When her breathing shifted into a soft moan against his ear, he rocked harder, faster, until the moan turned into a cry of disbelief.

It was the sign he’d been waiting for.

He gave up all he was to the woman in his arms.

They made love twice more before morning. Once in a heated rush, and the last time just before daylight in the confines of his shower with her back against the wall and the water pouring down upon their heads.

* * *

On the same morning, Barb Holland was standing out on the back veranda of her home with a cup of coffee between her hands, her gaze on the horizon. There had been a faint glow of light in the east for a while now, but as she watched, the sky began to glow in shades of violet and gold, and then purple with shades of pink.

When the sun finally moved into sight, the colors from before were suddenly lit from within. Tears blurred Barb’s vision. This was the last sunrise she would see from this place.

The furnishings she intended to keep were already in a PODS storage unit on the way to Dallas. She still had a house to strip down and remodel before she’d move in there, but it was a positive plan, and Barb desperately needed a plan.

Finally, she walked back into the house, turned off the old Keurig machine and cleaned it up to leave behind, then loaded two suitcases of clothes into her car.

There was a lump in her throat as she came back into the house to do a walk-through, making sure she wasn’t leaving anything of value behind. What she hadn’t expected to feel was the small niggling emotion of relief.

Yes, Niles was gone, and her heart was broken. She’d loved him for so long, she wasn’t sure yet how much of herself was left. But there was one inescapable fact that couldn’t be ignored.

Never again would she put a drunk to bed.

Never again would she worry when he left the house in a less-than-stable condition.

Never again would there be excuses to be made and signs of his addiction to be hidden.

Niles’s death had shocked her. It had broken her heart. But it had also freed her. She just had to find a way out of the guilt she felt for being glad it was over.

She locked the door as she walked out, then left the key under the mat. The Realtor would be by later this morning to put up the For Sale sign.

What the town of Blessings had yet to discover was that Barb had given her lawyer, Peanut Butterman, one last job. She had deeded all fifteen of their rental houses to the present occupants. It was a gift to them in Niles’s name, and she would never have thought of it if it hadn’t been for Melissa Dean. It felt good, and it was the right thing to do.