“I was just there two days ago, and we took care of that then,” Orville chuckled.

“That’s right.” But it had been six weeks since his folks had been to see him. “With school starting back, I forgot about that. Now you have to come and meet the family that’s living with me.”

“When the weather gets nicer, I’ll do that,” Orville said. “Have you seen Adam? Charlene comes to see us pretty often, but Adam hasn’t been here in a year.”

“I’ll fuss at him next time I see him.” Mack’s voice almost cracked.

“You do that, and make him go feed the goats with you. He should get his hands dirty once in a while,” Orville said.

“Darlin’, Adam is the president of a bank,” Nora reminded her husband in a soothing voice. “He hates any kind of outside work. Remember? He even has a gardener to take care of his yard.”

“I’m hungry,” Orville said. “I’m going to get some cookies and milk. You want some, Mack?”

“I’m good, Dad,” Mack said. “Mama, I have to go now.”

“Just one more thing before we hang up,” she whispered. “I’m taking it off speaker now. I knew Adam had problems when y’all were little, but I didn’t want to believe it. After that thing with Brenda”—she paused for a full twenty seconds—“I didn’t know what to do, so I ignored it and hoped it would go away.”

“It’s not your fault, Mama. Look, the bell is ringing, so I’ve got to go. We’ll talk later.” Mack ended the call. Ignoring problems didn’t make them go away, but at this late date, what good would it do to talk about the issues concerning his brother? His father used to say that a person should let sleeping dogs lie, so unless his mother brought it up again, that’s what he planned to do.

He caught a glimpse of Holly in the hallway with Rose and Ivy. He thought it might embarrass her for him to speak to her, so he just eased on past and hurried to the vo-ag building.

Some of his students were working on rabbit hutches. Others were helping Barry, Drew’s son, refinish a stock trailer for his State Fair of Texas project. It had come into the shop looking like crap, but it would be downright beautiful when they got it finished. As he went from project to project, giving encouragement here and there, his mind kept going back to how comfortable he’d been with Lily the night before. Talking to her had brought Adam’s problems out into the open and helped Mack realize that there was little he could do to help his brother. It had also solidified the fact that he was no longer the brother who had to walk in Adam’s shadow, and that Mack was at last comfortable with his life, just the way it was.

Lily put a pan of brownies in the oven so they’d have an after-school snack. While the treats were baking, guilt jumped out of nowhere and settled on her shoulders like a heavy, wet blanket. She could list the reasons why she felt that way. First was that she hadn’t visited her parents often enough, then after her father had died suddenly, that she hadn’t gone to see her mother more. Now she would be working full-time away from home, which meant there wouldn’t be after-school snacks straight from the oven for her children.

Guilt trips never take you anywhere. Her mother’s old adage came to mind.

“Amen,” she said as she set out glasses for milk.

The kids came through the front door. She could hear their backpacks hitting the chairs and their arguing as they hung up their coats. Then they both tried to come through the door at the same time. Holly hip-checked Braden to the side and made it to the kitchen first.

“I smell brownies.” Braden evened the match by getting to the table first. “I made a new friend at school today, and his name is Isaac Torres, and can I join 4-H so I can maybe show a goat next year and”—he stopped for a breath, then went on—“can I go to Isaac’s house on Saturday and hang out with him?”

“I’ll think about it.” Lily poured milk for each of them.

“Rose and Ivy invited me to go to choir practice on Friday nights.” Holly helped herself to the first brownie. “They said their mama would pick me up and bring me home. It’s at the church, and it’s from seven to nine. I promise to get all my homework done before I go.”

“She just wants to go because Clay will be there. That’s the preacher’s son, and she’s got a crush on him,” Braden tattled.

“Do not,” Holly argued.

“Do, too,” Braden shot back.

“Hello,” Mack called from the back door. “Is that chocolate I smell?”

“Brownies,” Braden yelled. “You better hurry before Holly eats them all.”

“You’re the pig when it comes to brownies,” Holly accused.

Braden snorted just like a hog.

“You’re disgusting.” Holly took another brownie from the pan.

The comment Holly had made back in Austin about Braden being Lily’s precious angel son had been weighing heavily on her mind all day in addition to all the other bits of guilt. She wondered if she was enabling Braden to be a little narcissistic, but after listening to them argue, she decided that she was raising two healthy kids. They might be as different as night and day, but they were not suffering from NPD.

“Coffee is in the pot. Sweet tea’s in the fridge,” Lily told Mack. “Where are your glasses? I just realized that you haven’t worn them in several days.”

“I only wear them when I have to,” he said. “Most of the time I wear contacts, but I had an allergy flare-up and had to use my glasses for a while.”

He brushed past her on the way to get a cup of coffee, and there were those sparks again, only this time they were even hotter than before. An image flashed through her mind—she was cuddling up with him on the sofa, and he was tipping her chin up with his calloused hand to kiss her.

“Should I pour a cup for you?” Mack asked.

His deep voice jerked Lily back to reality. “Yes, please, and thank you.” She hoped he attributed her burning cheeks to the heat in the kitchen.

It seemed like the kids swallowed their brownies whole and hurried up the stairs to do their homework, or in Braden’s case, to change into different clothing so he could go to the goat pens with Mack.

“You also run the 4-H, right?” Lily asked when she and Mack were alone.