Billy nodded. “It happened to a lot of houses here. We had to shore up Mom and Dad’s back porch after the water receded. So, let’s get a few of these boards up and see what we’re dealing with below.”

Hunt got a pry bar and a hammer and began working on one of the blackened areas. The board came loose and then broke off.

“Rotten,” Billy said.

Hunt nodded and pulled up a few more—enough so that Billy could shine a light down into the opening.

“Well, right here’s your problem,” Billy said. “A couple of floor joists are broken, and two or three more look about as rotten as this subfloor. I’ll make a quick run to the lumberyard and get the material we’ll need. In the meantime, why don’t you go ahead and pull up the rest of the subfloor just in this area so we can get into the space.”

“Sure thing,” Hunt said, and when Billy went out the back door to get in his truck, Hunt began prying up rotting wood and tossing it aside.

And so the morning passed, with roofers stomping and hammering above their heads, and Hunt and Billy sawing and nailing on the floor. Billy left to get the plywood to patch the subfloor, leaving Hunt outside putting new treads on the back porch steps.

When the workers took a lunch break, Hunt stayed home and made a sandwich, grateful for the momentary silence within. While he was eating, someone knocked on the door, and then he heard a voice call out.

“Hunt! It’s me, Emma! Okay if I come in?”

“In the kitchen!” When she walked in, he pointed at the floor. “Sidestep the hole. We’ve been replacing floor joists, but we’ll have subfloor back down before quitting time.”

Emma glanced down, remembering the sag, and once again felt guilty that none of them had thought to address the issue.

“I can’t stay, and I know I’m probably the last person you want to see, but I brought something I want you to have.”

“What’s that?” Hunt said.

Emma took a small ring box out of her pocket and opened it, revealing a ring with a gold band and a ruby setting.

“This was Mama’s engagement ring. She gave it to me when Gordon and I got married. It was my something borrowed, and then she told me to just keep it. But Birdie said you and Ava were seeing each other and that it might be serious.”

“It is,” Hunt said.

Emma nodded. “I want you to have it for her. Even if it’s not the engagement ring you give her, you’ll both have something of Mama’s.”

Hunt saw the tears in her eyes and felt a sadness for what they’d lost, and then she put the box in his hand and he got his first good look.