“Oh my God,” Hoover whispered, thinking about going back to prison a cripple.

“I’ll be back to check on you this evening when I make my rounds. Just let the nurse know if your pain level is too severe. I left instructions,” Dr. Hastings said.

Hoover watched the doctor walk out of the room—on two good legs—and wanted to cry. This was God’s punishment for the way he’d lived. Every time the going got tough, he ran away, just like the incident in prison. Maybe when they took him back to lockup they’d take him to a different prison, but wherever he went, one thing was for certain. He wouldn’t be running away from anything again.

* * *

The tension of the morning lockdowns in Blessings was mostly gone by evening. With Melissa’s return so soon after she’d been taken hostage, there was much discussion and rejoicing about the outcome.

Peanut and Ruby both came home from work exhausted and mutually agreed to dinner at Granny’s. They walked into a place of laughter and friends and the best food in town, and slowly their exhaustion gave way to a sense of relief, and then gratitude for the place where they lived.

Lovey sat with them a bit as they waited to order, just in case there was any new gossip via the Curl Up and Dye.

“So, anything new to share?” she asked, then winked and grinned.

When Ruby rolled her eyes, Peanut laughed.

“What?” Lovey asked.

Ruby leaned forward and lowered her voice.

“Girl, you have no idea! One of the bankers’ wives, and I will not say who, brought her two girls in with head lice. The girls were eight and ten, and I don’t know who was more mortified when I found them, her or the girls. She said it had been going around school, and then she said…‘I just never expected this to happen to us! We’re not in the lower socioeconomic spectrum.’”

Lovey grinned. “She did not say all that mouthful?”

“Oh, yes she did.”

“What did you do?”

“I told her bugs did not recognize social status, and I wasn’t in the business of treating head lice. Then I sent them to the pharmacy and told them to ask Mr. Phillips how to get rid of the lice—and not to come back here until they were gone.”

“Did it make her mad?” Lovey asked.

Ruby rolled her eyes again. “If she’d been on fire, she couldn’t have been any hotter.”

Peanut patted Ruby’s hand in commiseration. “She’s had a long, rough day, Lovey, and that’s why we’re here. What’s good tonight?”

Lovey laughed. “Everything! Now I’ve got to get back to work before the boss fires me,” she said, and went back to the register.

Ruby grinned. “She’s said that for as long as I’ve known her. Funny thing about that is when I first heard her say it, I was new here in town, and I wondered for almost six months who owned the place. When I found out it was her, I finally got the joke. Oh…here comes our waitress. What are you going to have?”