“Sweet tea?” Ruby asked.

“I’ll take a shot of Peanut’s fine Kentucky bourbon, if you don’t mind.”

Ruby gasped. “I knew it was bad. Oh lord, Lovey. Please tell me you’re okay.”

Lovey laughed. “I am beyond okay. But this is also a ‘knock your socks off’ kind of story.”

“I’ll bring the bottle,” Peanut said.

“I’ll get the glasses,” Ruby added.

Lovey took a seat. Ruby put a glass at each place, and Peanut poured the shots.

“Do we do this now?” Ruby asked.

“We do this now, because I don’t think I can get it said without it.” She lifted her glass. “To the lost. May they always find their way home.”

The glasses clinked. The whiskey went down. Three empty shot glasses hit the table at the same time.

Lovey took a breath. “Sister, I’ve been keeping a secret. A secret that nobody in this town ever knew about me, and you’re my dearest friend ever. You and Peanut are the family I didn’t have…until today. A little over forty-five years ago, I gave a baby up for adoption, and he found me today!”

Ruby’s mouth dropped open.

Peanut slapped the table with the flat of his hand.

“Sully? Sully Raines is your son?”

“Yes! Yes!” Lovey said, and started to cry. “It’s so stupid that I didn’t ever hear anyone say his last name. But you know me. I can’t hear enough to cause trouble anymore. And then something happened today when I went over to visit Melissa, and everything clicked.”

“But wait! I thought he was looking for a woman named Janie,” Ruby said.

Lovey sighed. “I was born Loretta Jane Chapman in Kansas City, Missouri, sixty-two years ago. When I was fifteen, I fell in love with a boy named Marc Adamos, and he loved me, too. We made a baby, but he moved away before I knew.” And then Lovey began telling the story, much like she’d told Sully hours earlier. When she was finished, Ruby was in tears, and Peanut was pouring himself a second drink.

“Sweet lord,” Ruby said. “This is the saddest, most loving thing I’ve ever heard a birth mother do.”

Lovey touched the necklace she was wearing. “I left this behind for my Johnny. Marc gave it to me before he left, and I left it behind for my baby. Today, he gave it back to me.”

Ruby reached for her best friend’s hand and squeezed it.

“What a journey you’ve had to get to this day.”

“Yes, and now Sully and I are going to do the big reveal at a party and let Blessings in on the news. This coming Thursday, Granny’s last meal served will be at noon. Then we’re closing up to prepare for a reopening party at 6:00 p.m. Everyone will be invited. We’re sharing our story together so there’s no mistaking the truth. I’m sure it won’t stop the gossip, but none of it will compare to what I went through back then. I’m asking you two to keep it to yourselves until afterward.”