I put the bucket of flowers on the floor and the shears on the hall table and went to her room.

I opened her door. She was propped up in bed.

“Come sit here on the side of my bed,” she said.

Of course, I did as she asked.

“What’s up?” I said.

“I want to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago.” She took my hand in hers and held it. “I’m so proud of you. You told that Archie MacLean just what he’s needed to hear from you for a very long time. It takes nerve to tell somebody where the bear goes in the buckwheat and I could not have done a better job myself.”

“Thank you. I just got sick of him thinking I’d do anything on earth for him when he did nothing for me.”

“But you should take Sharon’s cats? I could only imagine what was going on in your head when he said you should take them, so his boys could come visit them once in a while. That was rich!”

“He’s so thick in the head, he didn’t think he was asking for much at all. He hasn’t got the first clue how to take care of anything or anyone except himself. Not even cats. Much less his poor boys.”

“Yes, sweetheart—and yes, I’m calling you sweetheart—if you’d allowed yourself to become actually involved with him in an intimate relationship, you’d have been deprived of any emotional support just like his boys are. You would not have been cherished by him.”

“I see that now.”

“I want more for you, Holly. You are such a lovely young woman in every single way and you deserve so much more than a man like Archie. What I’ve learned and what your sister has learned, both of our lessons coming at a very high price, is the importance of choosing wisely.”

“It’s true.”

“Now, go fix my flowers and hurry up. I need to feel some love.”

I smiled then and so did she.

Of course, the second I opened her door, Leslie and Suzanne nearly tumbled over themselves to get out of the way.

“Let’s get a glass of tea,” I said, picked up the bucket of flowers and my shears in the hall, and they followed me to the kitchen. “Did y’all think I wasn’t going to tell y’all what she said?”

“We just wanted to hear it for ourselves,” Leslie said. “She was actually sweet to you.”

“Yeah, I only had to wait thirty years,” I said and laughed. “And when I think of all the days and nights I wasted thinking about Archie and literally worshipping him from afar, it’s just too stupid. Too stupid.”

I put the bucket of flowers in the sink and gave it a few inches of water.