“I guess a little bit, but she’s mainly Mexican like Rose and Ivy. There’s lots of Hispanic kids in the school, just like in Austin. Faith is real sweet, and I like her a lot,” Holly answered. “I think I’ll have a banana and some milk. Can I take it to my room and do some of my homework while I eat? I sure can’t do it with Braden around. He wants to argue about everything.”

One baby step forward, Lily thought. At least she asked before she went running off to her room, and she had talked to her about her new friend.

“Sure.” Lily nodded. “Is she your age?” Lily wanted her to stick around and talk some more.

“She’s a junior—she’s already got her driver’s license,” Holly replied, and was gone before Lily could ask anything else.

She heard the back door open and could hear Braden saying something about the flowers. Then he raced up the stairs. She started to get up and head that way when Mack came into the living room and sank down in the recliner in front of her. “It’s sure enough been a Monday. How did your day go?”

“It went fast, and I got a lovely bouquet. Thank you,” Lily answered. “They’re beautiful. It’s been years since I had flowers. How did you know that yellow roses are my favorite?”

“I didn’t, and this is going to sound corny”—he almost blushed—“but the yellow reminded me of all the sunshine you’ve brought into my life these past days.”

Lily felt her own blush rising, but she couldn’t do anything to stop it. “That’s so sweet.”

Mack shrugged. “It’s the truth, and you should have flowers often.”

“Thank you for saying that. Now tell me about your day.” Lily steered the conversation down another path.

“I broke up a fight between two girls,” Mack said. “Girls are meaner than boys, and they fight dirty. Then I had to take a student to the office for smoking pot behind the ag building. He’s got four weeks of in-school suspension, ISS. To top it all off, I caught another kid in my classroom with one of those vapor cigarette devices. That got him a week in ISS.”

“I guess kids are the same no matter where you live,” Lily groaned. “I was hoping that those things wouldn’t even be here in Comfort.”

“Honey, that sort of thing is everywhere, but we have fewer students, so we can control it a little better than they can in the big schools,” he said. “I’m getting an afternoon snack—an apple and a glass of sweet tea. Can I bring you something?”

“Just tea. I’ve been nibbling all day,” she answered.

“Prop your feet up and rest a few minutes,” Mack told her.