“Kids will be kids. They’re easily influenced by whatever their peers are doing,” he said.

“I know that,” Lily said. “I wasn’t hatched out as a full-grown adult, but I also know that the way to fix it is to change the environment and their group of friends. And for me to spend more time with them.”

“I’ll have a pot of soup ready when you get here.” As long as he didn’t have to move, he could survive with having people stomping around upstairs. If living with a couple of city kids who hated country life got to be too much, he would find another place to rent.

“Sounds great. I’ll stop along the way and pick up a dessert,” she said. “See you then.”

His thoughts swirled as he put the phone back on the base. He leaned back against the cabinet and tried to settle his mind. Then his twin brother, Adam, yelled from the front door, “Hey, where are you?”

“In the kitchen.” Of all the people occupying the planet, Adam was the last person Mack wanted to see or talk to that day. He bit back a groan and got down two mugs, filled them both with coffee, and added two spoons of sugar to his.

It was a surprise to see his brother in Comfort on a Friday morning.

Adam had followed in their father’s footsteps and gone into business after college. Orville, their father, had been the president of a small bank right there in Comfort, and raised goats as a hobby. Adam was the head honcho of a huge bank in San Antonio, but Mack could never see him doing anything that would get his fancy shoes dirty.

No one would ever guess that he and Adam were twins by looking at them. Adam had a standing appointment with his hairstylist every Saturday morning to have his blond roots touched up and styled, and he went to the gym at least three days a week. Mack had jet-black hair that he seldom even thought about until it was time to go to the barbershop—maybe once a month. Adam had a movie-star face and body—the former from birth, the latter with help from his protein supplements and weight lifting. Mack hadn’t been quite as blessed in the good looks department, but he wasn’t ugly by any means, and his muscular chest and arms bore the proof of his hard work.

“What are you doing so far from the big city?” Mack asked. “I poured coffee for us. Have a seat.”

Adam removed his suit coat and hung it on the back of the chair before he sat down. “We’re foreclosing on the old Bailey property. I had to drive over and take a look at it. You should buy it. There’s forty acres and a house that’s not a hundred years old out there. Not a new brick, but a nice little two-bedroom frame house that’s pretty sturdy. You’re wasting your money renting this place.”

“I like the location and the house.” Mack carried both mugs to the table. “And the rent is less than I’d pay in property taxes and insurance on a place of my own.”

It was evident that Adam wasn’t happy with his response. Mack had always been able to read his brother, though they’d never been close. They’d grown even farther apart as the years passed. In high school Mack was interested in vo-ag classes; Adam played football. Then Mack went to Texas A&M and Adam left for Baylor, and the separation got even wider a couple of years after that when Adam stole Mack’s girlfriend. They had nothing in common anymore, except for their parents and the blood in their veins.

Adam sipped at his coffee, careful not to get it on his white shirt or his $100 tie. “There’s another reason I came by. Charlene and I are getting a divorce.”

“I’m not surprised. Who’d you screw around with this time?” Mack drummed his fingers on the table. “Have you told Mama and Daddy?”

There was the familiar old Adam shrug. Translated, it meant that Mack would most likely be the one breaking the news to their folks.

“Oh, no! Not this time.” Mack shook his head. “You can go by and tell them while you’re in town. I told them when you and Brenda divorced and when you and Natalie split up. I’m not doing it a third time. Man up and do your own talking. What happened anyway?”

Another shrug. “She caught me in a motel with my secretary, Darcy.”

“Good God, Adam!” Mack raked his fingers through his dark hair, which was peppered with gray. “Aren’t you ever going to settle down? You must like paying alimony.”

“Only on the first one.” Adam grinned. “After that, I insisted on prenups. And I really don’t like upsetting Mother. She takes things so much better from you than from me. So come on, be a decent brother and break the news to her for me.”

How two boys could be raised in the same household and turn out so differently was a total mystery to Mack. He loved kids and animals. That’s why he had become a teacher. Mack had raised show goats when he was in high school. Adam had been the quarterback. Mack had always been shy and withdrawn. After he’d had the mumps, Adam wasn’t able to have kids, and he always had a girl hanging on his arm—a girl he seemed to change more often than his socks.

“Well, brother, you’re on your own this time,” Mack said. “You can tell them or you can wait for the gossip to get to Comfort. Mama really loved Charlene, so good luck.”

“You’re really not going to help me out?” Adam asked. “Could you just maybe even hint that Charlene has been acting strange, and that maybe she’s been having some problems, like with drinking or depression? That way it wouldn’t be my fault.”

“Nope.” Mack refilled his coffee mug and sat down at the table. “I told you last time that I’m not paving the way so you can keep your glory-child crown anymore. We’re forty-one years old. You need to own up to the fact that you can’t keep your pants zipped when a pretty girl is anywhere close to you.”

“You’re just jealous because Mother loves me most, but then why shouldn’t she? I’m making three times what you do. I’ve always been better-looking, and damn, Mack, you could put on a thousand-dollar suit and still look like you just walked across a cow pasture.” Adam’s tone had turned nasty.

That was as predictable as his famous shrug. When Adam didn’t get his way, he turned off the charm and flipped the switch on downright meanness.

“Maybe so, but this time, you tell the folks that this divorce is your fault,” Mack said. “And I’m comfortable in my skin. I don’t need Mama’s approval. I’ve lived with the fact that you’re the fair-haired child for a long time. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”