“I like the location and the house.” Mack carried both mugs to the table. “And the rent is less than I’d pay in property taxes and insurance on a place of my own.”

It was evident that Adam wasn’t happy with his response. Mack had always been able to read his brother, though they’d never been close. They’d grown even farther apart as the years passed. In high school Mack was interested in vo-ag classes; Adam played football. Then Mack went to Texas A&M and Adam left for Baylor, and the separation got even wider a couple of years after that when Adam stole Mack’s girlfriend. They had nothing in common anymore, except for their parents and the blood in their veins.

Adam sipped at his coffee, careful not to get it on his white shirt or his $100 tie. “There’s another reason I came by. Charlene and I are getting a divorce.”

“I’m not surprised. Who’d you screw around with this time?” Mack drummed his fingers on the table. “Have you told Mama and Daddy?”

There was the familiar old Adam shrug. Translated, it meant that Mack would most likely be the one breaking the news to their folks.

“Oh, no! Not this time.” Mack shook his head. “You can go by and tell them while you’re in town. I told them when you and Brenda divorced and when you and Natalie split up. I’m not doing it a third time. Man up and do your own talking. What happened anyway?”

Another shrug. “She caught me in a motel with my secretary, Darcy.”

“Good God, Adam!” Mack raked his fingers through his dark hair, which was peppered with gray. “Aren’t you ever going to settle down? You must like paying alimony.”

“Only on the first one.” Adam grinned. “After that, I insisted on prenups. And I really don’t like upsetting Mother. She takes things so much better from you than from me. So come on, be a decent brother and break the news to her for me.”

How two boys could be raised in the same household and turn out so differently was a total mystery to Mack. He loved kids and animals. That’s why he had become a teacher. Mack had raised show goats when he was in high school. Adam had been the quarterback. Mack had always been shy and withdrawn. After he’d had the mumps, Adam wasn’t able to have kids, and he always had a girl hanging on his arm—a girl he seemed to change more often than his socks.

“Well, brother, you’re on your own this time,” Mack said. “You can tell them or you can wait for the gossip to get to Comfort. Mama really loved Charlene, so good luck.”

“You’re really not going to help me out?” Adam asked. “Could you just maybe even hint that Charlene has been acting strange, and that maybe she’s been having some problems, like with drinking or depression? That way it wouldn’t be my fault.”

“Nope.” Mack refilled his coffee mug and sat down at the table. “I told you last time that I’m not paving the way so you can keep your glory-child crown anymore. We’re forty-one years old. You need to own up to the fact that you can’t keep your pants zipped when a pretty girl is anywhere close to you.”

“You’re just jealous because Mother loves me most, but then why shouldn’t she? I’m making three times what you do. I’ve always been better-looking, and damn, Mack, you could put on a thousand-dollar suit and still look like you just walked across a cow pasture.” Adam’s tone had turned nasty.

That was as predictable as his famous shrug. When Adam didn’t get his way, he turned off the charm and flipped the switch on downright meanness.

“Maybe so, but this time, you tell the folks that this divorce is your fault,” Mack said. “And I’m comfortable in my skin. I don’t need Mama’s approval. I’ve lived with the fact that you’re the fair-haired child for a long time. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Mack’s cell phone rang, and he slipped it out of his hip pocket, laid it on the table, and put it on speaker. “Hello, Mama. What’s going on in San Antonio?”

Adam waved his hands and mouthed, “Don’t tell her I’m here.”

“Charlene is here,” his mother said.

With just those three words, Mack could tell that his mother was upset about something.

“She’s cried until her poor eyes are swollen. Have you seen your brother? If you do, tell him he’d do well to steer clear of me for a while. Cheating on her like that with a secretary that’s twenty years younger than he is. What can he be thinking? Now I’m wondering about those stories he told about his first two wives. I might take a switch to him even if he is a grown man,” Nora Cooper fumed.

“If I see him, I’ll give him your message,” Mack said. “You and Dad should make a trip up here soon. I’ve got five new baby goats, and you know how he loves to watch them play.”

“We’ll do our best to come visit when the weather clears up. His memory gets worse every day, but you’re right, he does love your goats and has a good time when we’re there. I’ve got to get back to the living room and console Charlene. Bless her darlin’ heart. If I’d caught your dad with another woman, I would have shot the both of them. Bye, now.”

“Bye,” Mack said.

“Well, crap!” Adam moaned.

“Maybe it’s time to talk to your wife about that counseling,” Mack suggested.

Adam pushed back the chair and put on his coat. “Don’t gloat.”

“The goat boy never gloats.” Mack followed him to the door and held it open for him to leave.

Chapter Two

Holly sighed in the passenger seat of the car, but Lily ignored it for the fiftieth time. Poor little darlin’s probably felt like they were in solitary confinement with no cell phones or tablets or even their handheld video games to use on the two-hour trip. They both should have thought about the possible consequences before they made the choice to smoke pot or sneak out of the house to drink beer and smoke cigarettes.

“You’ve made your point, Mama. Can we turn around and go home?” Holly asked when they’d left the city and started driving through nothing but ranching country on either side of the road.

“We’re headed in the right direction. Home from now on will be in Comfort,” Lily answered.

“Please, Mama. I won’t ever sneak out of the house again. I promise,” Braden said from the back seat.

“And I’ll never even look at another joint,” Holly promised.

“I know you won’t, because we’ll be in Comfort, and I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on both of you. I’m going to have weekly visits with your school principal.” Lily caught the next exit onto Highway 290. The GPS would have routed her through San Antonio, but the smaller highway kept her out of the big-city traffic.

“I can’t believe we have to go to school in that little-bitty town,” Holly groaned.

“It’s your choice. You can be homeschooled or . . .” Lily paused.

“I’ll go to school,” Holly blurted out.

“Good.” Lily nodded. “If the schedule is still like it was when I was in school, the bus will pick y’all up at seven fifteen every morning.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Holly spit out. “We can’t ride the bus! That’s for nerds and geeks. You’ll have to take us.”