“I wish you could have known him, too. I’ve been thinking a lot about when I…you know, go to wherever it is you go when you die, and I was wondering if all my husbands will line up and expect me to pick one of them. The line will be really long if all my other…paramours are there, too. What would you do, Cady?”

She was serious. “How many paramours were there, Lola?”

“Several dozen. Each one was more wonderful than the other. I’ll never be able to decide.”

“In that case, you might have to flip a coin,” Cady said with a straight face. “Or you could put all the names into a hat and pick one…before…so when you get there…” God, did I just say that?

“Now why didn’t I think of that. I have just the right coin, too. Tyler gave it to me on our first anniversary. Maybe it wouldn’t be right to take that one with me,” Lola fretted. “My second husband was a gambler and owned several casinos. That man was so lucky. Everything he touched literally turned to gold. He could buy a swamp, and the next day they’d discover oil on the property. That darling man left me so much property I couldn’t keep it straight. What a love he was. He taught me how to play poker. Tyler would have loved the Casino Room I had decorated for him. It has everything—gaming tables, slot machines, the wheels, pictures of all his properties, jukeboxes. I went into the room once after it was done, but I cried so hard, I never went back in. I want all this to go in my memoirs, Cady. I think I’ll do the names in the hat thing.”

“You know I’ll do whatever you want. I think the reporter is here. The bell just rang. Are you sure you want me and Atlas to stay?”

“I’m sure. Remember our game plan now. Just sit there and smile. I want you to smile a lot, and I want you to look confident, like you don’t have a care in the world. I know you can do it, Cady.”

“Yes, I can do it. Touch your turban when you’ve had enough, and I’ll intervene.”

“Child, you are just full of grand ideas today.”

Cady settled in a chair off to the right so that she had a view of the doorway, where she knew Mandy was stationed. She could see her shadow in the hallway from the sun streaming through the stained-glass windows in the foyer. Mandy wouldn’t let things get out of hand.

The reporter, a chubby young man who looked familiar to her, shook Lola’s hand and sat down beside her. He started asking Lola questions right away. He didn’t take notes but relied on a tape recorder instead. Listening to both voices drone on and on, Cady let her mind wander back to the dream she’d had earlier.

Over the years she’d asked herself hundreds of times why she’d gone to the grove alone the day of the accident and had never come up with an answer. Why weren’t the twins there, and where was Pete Danson that day? Maybe she was late getting there, and they got tired of waiting for her and left. The paper said they hadn’t been there at all that day, though. According to the papers, Boomer wasn’t there either. Jeff King never went anywhere without Boomer at his side. He didn’t have the guts to be a bully when he was alone. The funny thing was, Boomer never did anything. He was just there.