Cecil nodded. “I’ll get those switched out for you and get both locks synced to open with one key. How many keys are you going to want? It comes two keys to a set, so you’ll have four.”

“That’s plenty. I’ll be the only one using one here, but when it sells, then that will be handy for the new owners.”

“Then I’ll get right to work,” Cecil said.

“Call out if you need me,” Hunt said, then took a notepad and a pen and started in the kitchen, making a list of the things that needed to be fixed.

* * *

Emma slept in, but when she finally woke up, she was startled to see her husband, Gordon, sitting on the end of the bed staring at her.

“What on earth are you doing?” she muttered, combing her fingers through her hair.

“You were talking in your sleep,” he said.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“I had nightmares all night,” she said. “My mama died. I’m sad.”

“You were crying in your sleep. You were muttering something about a secret, and don’t tell Mama.”

She stifled a moan. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? Mama’s dead, and I have to go to the house and get clothes to bury her in.”

Gordon stood up. “I thought you and Birdie already did that a week ago. You said Birdie took them to her house.”

Emma wiped her hands across her face. “Oh. Yes. You’re right. I’m so confused. This is a horrible time for all of us…what with Hunt coming back and all.”

He frowned. “Why does it matter if your oldest brother came back for his mother’s funeral? It would be weirder if he had not.”

Emma was beginning to feel trapped. “Well, because he left us all so long ago, and now—”

Gordon shoved his hands in his pockets, eyeing the flush on his wife’s face. He knew she was lying, but wondered why.

“Why did he leave, anyway? Every time I ask, someone always changes the subject.”

“I’m not talking about it,” Emma said, and got up and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

“Right! Just like you’re changing the subject now,” he yelled. “Just for the record, I’ll be glad to meet your brother. Maybe he’ll be nicer to me than Ray and Junior are.”

Emma heard him and groaned, then turned on the shower and stepped in beneath the spray, wishing she could wash away the demons from her past as easily as she washed the sleep from her eyes.

* * *

Birdie Knox worked as a bookkeeper at Truesdale’s Feed and Seed just off Main in Blessings. She’d gone to work there straight out of high school, and considering the lack of jobs there were in a place this small, she considered herself lucky she was so good with numbers.