teeth.

“How could it be your fault?” Joanie asked.

“I was too wrapped up in Natalie and didn’t give him enough attention.” Carmen pushed back the covers and sat up. “Did I really do that?”

“Hell, no! When the husbands are home, they’re showered with attention,” Joanie answered. “Sorry bastard should have at least had the decency to tell the lawyers to wait until you’d had time to get used to the empty nest.”

“I’m making us all a stiff drink. I don’t care if we just had one at my house. We need another.” Diana headed for the kitchen and returned with four glasses, each with two fingers of whiskey, on a tray.

Carmen held the glass in her hand for a full minute, then set it down on the end table. “I’ve had enough liquor. It doesn’t make the pain go away, anyhow. I’m not going to sign the papers or get a divorce. I’ll work harder. I don’t want to lose Eli.”

“Well, I need it.” Diana patted her on the knee. “You are in denial. That’s the first stage of divorce grief, and we’re here to keep reminding you that this is all on Eli. I’ve been where you are, remember? Without a good counselor, and all y’all, I’d have never gotten through it. And, honey, it takes two to want to make a marriage work. One can’t do it alone.”

“His family never thought I was good enough for him. I barely made it through high school, and I came from the wrong side of the tracks.” Carmen grabbed a fistful of tissues and blew her nose. “Evidently they were right. But I can be better. I’m just a year away from having my teaching degree. And we can get through this; I know we can.”

Carmen pushed the throw to the side, stood up, and folded it neatly, then began to straighten up the living room. “He’ll see. I can do better. I can keep a better house, make better meals, and give him all the attention he wants.”

“You raised his daughter, and you’ve always supported him in everything. The only time you even went against him was when you told him you were going to get your teaching degree even if it took you ten years,” Diana said.

“God, I wish I could just disappear and get my head wrapped around all this. If he would only come home, so we could sit down and talk, we could tear those papers up.” Carmen picked up the glass, threw back the whole drink like a cowboy in an old western movie, and picked up a dustcloth.

“But he can’t come home for another two months at least,” Diana reminded her.

“But . . .” Carmen started to cry again.

“We’ll figure out later what needs to be done. Right now, we’ve got to get through this hellacious day. Stop what you’re doing and sit down. You’re an excellent housekeeper and cook. This is not your fault.” Joanie stood up and took the dustcloth from Carmen’s hands.

“I’ll let you have my job, and then I’ll get a soup can and stand on the corner collecting dimes if it comes down to it, or you can move in with me if you lose this house. I’ve got a spare room now,” Diana offered.

“I’m not getting a divorce,” Carmen declared. “My grandpa used to say that anything worth having is worth fighting for, and I love Eli with my whole heart. I’m going to fight him on this.”

“But, darlin’, from what you’re tellin’ me, he’s not willing to fight, and it takes two to make it work,” Diana said again.

“You need to get away for a little while and get some perspective,” Tootsie said.

“Let’s pool our money and blow it all on a trip to Paris. We can shop and have lattes in little bistros,” Diana suggested.

Joanie sighed. “That’s a pipe dream. We probably don’t have enough money to even get to Paris, Texas, between the three of us.”

Tootsie leaned down and kissed Carmen on the forehead. “I’m going home now. I’ve got something I have to see about, but I’ll be back either later or tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Tootsie, for everything.” Carmen’s chin quivered.

“No thanks necessary, and no more tears. Any man who’d do this to his wife ain’t worth cryin’ over. Y’all girls are my family—I ain’t got blood kin left with Smokey’s passin’.” Tootsie pulled a tissue free and dabbed her eyes, and then she put the whole box in Carmen’s hands.

“Joanie, a word,” Tootsie said as she started toward the door.

Joanie followed her outside and said, “Don’t worry, Tootsie, we’ll stay with her the rest of the day and tonight. You can come back anytime.”

“That’s just what I wanted to hear. I’ll have things worked out one way or the other by morning.” Tootsie headed next door to her house without another word.

Chapter Two

Yoo-hoo, where are y’all at?” Tootsie’s soft southern voice floated through the house.

“In the living room,” Diana called out.

Carmen had finally fallen asleep on the sofa at midnight. What little sleep Diana and Joanie had gotten was in recliners, and that was in fifteen- or thirty-minute spurts. Diana had gone to pieces when she got the divorce papers five years ago, but she’d known they were coming. Gerald had told her weeks in advance about his affair, and she’d had a little time to get prepared. Poor Carmen had been hit with it out of the clear blue sky. Diana remembered thinking that she’d felt like she’d been shot in the gut with a 12-gauge shotgun when the papers arrived in the mail. Carmen probably felt like she’d swallowed a hand grenade.

Diana had gotten over her ex-husband, but it had taken lots of counseling, both the professional and the friendship variety. It had taken her a couple of weeks to go from denial to the next step, and each one of those levels had been an ordeal that she couldn’t have made it through without Carmen, Joanie, and Tootsie as her support system.

The aroma of bacon and salsa wafted across the room as Tootsie set the platter on the coffee table. “As you all know, I’m a terrible cook, but I can make a good breakfast burrito, and I know y’all didn’t eat much yesterday.”

Then from a tote bag she pulled a bowl of cantaloupe chunks and a sack of doughnuts from their favorite shop just down the street. “Now let’s eat up and talk. Things always look a little brighter after we’ve slept on them.” She put a burrito in Carmen’s hands. “One bite at a time. One minute at a time. One hour at a time. That’s the way we’re all going to get through these horrible emotional events we’re having to deal with right now.”