“Do you remember Bobby?” Cody asked. “He graduated from high school a couple of years before I did. He never left Honey Grove but went right into construction with his dad. He took over the business when his father retired. Dad says he’s really good at what he does, and he’s honest.”

“That’s good, but I’m really afraid my house is like that truck of yours sitting out there by the barn—a total mess. Mama complained for the past few years that one side of the foundation was sinking and making the floor slope. I have to be ready to accept whatever happens, but it breaks my heart. And yet, Mama would tell me not to hang on to the past, just to get a new lease on life and move forward without looking over my shoulder.” Stevie sighed.

“Sounds like something my mama would tell me.” Cody drank down part of his bottle of water and then set it on the coffee table. “Do you ever hope you’re as wise as they are when you get to be their age?”

“Only a dozen times a day, and especially when I hear her voice in my head,” Stevie answered.

“Sometimes, I hear Dineo laughing or saying something cute, and I turn around to see if he’s there before I remember what happened.” Cody’s voice seemed to crack a little and he stared off into space.

Stevie reached across the distance and laid her hand on his shoulder. “But we’re glad for the memories those little voices bring back to us, aren’t we?”

“Dineo was such a bright little boy,” Cody said, and finally smiled. “I had even thought about creating a scholarship for him so he could go to a boarding school.”

“Wasn’t he in school over there?” Stevie asked.

“Yes, but those remote little schools wouldn’t have challenged his mind. He was so bright, Stevie. He might have grown up to be a doctor if he’d had a chance,” Cody said.

“You did what you could.” She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

He laid a hand on hers and said, “Thank you for that. Sometimes I play out scenarios in my head about what I could have done to prevent him and his father from being shot. If I’d grabbed him and run to the caves where we hid in dangerous times, or if Bodi had done the same thing, but it all happened so fast.”

“That’s because those people wanted the element of surprise,” Stevie said, and remembered the shock she had felt when she turned around and Cody Ryan was standing right there in front of her in Max’s barn.

“Let’s watch something funny on television to take our minds off the sadness,” he suggested.

“How about Blue Collar Comedy Tour? Last time I checked, it was on Netflix,” she said, and nodded.

“What’s that?” he asked.