Fanny Lou sat down at the table with the girls. “I don’t think my granddaughter has ever had makeup sex. She loves with her whole heart, but if someone breaks it, she’s done with them. It’s finished. There’s no talking and she never looks back.”

“I wish to hell I could do that.” Jody’s voice was still cold as ice.

Paula spooned a big mound of dip onto a chip. “We can hope this time will be different. She’s perfect for those girls, and they love her.”

Fanny Lou got up, went to the refrigerator, and brought out two beers and a root beer. “I need something to cool down my tongue.” She popped the tab from a beer and handed the second one to Jody. “Root beer for you, darlin’. When I was pregnant with Mitzi’s mama, it wasn’t against the rules to drink a beer or even have a glass of wine, but times have changed. Mitzi may be perfect for the girls, but, honey, she needs to be perfect for Graham, and him for her, if this is going to work at all. He’s the main dish. Those twins are just the dessert.”

“Hey, hey, what’s all this?” Mitzi said as she entered the kitchen. “Is that your seven-layer dip, Granny? Step back and let me roll up my sleeves, because I’m about to get all up in some of that.”

“You don’t have on long sleeves,” Fanny Lou told her. “And where have you been?”

“I was doing a little inventory on the flowers left in the bins. I should make a run into Walmart and buy some more in case the girls want to do some last-minute stuff for the bridal fair.” She got a beer from the refrigerator and sat down in the remaining chair. “Y’all decided whether you’re going out on the pontoon boat on Sunday?”

“I’m going, but I won’t be swimming. Y’all know how afraid of deep water I am,” Jody said. “Not even Lyle—dammit to hell—why do I even mention his name? But what I was going to say is that even he couldn’t talk me into learning to swim. If it’s above my waist, I begin to panic.”

“And I’m pregnant, so I won’t be swimming, either,” Paula reminded her.

“And I’m too damned old to jump in the lake,” Fanny Lou said. “Have you and Graham been to bed yet?”

“Granny!” Mitzi dropped the chip before it reached her mouth.

“I was bein’ nice. I could have asked outright if y’all had sex yet,” Fanny Lou told her. “You come in here all aglow. Only thing that ever put that kind of look on my face was a trip to the bedroom with your grandpa.” She giggled. “Sometimes I’d start a fight just so we could have makeup sex.”