“We’ll see,” Melissa said. “If I feel better tomorrow, and you’re still at it, I’ll let you know. I’ve delayed you far too long. But your company was wonderful, and I got selfish.”

She stood up, giving Sully permission to leave gracefully as she walked him to the door.

“Thank you again for the flowers and the kindness,” Melissa said.

“Thank you for being the wonderful listener that you are. I didn’t realize how alone I’d been feeling. And if you still want to, and you feel like it, I would love help going through thirty-plus years of back issues of the local paper,” Sully said.

Melissa beamed. “Perfect. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

Sully started to reach toward her, then stopped.

“I very much want to hug you for being a much-needed friend, but I don’t know where it’s safe to touch you.”

Without thinking, Melissa pointed to her right cheek.

“A safe zone,” she said.

Sully’s dark eyes flashed, but the heat in them was there and gone so fast she didn’t notice as he leaned over and very gently kissed her cheek.

“Thank you,” Sully said.

Melissa’s heart was pounding, but she managed a smile.

“You are most welcome. I have a good feeling about your story, Sully. I think it will have a happy ending.”

“From your lips to God’s ears,” he said. “I’ll call you in the morning. Rest well, and thank you for everything.”

He was out the door and gone before Melissa could respond. She stood in the doorway until he’d driven away, then shut the door and went back to the kitchen to clean up the cups and pie plates.

All in all, this might have been the best day she’d had in the last twenty years.

* * *

Sully went back to the courthouse to see the property records for the county. It was always possible his birth mother had wound up buying land and moving to the country. But after more hours of looking, he gave it up and left. He went to Broyles Dairy Freeze on the way back to the B and B, bought a couple of burgers and a shake, then sat in the car to eat them.

He’d forgotten to tell them to leave off the pickles, so he sorted through the first burger and pulled them off. As he did, he remembered that when he and Missy ate together in the school cafeteria, she always ate his pickles. He hadn’t thought of that in years, but seeing her again was bringing back all kinds of memories.

He finally finished, tossed what he didn’t eat into the garbage on the way out, and then decided to drive around Blessings for a while. He wanted to see what it was about the little town that made Melissa come here and then stay so long.

As he drove through residential areas, anyone who was outside when he drove past turned and waved. They didn’t know him, but they smiled when they did it. That was nice. The houses were mostly well kept, although he could see there were plenty of them still in stages of repair.