“I could have tried,” Lily said out loud as she gathered up her things to take to the bathroom. “But I was so wrapped up in my own life that I didn’t. And I haven’t even been to her grave since I got back. Some daughter I am.”

When she’d finished taking her bath, she opened the door to find Braden waiting with his clean pajamas in his hands, sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. He was small for his age, but a pretty boy, Lily thought, with his big brown eyes and dark hair. She could feel that he wanted to talk about something, so she sat down beside him.

“Got something on your mind?”

He nodded.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Why can’t Daddy be more like Mack?” Braden asked. “Daddy is always looking at his gold watch when we’re with him, like we’re not even there, or he’s texting or talking to Victoria. Mack don’t even wear a watch.”

“Your dad has always worked on a busy schedule, and his job has a lot of pressure involved, and he kind of always brought it home. Now that he does a lot of work on the road, I expect it’s even harder on him to forget about his work.” Lily tried to explain without saying that Wyatt was a jackass. “Mack has a different kind of job and doesn’t get in such a hurry.”

“Well, I wish you would have married Mack instead of Daddy.” Braden hopped up and disappeared into the bathroom.

Lily got up and slowly went to her bedroom. She wondered what her life would have been like if Mack had asked her for a date when they were young, and she’d gone out with him.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

How on earth could it be Friday already—where had the whole month of January gone? Lily wondered as she went to work that morning. The month had gone by so fast, and she had enjoyed her work so much more than she had listening to people’s problems all day. She hummed a country song all the way to work. She couldn’t remember the name of the tune until she parked her car at the back of the shop between Teena’s van and Sally’s cute little sports car. Getting out, she sang the lyrics she could remember to “Hush, Hush” by the Pistol Annies. The group had a brunette and two blondes—just like Teena, Sally, and herself—and the song reminded her of small towns with their church potluck dinners, rumors, and gossip. She’d forgotten how much she missed living here until she’d gotten back into the middle of it all.