Hunt could hardly grasp what had just occurred, but like Junior, the truth had set him free.

“Thank you for being there,” Hunt said. “You added that last bit of confirmation to Dad’s real personality. He was a sonofabitch, and none of us are responsible for that.”

“I think of Marjorie…living with all that anger,” Ava said. “I never said anything to any of the others after she was hospitalized. But at first, she was really resentful that she had gotten lung cancer because she never smoked.”

“But Dad did,” Hunt said. “She was a victim of secondhand smoke.”

“And your daddy’s mean streak,” Ava said. “I saw him blow smoke in her face all the time and then laugh when she coughed.”

Hunt paled. “Did we just not see that, or were we so used to it we didn’t see it for the subtle abuse that it was?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I noticed it because neither of my parents smoked. You know?”

Hunt nodded. “Yes, that makes sense,” and then he reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips and kissed it as he drove. “Ava Ruth, you are my saving grace.”

She shivered from the feel of his lips on her skin, remembering.

Chapter 15

It was full-on dark by the time Hunt and Ava got back to town, but the streetlights lit the way home. Hunt pulled up into her driveway.

“After all that’s gone on, do you still want to come in?” Ava asked.

The ring in his pocket was a reminder of what was yet to come.

“After all that’s gone on, you are still the light in my life. I feel like I have a bad taste in my mouth, and I need a taste of something sweet to take it away.”

“I have pie,” Ava said, and got out.

“That’s not what I had in mind,” Hunt said.

Ava laughed as they got out and went inside, but the moment the door closed behind them, Ava wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Was that sweet enough?” she asked.

“Always,” Hunt said. “How do you feel about a sleepover?”

Ava smiled. “I feel good about that. I have new toothbrushes, but do you need to go home and get your jammies?”

“I don’t own any,” he said.

“My kind of man,” Ava said. “Follow me.”

“To the ends of the earth,” Hunt said, turning out lights as they went.

When they reached the bedroom, Hunt took off his jacket, got the ring out of the pocket, and turned around.

Ava was sitting by the window, the blinds already drawn, taking off her boots one at a time. As she leaned over, her hair fell forward, momentarily hiding her face. It wasn’t until she straightened up that she realized Hunt was watching her.

She smiled.

“You look like a man with a secret. What’s going on?”