“Not as bad as I first thought. There’s some foundation work that needs to be done, but overall it’s in good shape.”

“We like the idea of that. Can you stick to the sixty-day renovation schedule?”

“It’ll be ready by late summer or early fall,” he said.

“I like the sound of that,” Sierra said.

“Good. I’ll leave you two to get back to work,” Libby said. “I’m starving. Sierra, call if you need anything.”

“Will do.”

As Libby left the mercantile store, she realized she was good at starting things. So far, nothing she had undertaken had lasted more than five years, including her marriage, her nursing career, and her attempts at motherhood. How long would her interest in the mercantile store or Bluestone last?

Libby arrived at the pizza shop, ready to push aside all worries and chow down on a pepperoni pizza. She pushed through the front door, savoring the scents of roasted tomato, oregano, and cheese. Bluestone Pizza was the hangout for local high school kids who wanted to impress their dates by trying to score beer. As in all small towns, everyone knew everyone, including their birthdays.

A girl about nineteen stood behind the counter. She wore her dusty-blonde hair streaked with purple in a ponytail. She smiled brightly as she reached for two menus and looked past Libby for the other members of her party.

“Just me,” Libby said. “Table for one.” She felt proud that the words no longer stuck when she spoke them. Yeah, there were a few sinkholes in her life, but she was navigating around them well enough.

The girl stepped out from behind the counter, and Libby noticed her rounded, pregnant belly, which looked to be in the final trimester.

“I know you,” the girl said. “You’re Dr. McKenzie’s daughter.”

“That’s right.”

“He was my pediatrician. I was kind of thinking—when I first found out about my peanut—Dr. McKenzie would be my baby’s doctor as well. I didn’t realize he had been sick.”

“He kept it to himself.”

“I heard he kept office hours into last fall, when he retired.”

“He loved his job.”

“I could tell. I don’t think I ever saw him upset or flustered.”

“It didn’t happen often.”

Libby thought about Elaine, who had not been much older than this girl when she was pregnant. Had Elaine’s family cut her off completely when she was pregnant? Had she had to work in a place like this until she gave birth? When Libby had been expecting, she had not lifted anything higher than a mug filled with herbal tea. And here this young woman was on her feet, moving around without a care in the world.

She seated Libby at a table in the back, away from the main dining room. The dinner crowd had not arrived, which was just as well. She could eat in peace and quiet. Without looking at the menu, she ordered the extra large cheese-and-pepperoni pizza and a medium Diet Coke. It was her perfect pizza-to-drink ratio.

Her diet soda arrived, and she had just dropped the straw in the fizzing caramel liquid when a small hand smacked her table. “Libby!”

She looked up to the curious, direct gaze of Jeff Reese. “Jeff!”

“Did I scare you?” Hope wove around the question.

“You did! When did you learn how to drive?” she teased.

He laughed. “I didn’t drive. My dad brought me.”

She looked past the boy to see Colton striding in with Sam at his side. “Good to know you aren’t wandering around alone.” When Colton stepped to the table, she rose. “Great minds think alike.”

“Hi, Libby!” Sam said, giggling.

“Hey, big guy!”

“Sorry for the sneak attack,” Colton said. “Believe it or not, it means he likes you. Jeff, enough with the giving people heart attacks.”

Jeff frowned, studying Libby closely. “I didn’t give her a heart attack.”

“Still debatable, Jeff,” Libby said.

The boy shrugged. “Shake it off.”

That sounded more like an echo of Colton’s advice. “You’re right.” She pretended to shake. “My worries are all gone.”

Colton grinned. “If you would like more mayhem with your meal, you can join us. And no is a perfectly acceptable answer.”

A yes translated into a chaotic dinner. And no meant she would likely end up wondering which mother loved her less while she scrolled Jeremy’s Instagram page. “Mayhem and pizza sound pretty good.” She rose and picked up her purse and drink. “Let me tell the waitress to bring my pizza to your table.”

“Pizza!” Jeff said.

“Pizza!” Sam echoed.

“Boys, we’ll order our own.”

“No need,” Libby said. “I have ordered enough to feed a small country.”

“We’re a small country when it comes to pizza,” Colton said.

“Then you can consider mine an appetizer.”

“Thanks. The twenty-minute wait for a pie with these two boys can be very long.”

She quickly told the girl where she had moved, and just as she approached the new booth, an extra large pizza arrived with four plates. Jeff sat closest to the wall, and when Libby took the seat next to him, he grinned at Sam, as if to say he had won.

Sam glanced up at his father, clearly hoping for justice, but Colton told him to sit. They could swap seats later if it still mattered to him.

As Colton unrolled his napkin from around the knife and fork, he raised a brow. “You weren’t kidding about feeding a small country.”

“Go big, or go home,” she said. While Jeff wrestled with silverware, she reached for a plate and slid a piece onto it, setting it in front of Jeff. “Don’t eat it yet. Too hot.”

Colton did the same just as Sam stuck his finger in hot cheese. He patiently wiped it off and then stuck his finger in his own ice water.

“Never a dull moment,” she said with a grin.

“Never.”

Milk with straws arrived for the boys and an ice-cold beer for Colton. “Did you come here when you were a kid?” Jeff asked.

“I did,” she said and then cut his pizza into a couple of smaller bites. “I think it’s cooled down enough.”

He stabbed his fork in the pizza and jammed it into his mouth. If her daughter had gone to term, she would be about two years old now. She wondered what it would be like to have her in a high chair with her own cut-up pizza to gnaw on. Would she be more delicate than the boys or dig right in like her mom?

Libby grabbed a big slice and took a bite. It was hot, gooey, garlicky, and tomatoey and just tasty enough to distract her. The four ate in silence for several minutes, though Colton caught a cup of milk from spilling and cut up more pieces for Sam before he took his first sip of beer.

“You live right down the street, right?” he asked.

“Seven blocks,” she said.

“You walked?”

“I did.”

“You should come back to Woodmont with the boys and me. We can give you the first look at the greenhouse all cleaned out.”

“You’ve finished the sealing?”

“Not quite, but the interior has been scrubbed clean. Elaine has a good eye for projects like this.”