“When he was datin’ her, I felt joy,” Cob stated and I stared at him. “We weren’t close, still aren’t close, but I was around. Looks like that and sugar sweet,” he muttered, then went on to say, “Turns out saccharine.”

Oh man.

He was talking about Olivia.

His eyes got intense and he said carefully, “Not my place, lost that place and I ’spect you know it but I’m gonna say it anyway and I hope you know I got my son’s best interests at heart. But, like Olivia, you are far from hard on the eyes and, like Olivia, you’re sugar sweet. I need you now, Tess, to promise me what’s under all that frosting”—he jerked his chin at me—“tastes just as sweet.”

I felt my heart melt at a question from a man who was facing sickness, pain, and possible death and wanted to face it knowing his son had good things in his life and I whispered, “What you see is what you get with me, Cob. I promise.”

He studied me, nodded, and looked back at the fire.

Then he said to the fire, “Jill told me you’re a survivor.”

This unexpected blow caused me to pull in a breath, close my eyes, and look away. I opened them when he spoke again to see he was looking at me.

“My girls and me, always close. Always been better with females than males, ’cept Fern, but that’s because I been a jackass for forty-odd years. I don’t know where Slim stands but far’s Jill’s concerned, it’s all in the family and what I want you to know is, where I stand, that’s the God’s honest truth.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“A man hurt you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

He stared at me. He did it long and he did it hard. Then I watched with some shock and a lot of other, stronger feelings as his eyes went bright.

Then he asked in a thick voice, “What possessed him?”

“I don’t know,” I answered in a thick voice.

“He pay?”

I shook my head.

To this he murmured, “Sweetheart.”

“There are lots of different ways to survive, Cob,” I defended.

“Well, honey, you stick with however you’re doin’ it. No judgment here. You get me?”

I nodded.

He pulled in a soft breath.