How two boys could be raised in the same household and turn out so differently was a total mystery to Mack. He loved kids and animals. That’s why he had become a teacher. Mack had raised show goats when he was in high school. Adam had been the quarterback. Mack had always been shy and withdrawn. After he’d had the mumps, Adam wasn’t able to have kids, and he always had a girl hanging on his arm—a girl he seemed to change more often than his socks.

“Well, brother, you’re on your own this time,” Mack said. “You can tell them or you can wait for the gossip to get to Comfort. Mama really loved Charlene, so good luck.”

“You’re really not going to help me out?” Adam asked. “Could you just maybe even hint that Charlene has been acting strange, and that maybe she’s been having some problems, like with drinking or depression? That way it wouldn’t be my fault.”

“Nope.” Mack refilled his coffee mug and sat down at the table. “I told you last time that I’m not paving the way so you can keep your glory-child crown anymore. We’re forty-one years old. You need to own up to the fact that you can’t keep your pants zipped when a pretty girl is anywhere close to you.”

“You’re just jealous because Mother loves me most, but then why shouldn’t she? I’m making three times what you do. I’ve always been better-looking, and damn, Mack, you could put on a thousand-dollar suit and still look like you just walked across a cow pasture.” Adam’s tone had turned nasty.

That was as predictable as his famous shrug. When Adam didn’t get his way, he turned off the charm and flipped the switch on downright meanness.

“Maybe so, but this time, you tell the folks that this divorce is your fault,” Mack said. “And I’m comfortable in my skin. I don’t need Mama’s approval. I’ve lived with the fact that you’re the fair-haired child for a long time. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Mack’s cell phone rang, and he slipped it out of his hip pocket, laid it on the table, and put it on speaker. “Hello, Mama. What’s going on in San Antonio?”

Adam waved his hands and mouthed, “Don’t tell her I’m here.”

“Charlene is here,” his mother said.

With just those three words, Mack could tell that his mother was upset about something.