“I want to get to know his wife better, and he’s your friend, and it seemed like the thing to do,” she answered. “Why are you asking?”

“You’re not worried about us being alone?” He countered with another question.

“No, Mack, I am most certainly not.” She chuckled. “But remember, Sally is joining us, too. And to be truthful, I’m actually looking forward to a dinner with no bickering kids and some adult conversation that doesn’t revolve around who ate more slices of pizza.”

He made a right turn into the restaurant’s parking lot. He snagged a good parking spot, and Sally pulled in right beside him. “Do you ever wonder if Sally will ever remarry or have children?”

“Whatever brought that question out of the blue skies?” Lily asked.

“I guess I’m wondering about you and Sally both,” he answered.

Lily shuddered at the idea of a baby at her age.

“I don’t know about Sally, but I really wouldn’t want to start over. Do the math—if I had another child now, Holly would be almost thirty when that child was just starting high school. What about you?”

“I wouldn’t mind a ready-made family.” He shrugged.

“Wouldn’t your folks want grandkids of their own?” she asked.

“Dad wouldn’t know if they were his biologically or not, and Mama gave up on that idea years ago. Adam can’t have children, and I . . .” He hesitated. “You know my story. Until you came along, I didn’t trust women anymore.”

“You’ve only been around me and the kids a short while,” she said.

“But it’s been a good time,” he declared.

Sally tapped on the truck window and motioned for her to lower the window. “We better get in there while there’s still a table.”

Lily nodded in agreement. “You’re right. It’ll fill up quick now that church is over.”

This time Sally beat Mack to the punch when the lady at the counter told them the cost for three of them to eat at the buffet that day. “My treat,” she said, “since I elbowed my way in on what could have been y’all’s private dinner.”

“The more the merrier,” Mack said, “but thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lily said. “Thank you. Next time maybe I’ll even have something cooked at home.”

“That’s why I’m bein’ nice.” Sally picked up a bowl and filled it with salad from the buffet.

Once they’d sat down in a booth, Sally said, “Hey, Ruth-Ann came by yesterday, mainly just to snoop like always, but—oh, hey!”—she waved and motioned—“y’all don’t mind if Teena joins us, do you?”

“Not a bit,” Mack said. “We’ve got an extra chair.”

“Anyway, the newest gossip is that you’re pregnant, Lily, and that I’m getting married this summer to a guy I met on the internet,” Sally said.