“Why wouldn’t they like you?” Lily set a bowl of fresh fruit on the table and poured two glasses of milk.

“I smoked pot. Braden’s still sporting an eye that says he got in trouble at school.” Holly sighed as she took a banana from the bowl. “What if they don’t like us, and Mack moves out?”

“I’m sure that isn’t going to happen,” Lily reassured them. “But we do need to talk about something here. Mack’s dad is Orville, and he has Alzheimer’s. Do either of you know what that is?”

“Nope,” Braden said.

“Is that when a person gets old and their hands start to shake?” Holly asked.

“No, that’s Parkinson’s. What I’m talking about is when people begin to get something known as dementia, and they don’t remember things very well. Sometimes they get mad because they can’t remember, or they think you’re someone else. Other times they’re better at remembering, so y’all need to keep that in mind.” Lily tried to explain.

“Is Mack going to get like that someday?” Holly’s eyes were wide. “We’ve been studying a little about genetics in science class. We kind of learned why some of us are short and some are tall, and some have blue eyes and others have brown ones. Is this something Mack might get? I don’t want him to not know me.”

“I don’t think so,” Lily answered.

“Good,” Holly said. “I’ll have to do some research on it when I get back to the library.”

“Does his mama have it, too?” Braden asked.

“No, she doesn’t. Her name is Nora, and she reminds me a lot of your Granny Vera. I would appreciate it very much if you spent some time with them.”

“All right.” Holly nodded. “But you didn’t answer our question. Are you going to marry Mack?”

Lily said honestly, “I can’t answer your question very well. We haven’t even been on a real date, and—”

“For God’s sake, Mama.” Holly butted in before Lily could finish. “We aren’t living in caveman days.” Holly’s tone was full of dramatic exasperation. “You can ask him out if he don’t ask you.”

“We’ve only been here a short while,” Lily countered.

“But we’ve lived together in one house for like what? Six weeks now?” Braden rolled his big brown eyes toward the ceiling. “So if you were dating him, it would be like a gazillion dates.”

“The only answer I can give you right now is that we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds. We can’t rush time,” Lily told them.

“Well, I’d be all right with it.” Holly finished her banana and milk.

“So you’re ready to stay in Comfort and not move back to Austin?” Lily asked.