“Holy smoke!” April gasped. “Did you really?”

“Yep, I did, and this is the first time I’m admitting that, too.” Nessa slung the door open and picked up an umbrella from the back seat. “Sit tight. This thing is oversized, so we can both use it.”

“So?” April asked when she was under the umbrella with Nessa. “Were you afraid that you might be pregnant?”

“Nope, I made sure the boy used a condom,” Nessa said. “If I’d gotten pregnant in high school, Daddy would have guilted me to death, and Mama would have probably sent me away to an unwed mothers’ home.”

April felt closer to her cousin in that rainy moment than she ever had before. “Do you think that tornado that ripped through Blossom back then is still affecting us?”

“Kind of like the butterfly effect?” Nessa asked as they entered the store.

“Something like that,” April answered. “If the tornado hadn’t scared Nanny Lucy so badly, she wouldn’t have been so adamant about going to church. If she hadn’t pressured the boys, then your dad wouldn’t be so strict on you, and Flynn’s daddy and my mother wouldn’t have rebelled. Are we ever going to be free of it?”

“I don’t know. The question now is, What are we going to do about it?” Nessa headed toward the customer service counter.

April followed right behind her. “Never have kids would be the sensible thing, wouldn’t it?”

“Do you want to have a family?” Nessa asked.

April nodded. “I love babies and little children, but I wouldn’t want . . .”

“May I help you?” the woman behind the counter asked.

Nessa handed her a sales slip. “We’re here to pick up these three air conditioners.”

“Bring your vehicle around to the loading area, and I’ll have someone bring them out to you,” the woman said, and then she turned to the next customer.

“Well, that was easy enough,” April said as they headed to the exit door.

“We were talking about children and having a family.” Nessa popped the umbrella back up and sighed. “I’d like to have kids, but before I can even think about that, I’ve got to get my life straightened out. Like you, I’ve trusted the wrong men. You had guys that took advantage of you. I seemed to get involved with cheaters.” Just saying that much brought back a measure of the pain she’d felt the last time she was in a relationship.

“What’s that mean?” April asked. “You’re a teacher. You have a job and a steady income.”