And now, thank the Lord, Billie was cooperating with the restraining order May had taken out against him, probably because he got hisself a girlfriend over near Marshall and moved in with her. Still, Billie was unpredictable when he drank, and she hadn’t stopped worrying or listening for him to come up behind her out of nowhere.

It was Amelia who, recognizing her depression and loneliness, had suggested that May see a counselor. She had suggested a service in Asheville that charged on a sliding scale, then had explained to May what that meant. “You only pay what you can.”

“I can’t afford no counselor,” May had replied, “and besides, I wouldn’t go talking my private business with no stranger.”

“Would you consider talking with Pastor Denny Ledbetter?” Amelia had asked.

“I ain’t got the money to pay him or no one else to listen to me.”

“He doesn’t want money.”

May remembered being amazed. “He don’t want no money?”

“Counseling parishioners is part of his job,” Amelia had said.

“Since I left Billie, I don’t go to his church.”

“He married you in that church, remember? When I saw him the other day, he asked how you were doing. When I told him, he offered his help. I’d accept his offer if I were you.”

Several sleepless nights and anguished days later, May decided to take Amelia’s advice. Now her visits with Pastor Denny had become the centerpiece of her existence, and for the first time in her life she felt listened to and valued by a man.

May closed and locked the door of her small bedroom at the rear of Mrs. Bourne’s yellow cottage on Mayberry Road. It was Saturday, the day she drove to Covington to be counseled by Pastor Denny. Last time she’d seen him, he’d said he was proud of her, how she’d found a job and a place to live. He was proud that she’d kept her relationships going with her grown children, even if they weren’t nice to her. They needed her, he said, regardless of what they said or did. They’d get over it in time. They’d come around, see her point of view, he said, and May held on to that hope.

Today was to be their last session, but May intended to present Pastor Denny with some new problem, anything, so that she could continue to see him. He had no idea how much that—and he—meant to her.