Comparing two men was like comparing apples and oranges, or maybe pineapples and pecans, but she couldn’t help doing it. Wyatt had never helped her do one thing in the kitchen throughout their marriage. She worked as many hours as he had, but since she had done her job from home, that hadn’t mattered to him. He’d always been too busy building his career to have much interaction with the kids even before the divorce.

She wondered what would become of him if Victoria did find a younger man. He’d given up his job at the firm, where he’d worked so hard to climb the corporate ladder, and had gone to work for Victoria a few months after they were married. If he got kicked out of the love nest now, he’d basically have to start all over on the bottom rung. Good.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Mack said.

“I was just thinking about how nice it is to have help in the kitchen. I appreciate you having the coffee made and sometimes even breakfast when I come downstairs.” That was the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

“Mama used to tell me that you get to know someone best when you work beside them, and I love any time we can spend together.” He took down two plates and got the cutlery from a drawer. “When I first moved in here, it seemed strange to use your mother’s dishes and pots and pans, but after I’d settled in, it made me feel like family.”

“What did you do with what you had?” she asked.

“I’d been living in a little trailer behind Mama and Daddy’s place north of town. It was furnished, and I pretty much used paper plates when I didn’t eat with the folks. When they sold the place, the new owners wanted the trailer for a grandfather who was going to live with them. This place was a godsend what with everything already here. I just moved your folks’ bedroom stuff up to the spare room and bought myself new furniture,” he said.

“Did you unload that old secretary before you moved it?” she asked.

“Nope,” he answered. “I collected up four of my FFA boys, and they helped me.”

Lily decided right then that she wasn’t bringing a single bit of her furniture from Austin. She’d sell it all and put the money in the velvet bag for a vacation next summer. The past was going to be left in the past. Her future was in Comfort in her old two-story stone home, and hopefully Holly’s jury would come in with a positive verdict.

After dinner she and Mack cuddled together in front of the television to watch episodes of Justified. Her head was on his shoulder, and being there with him on a buttery-soft leather sofa that her parents had bought twenty years ago felt right. Having his arm around her as they talked was comfortable and yet exciting at the same time.

Her thoughts wandered back to the journal, to the last entry that Jenny had written, about her father leaving the family for another woman. Someday, like Lily had told him, Wyatt was going to wake up and realize what he had given up for Victoria. Maybe it would take until he never met his grandchildren, but he’d realize it.

She snuggled down closer to Mack and fell asleep with his arm around her.

“Mack! Guess what?” Braden came into the house yelling loud enough to wake the dead over in the next county.

“What?” Lily opened her eyes but didn’t move away from Mack.

“We’re in here, and what happened? This time he said, ‘Mack,’ not ‘Mama.’” Mack whispered the last part.

Lily glanced over at the grandfather clock just as it chimed three times. Braden rushed into the room. “It’s snowing! Look!” He bent forward. “It’s still in my hair.”

Mack pointed toward the window. “Well, would you look at that? Maybe we’ll have enough to make a snowman tomorrow after school.”

Braden threw up a hand to high-five with Mack, and then with his mother. “We’ve never got to build a snowman before. Where’s Holly? I got to tell her.”

Mack stood up and stretched. “It’s time to go get her. Want to go with me?”

“I think I’ll stay in where it’s warm.” Lily got to her feet.

“I’ll go with you,” Braden said. “Bet I can beat you to the truck.”

“You just want to go outside and catch snowflakes on your tongue,” Mack chuckled.

“Yep, I do, but you and Mama are old, so y’all can’t run as fast as me, and besides, you got to get your coat and boots on.” Braden was off like a flash of lightning.

The front door slammed, and then Lily and Mack watched him through the window as he ran around with his head thrown back and his mouth open to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Mack took a couple of steps to the side. “I’ll bring you a pretty snowflake when we get back.”

“It’ll melt before you can get here.” She sank down on the sofa and wondered what it would be like to spend some time in bed with him.

“Like that’s going to happen anytime soon with two kids in the house,” she whispered to herself.

They were gone all afternoon, the pesky voice in her head replied.

“Today was too soon, anyway.” She popped up off the sofa and went up to her bedroom. She had about half an hour before Mack would be back with the kids, so she got out the journal and reread the first several pages.

She left the book on the bed and went to the window. The skies were completely gray, and the snow was coming down harder than it had been when Braden came into the house. Mack pulled up into his normal parking spot in front of the house, and the kids jumped out. Small blades of grass peeked out from under the smooth white cover, but in only a few minutes, it had been stomped through. Or else Braden and Holly had rolled up snowballs to throw at each other.

She heard the front door hinges squeak as the door opened, so she made her way downstairs. She met Mack taking off his coat in the foyer.

“Did you bring me a snowflake?” she teased.

He held out a perfectly round snowball. “I brought you a million because you deserve more than one.”

She took the snowball from him. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. I’m going to put it in the freezer and keep it.”

“For real?”

“For absolute real,” she said. “This could be the most romantic present anyone’s ever given me.”

“Aww, shucks, ma’am”—Mack pretended to kick at imaginary dirt—“that’s just a snowball. I can do better.”