“I didn’t know we were at war,” he drawled. “I thought we were twenty years down the road from when we broke up.”

“Why are you bringing that up?” she asked.

“You said truce, and that means war, right?” he shot back.

“Smart-ass,” she snapped. “Can you just agree to be civil while we’re here? And FYI, we are years past that time when we broke up. We’re adults now, not kids.”

“Okay, then, deal,” he said. “What can I do to help? I’ve gotten pretty used to roughing it, and this would be considered practically luxurious compared to some of the places I’ve worked.”

“Oh, yeah?” She stepped around Dixie and a yellow kitten to move cans of paint from a second shelf and squealed when she saw what she thought were two blue cans of coffee right there before her eyes. She grabbed the first one, and to her dismay, it rattled.

“Damn it!” She slammed the can down on the worktable when she found nothing but bent nails inside.

“Thought you had found a gold mine, didn’t you?” Cody chuckled.

She shook a finger at him. “This is not a laughing matter.”

“Probably find screws in the other can,” he laughed, “or worse yet, you’ll find coffee, and then you won’t find a pot around here or any way to make it.”

“And what is this, Dr. Smart-Ass?” She pulled an old blue, granite pot from the shelf. It had no lid and looked like it might have been through a Category Five tornado.

“I thought I was Dr. Cowboy,” Cody teased. “Who is this Dr. Smart-Ass? Can he make coffee in a beat-up pot like that?”

“No, but I can. It might be so strong it will melt the enamel off your teeth, but it will be coffee. We will have a moment of silence,” she said as she bowed her head for a few seconds and then lifted it.

“What was that for?” Cody asked.

Stevie picked up the second coffee can and shook it. “A moment to pray that this is really coffee before I open it up. It feels about half-full, but it might be sugar or flour or sawdust.”

“Or the ashes from a cat or dog that Max had cremated,” Cody suggested.

“Yuck!” Stevie shot a dirty look his way. “Don’t spoil my moment. I was praying that would be coffee, not screws…” She peeked inside. “And it is!”

“You are probably resurrecting grounds that came to Texas in the days when Santa Anna was roaming around this state. Look at where it was sitting, and all those dried-up paint cans in front of it,” he said.