Guilt trips never take you anywhere. Her mother’s old adage came to mind.

“Amen,” she said as she set out glasses for milk.

The kids came through the front door. She could hear their backpacks hitting the chairs and their arguing as they hung up their coats. Then they both tried to come through the door at the same time. Holly hip-checked Braden to the side and made it to the kitchen first.

“I smell brownies.” Braden evened the match by getting to the table first. “I made a new friend at school today, and his name is Isaac Torres, and can I join 4-H so I can maybe show a goat next year and”—he stopped for a breath, then went on—“can I go to Isaac’s house on Saturday and hang out with him?”

“I’ll think about it.” Lily poured milk for each of them.

“Rose and Ivy invited me to go to choir practice on Friday nights.” Holly helped herself to the first brownie. “They said their mama would pick me up and bring me home. It’s at the church, and it’s from seven to nine. I promise to get all my homework done before I go.”

“She just wants to go because Clay will be there. That’s the preacher’s son, and she’s got a crush on him,” Braden tattled.

“Do not,” Holly argued.

“Do, too,” Braden shot back.

“Hello,” Mack called from the back door. “Is that chocolate I smell?”

“Brownies,” Braden yelled. “You better hurry before Holly eats them all.”

“You’re the pig when it comes to brownies,” Holly accused.

Braden snorted just like a hog.

“You’re disgusting.” Holly took another brownie from the pan.

The comment Holly had made back in Austin about Braden being Lily’s precious angel son had been weighing heavily on her mind all day in addition to all the other bits of guilt. She wondered if she was enabling Braden to be a little narcissistic, but after listening to them argue, she decided that she was raising two healthy kids. They might be as different as night and day, but they were not suffering from NPD.

“Coffee is in the pot. Sweet tea’s in the fridge,” Lily told Mack. “Where are your glasses? I just realized that you haven’t worn them in several days.”

“I only wear them when I have to,” he said. “Most of the time I wear contacts, but I had an allergy flare-up and had to use my glasses for a while.”

He brushed past her on the way to get a cup of coffee, and there were those sparks again, only this time they were even hotter than before. An image flashed through her mind—she was cuddling up with him on the sofa, and he was tipping her chin up with his calloused hand to kiss her.

“Should I pour a cup for you?” Mack asked.

His deep voice jerked Lily back to reality. “Yes, please, and thank you.” She hoped he attributed her burning cheeks to the heat in the kitchen.

It seemed like the kids swallowed their brownies whole and hurried up the stairs to do their homework, or in Braden’s case, to change into different clothing so he could go to the goat pens with Mack.

“You also run the 4-H, right?” Lily asked when she and Mack were alone.

“I do.” Mack nodded. “Braden came to the 4-H meeting today with his new friend. Isaac Torres is a good kid. He’s a little shy, but he’s super smart. He’s always on the superintendent’s honor roll.”

“Then it’s all right for Braden to—” Lily started and then stopped. “Is he Levi Torres’s son? The Torres Ranch folks? Didn’t you and Levi graduate the same year?”

“We did, and yes, Isaac is his son. Levi married a girl he met in college. She’s from down around Houston and grew up on a ranch like Levi did,” Mack answered.

“Levi was smart and shy, too,” Lily remembered, and stopped herself before she added, “A lot like you.”

“You’re the mother, but I think Braden and Isaac will be good for each other.” Mack reached for a brownie.

“Why’s that?”

“Braden is outgoing, and he’ll help Isaac in that department. From what I see in Braden, he needs someone to challenge him intellectually, so Isaac will be a help to him that way. Same way that Holly is good for Rose and Ivy. Their parents are strict with them, so you don’t have to worry about her smoking pot. Yet they could sure use someone like Holly to give them a little push when it comes to grades.”

“Holly wants to go to Friday-night choir practice with the girls, and Braden wants to know if he can go to the ranch and hang out with Isaac on Saturday. What do you think?” Lily hadn’t asked for anyone’s input where her kids were concerned in years, but she really needed Mack’s opinion.

“If they were my kids, I wouldn’t have a problem with either the choir or the ranch,” he said.

“Thank you.” It was beginning to look like she’d made the right decision in her fit of anger over their behavior.

“I talked to my mother and dad today,” Mack said.

“How are they doing?” Lily carried her coffee to the table and sat down on the other side from Mack.

“Dad’s not good,” Mack replied. “He’s getting more confused about time than ever. They haven’t been here since the end of November, but he thought it was two days ago, and he told me to make Adam help me with the goats. Mama’s got her hands full with him, but she’s doing okay.”

Lily reached across the table and laid a hand on his. “I’m so sorry. That has to be the worst disease ever.”

“Thank you.” Mack patted her hand with his free one. “I asked Mama if she realized Adam had a problem, and she said yes. She thought he’d outgrow it, and then felt like it was too late to do anything about it when he broke up my engagement with Brenda.”

“Parents don’t like to admit their kids have issues,” Lily said.

“You didn’t mind admitting your kids had problems. You took steps to keep them from getting into more trouble than they were already in. Even though they whined and threw hissy fits, you were a solid, good mother and did what was best for them.”

Lily could have kissed him for that bit of encouragement, but Braden came bursting into the room at that very moment. She jerked her hand free from Mack’s and said, “I didn’t even hear you coming down the stairs. You usually make enough noise that the neighbors think it’s thundering.”

He held up a foot. “I only got on my socks. I thought I’d wear Grandpa’s boots as well as his coat.”

“You wear a size eight. Your grandfather wore an eleven,” Lily told him.

He jerked an extra pair of socks from his hip pocket. “I’ll stuff the toes.”

“We really should make time to get that kid a pair of rubber boots and a work coat,” Mack said.

“Yes!” Braden pumped his fist in the air. “Can we get them before I go visit Isaac on his ranch?”

Mack glanced over at Lily. “We could take him to the feed store tomorrow evening. They don’t close until six, and they carry coats and boots.”

“Please, Mama,” Braden begged.

“I suppose,” she agreed. “If you’re really going to be in 4-H and show goats, you should have a warm coat and boots that will keep your feet dry.”