He set up the folding chairs in a circle and tried to put Lily’s full lips out of his mind and think about the Sunday-school lesson. Of all things, it dealt with loving your brother as yourself. It might be a lively discussion with Holly and Braden in the mix. They squabbled about anything and everything. He didn’t mind. Actually, he kind of enjoyed listening to them.

If he’d had misgivings about living with Lily and the kids, they had disappeared with that first look at her and the way the kids entertained him with their constant bickering. Lily was being very fair about the financial end of things, and if every day started off like that day when they had worked so well in the kitchen together, this arrangement would be great.

“Hey!” The preacher of the church, and one of his oldest and best friends, poked his head in the room. “There’s doughnuts in the nursery.”

“Thanks, but I had a big breakfast,” Mack said.

He and Drew Donovan had graduated from Comfort High School together more than twenty years ago now. They’d formed a friendship way back in elementary school because they were the two shy boys who didn’t fit in with the rest of the kids. Drew was tall and lanky, with a thick crop of black curly hair he had inherited from his black father, and green eyes from his white mother. Drew had known when he was in middle school that he would be a preacher someday, just like Mack had known from a young age that he wanted to be a vo-ag teacher.

“Walk with me to my office. We’ve got a little while before it’s time for Sunday school,” Drew said and led the way to his office.

“What’s on your mind?” Mack opened the door for him.

“I hear that Lily Miller has come back to Comfort and is living in her folks’ place with you. How do you feel about that?” Drew took a seat behind his desk.

“They just arrived yesterday, but so far, it’s fine,” Mack answered. “Only she’s Lily Anderson now, and she’s got a couple of kids. Braden is twelve, and Holly is fourteen.”

“Are they going to be in church?” Drew asked.

Mack nodded. “And Sunday school, pretty much against their wishes, but . . .” He went on to tell Drew the reason why Lily had taken them out of the city.

“Smart mother.” Drew finished off the last of his doughnut, stood up, and went to the small refrigerator in the corner. He took out a diet root beer and held it out to Mack.

Mack shook his head. “I should be getting on down to my classroom.”

Drew twisted the lid off the bottle and set it on his desk. “You’ll be a good influence on those two kids, Mack. I have faith in you.”

“Thanks.” Mack stood up.