Nessa took a deep breath. “We talked last week when we both showed up at the falls. I stumbled when I stepped in a gopher hole and wound up kissing him, so he said that was our first date. The second was the cemetery. The third was the ant bed.”

“So that’s what a third date is—one that involves wallowing in an ant bed.” April laughed and then grew serious. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a third date. I usually fall hard, let some sorry sucker move in with me after a week or so, and then it all falls apart because it’s all built on steamy sex, but that’s not the way things are going to be from now on.”

“You’ve come a long way since we’ve been at Nanny Lucy’s.” Nessa sighed.

“So have you,” April told her. “I had to make progress because I hit rock bottom. The inheritance was a godsend for me, and getting a job that I love was icing on the cake. I’ve found that I don’t need a man to complete me. I’m good on my own, and I like myself a lot better. I’m glad I didn’t have another place to go, because you’ve helped me work things out. I didn’t have to make a tough decision about whether to quit my job and stay here, but you did. That wasn’t a moment thing, Nessa. That was changing your life to fit the future that you want. As far as last night goes, you need to own your sexuality, girl. You wanted it. You got it. It didn’t work out the way you thought it might, but you have a beautiful memory.”

Nessa pulled her SUV into the Kroger lot, parked the car, and turned to face April. “What made you so smart?”

“I read a lot—mostly self-help books when I was trying to figure out why my own grandmother didn’t seem to love me,” April answered. “Thank you for even thinking that I’m not the dumb cousin, though. Hey, remember that song we heard called ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’?”

Nessa fished around in her purse until she found her phone and searched for the song. “What’s this got to do with us?” she asked as she hit the play button.

April’s head bobbed with the beat of the music. “Listen to it and let your spirit float. It keeps sayin’ that everything’s gonna be all right, and I believe it. We’ll have ups and downs, and argue and maybe cry together, or other times we’ll all laugh until our sides hurt, but everything is gonna be all right.”