“She’s cried until her poor eyes are swollen. Have you seen your brother? If you do, tell him he’d do well to steer clear of me for a while. Cheating on her like that with a secretary that’s twenty years younger than he is. What can he be thinking? Now I’m wondering about those stories he told about his first two wives. I might take a switch to him even if he is a grown man,” Nora Cooper fumed.

“If I see him, I’ll give him your message,” Mack said. “You and Dad should make a trip up here soon. I’ve got five new baby goats, and you know how he loves to watch them play.”

“We’ll do our best to come visit when the weather clears up. His memory gets worse every day, but you’re right, he does love your goats and has a good time when we’re there. I’ve got to get back to the living room and console Charlene. Bless her darlin’ heart. If I’d caught your dad with another woman, I would have shot the both of them. Bye, now.”

“Bye,” Mack said.

“Well, crap!” Adam moaned.

“Maybe it’s time to talk to your wife about that counseling,” Mack suggested.

Adam pushed back the chair and put on his coat. “Don’t gloat.”

“The goat boy never gloats.” Mack followed him to the door and held it open for him to leave.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Holly sighed in the passenger seat of the car, but Lily ignored it for the fiftieth time. Poor little darlin’s probably felt like they were in solitary confinement with no cell phones or tablets or even their handheld video games to use on the two-hour trip. They both should have thought about the possible consequences before they made the choice to smoke pot or sneak out of the house to drink beer and smoke cigarettes.

“You’ve made your point, Mama. Can we turn around and go home?” Holly asked when they’d left the city and started driving through nothing but ranching country on either side of the road.

“We’re headed in the right direction. Home from now on will be in Comfort,” Lily answered.

“Please, Mama. I won’t ever sneak out of the house again. I promise,” Braden said from the back seat.

“And I’ll never even look at another joint,” Holly promised.

“I know you won’t, because we’ll be in Comfort, and I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on both of you. I’m going to have weekly visits with your school principal.” Lily caught the next exit onto Highway 290. The GPS would have routed her through San Antonio, but the smaller highway kept her out of the big-city traffic.

“I can’t believe we have to go to school in that little-bitty town,” Holly groaned.

“It’s your choice. You can be homeschooled or . . .” Lily paused.