Our aunt Iona—well, strictly speaking, my aunt Iona—had gotten guardianship of our two half sisters, who were much younger than us. Iona and her husband were raising the girls in as different a way as possible from the life they’d led with my parents. And in a way, they were absolutely right. It was much better to be brought up as a fundamentalist Christian than as a kid who didn’t know what a real meal was, a kid at the mercy of whatever scum our parents let into the trailer. Because that was the way I’d been brought up after my preteen years. Mariella and Gracie were well clothed, well fed, and clean. They had a stable home to come back to every day, and they had rules to follow. These were great things, and if their early years led them to rebel against this regimen now and then, well, so be it. We were trying to build bridges to the girls, but it was uphill work.

Iona’s reaction to our new relationship hardly bore thinking about. “Ah, I guess that’s a bridge we’ll have to cross when we come to it,” I said.

“We’re not hiding anything,” Tolliver said, with sudden firmness. “I’m not going to even attempt it.”

That had a very nice permanent sound to it. I’d been sure how I felt, but it’s always nice to know your partner is feeling the same way. I let out a silent sigh of relief.

“No hiding,” I said.

We ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. “Ted’s wife probably whipped up a four-course heart-healthy meal on a woodstove,” I said.

“Hey, you eat heart healthy most of the time.”

My eating habits had gone by the wayside while we stayed in Doraville, for one reason or another. I’d have to resume them soon. With variable health problems like I had, it paid to stave off as much as I could by following good rules.

“How’s your leg?” Tolliver asked, following the same train of thought.

“Pretty good,” I said, extending my right leg and rubbing the quads. “I can tell I haven’t been running in a few days, though.”

“When do you get to leave off the cast?”

“Five weeks, the doctor said. We’ll have to try to be in St. Louis then, so I can check with our doctor there.”

“Great.” Tolliver smiled so broadly that I knew he was thinking of several things that would be much easier when my arm healed.