“I’ve been up for a couple of hours,” Mack told her. “Five o’clock is when I start my day. I’ve already fed the goats and chipped the layer of ice off their water tank. Do y’all go to church?” He beat her to the coffeepot, filled two mugs, and handed one to her.

“We do today.” She leaned against the counter and sipped her coffee. “We haven’t been in more than a year. The kids didn’t want to go, and I let them make the decision. Do you go?”

“I’m the Sunday-school teacher for the twelve-to-fifteen-year-old group. Are y’all just going to church or to—” he started to ask.

She butted in. “We’ll be going to both. Sunday school still starts at ten, right?”

He nodded. “Then church right after at eleven.”

“Just like when I was a kid,” she said.

“Things don’t change too much in Comfort.” He grinned back at her.

“Thank God for that,” she sighed. “Have you eaten yet? I checked last night and found everything I need to make sausage and pancakes. I’ll replenish the grocery supplies tomorrow morning.”

“I haven’t had breakfast, and you’re welcome to use whatever is here whenever you want,” he told her.

“We need to talk about your rent, too.” She set her coffee on the counter and got the sausage out of the refrigerator. “I figure since we’re staying here, it’s not fair to charge you rent.”

Mack got the flour and other ingredients for pancakes from the pantry. “That’s pretty generous of you. How about I still pay all the utilities, and we split the cost of the groceries?”

“That’s more than fair.” She found her mother’s cast-iron skillets right where Vera always kept them and got out two—one for sausage and the other for pancakes.

“I like to cook, so I don’t mind sharing the workload,” he said. “I’ve got a roast thawed to put in the oven this morning. It should be ready when we get home from church.”

“Mama always made roast for Sunday dinner.” The memory put another smile on her face.

“My mother still does, and until they moved to be near Dad’s doctors, I ate with them on Sunday. It’ll be nice to have family around me again.” He reached into the cabinet for a bowl to stir up the batter for pancakes, and his arm brushed against Lily’s shoulder. Sparks flew, but Lily attributed them to the fact that she hadn’t been in a relationship in years. She’d be crazy not to be attracted to a good-looking man like Mack.