“That’s right. I don’t know why I fret about things like I do. But enough about us old ladies and our problems. I bet you’re here to see the things I bought for the inn, right? Y’all just follow me to the storage room, and I’ll show you what I’ve bought. Since I talked to you, I found another piece. If you want both, I’ll give them to you for what I paid for them.”

“We can’t do that. You need to make a profit,” Tucker said.

“No, I don’t. I’ve got more money than Midas already and no one to leave it to when I’m dead,” Lucy argued as she opened the door into a storage room. “There they are.”

Two small burled-oak washstands, complete with the towel bars, were side by side. There was no doubt that the hardware was original, and they were in pristine condition. Jolene squealed and went to open all the little drawers and then the small door.

“They’re both perfect. That’s so sweet of you to give them to us at such a bargain. Thank you, thank you.” She rushed over to hug Lucy.

Tucker couldn’t help but smile as he pulled out his wallet. “At least let us give you a finder’s fee.”

“Nope. I paid a hundred apiece for them, and that’s what I’m charging. You can back your truck up around to the back doors and load them up.” Lucy smiled. “I’m glad that I did good.”

“You did better than good.” Jolene ran her fingers over the top of each piece. “You did fantabulous.”

Lucy giggled. “Well, thank you.”

Tucker got into bed that evening and laced his fingers behind his head. Clouds kept shifting across the quarter moon, sending shadows and shapes across the ceiling. He turned his head to catch sight of Melanie’s picture on the nightstand, but she was barely visible in the semidarkness. Then he turned the other way to find that Sassy wasn’t in her usual place on the pillow but had curled up at the foot of the bed.

He shut his eyes, and sleep came immediately—as did the dreams. He and Melanie were back in the trailer that last night. He argued with her that she shouldn’t go into town, but she laughed at him.

“It’s okay, darlin’. It’s my time and no one argues with God.” She kissed him on the cheek, picked up her purse, and started out the trailer door.

“Lucy does,” he said. “Lucy argues with God, and I believe He listens to her.”

“Who’s Lucy?” Melanie asked.

“This older lady who’s a friend of Jolene’s. Don’t go, Melanie. I can’t live without you,” he begged.

“Yes, you can. Life goes on, and I want you to be happy, Tucker. You have to let me go. My soul won’t be at peace until you do.” She took him by the hand and led him outside. “Now walk me to the car, and tell me goodbye.”

“I can’t,” he said.

“Be brave, like you are on the force.” She kissed him. “I love you. Give Jolene a chance. I like her. She’ll make you happy.”

He tried to hold her back, but she slipped away. As she drove off into the fog, he reached out one more time, only to find her wedding ring in his hand.

He woke up in a cold sweat, his hand clutched so tight that it ached. When he opened it, there was nothing there. Shock filled him to see her picture was gone as well. He switched on the light and found the frame on the floor, the glass shattered into a hundred little pieces.

Sassy was sitting right beside it with a mouse in her mouth. That explained the picture. She’d probably jumped across the bed and the nightstand to get at it, but Tucker just knew that Melanie had probably caused it.

“I get it,” he whispered as he cleaned up the glass, threw away the frame, and tucked her picture into the nightstand. “You can go. I’m going to be fine.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jolene stared at the calendar—January 29. There was something special about that day, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Mentally, she ran down the list of family birthdays and got nothing. She flipped the calendar pages and saw where Aunt Sugar had penned in birthdays for her friends and special days that she and Uncle Jasper shared—their first date, their first kiss, and their anniversary. Then there were other days, like when Sugar’s mother, her father, Elaine, and even Jolene’s father had passed away.

But there was nothing written on January 29, so why did she feel like she was missing something important?

Tucker looked over her shoulder. “Got something going today?”

Him standing that close to her created a heat that she didn’t want to think about. A relationship of any kind would be nothing but a rebound thing for him.

What would it be for you? Aunt Sugar’s voice was in her head.

Disaster, she thought with honesty.

Jolene put her finger on the date. “January 29. Does that mean something to you?”

“Can’t think of anything, but you did tell me your birthday was on the twenty-ninth, so maybe you’re thinking ahead.” Tucker rubbed a hand over his chin. “Why?”

If she turned around, her lips would be within a few inches of his ruggedly handsome face. She folded her arms over her chest and took a side step. “Look at it and see if it jogs anything in your memory. I’ve got this nagging feeling that it should mean something, and it’s driving me crazy.”

With a little distance between them, the tension faded. “How about some chocolate-chip muffins this morning?” she asked.

“Sounds great.” He flipped through the calendar. “I wonder why Sugar did this when she knew she was leaving.”

She headed into the kitchen. “It was part of her ritual. In December she always got a new calendar at the grocery store and used the old one to write all the important dates on it.”

“And she probably didn’t want you to forget, right?”

Tucker got eggs and milk from the refrigerator and set them on the counter.

“I wonder why she didn’t take it with her,” Jolene mused. “Maybe she made two. She wouldn’t leave home without something to remind her of important dates. I’m going to use hers and make one of my own next year. I want to remember all those days.”

“Maybe I could add a few to it,” he said.

Jolene wasn’t sure how she’d feel about his late wife’s birthday being on the calendar, too, but they were in this venture together. She’d gotten used to putting their laundry together, so this wouldn’t be all that different, would it?

“Sure, you can,” she said, hoping all the time that she’d never have to look at Melanie’s name on the calendar.

“Hey, where is everyone?” Dotty’s voice echoed through the house.

“Back here,” Tucker yelled. “Come on in and join us for breakfast?”

“What’re you doin’ out this early?” Jolene asked when Dotty appeared in the kitchen doorway. “How did you manage to get through that rain without ruining your hair?”

“A good umbrella. A fine plastic rain bonnet. And the best hair spray on the market,” Dotty answered. “What are we havin’ this morning?”

“Muffins and cereal. But I’ll make you an omelet if you want one,” Jolene answered.

“Let’s have oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar to go with the muffins.” The other woman headed for the pantry. “I’ll make it while you finish stirrin’ those up, chère. Something ain’t right. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I had to come see if you kids were okay.”

“Must be something in the air. Jolene can’t figure out why today looks strange on the calendar,” Tucker said.

Dotty filled a small saucepan with water and set it on the stove. “Me, either. That’s where I went first. Sugar always got four calendars at the grocery store and she filled them out for each of us with our birthdays, committee meetin’s at the church, and so on. Then we put in our own doctor visits and personal things. There’s not a thing on today for any of us. I checked with Lucy and Flossie before I left—they got this feelin’, too—so I volunteered to come out here to check on y’all.”

Jolene felt better knowing it wasn’t just her feeling strange about the day. Maybe it had to do with Aunt Sugar. That was the only explanation.

“Why didn’t you just call?” Tucker asked. “You could catch pneumonia in this weather.”

“Oh, chère.” She giggled. “Us Cajuns are a lot stronger than we look. It’d take a little more than rain to get me sick. Must just be this awful weather gettin’ us all antsy.”

“Or maybe it’s spring fever hittin’ us early,” Jolene said.

“Could be. I’m tired of this damn weather for sure. I saw a single little daffodil at the old Ennis place as I was driving out here and got more excited about spring than I ever have before.”

That would certainly explain the vibes when Tucker was close, Jolene thought. It was the same hormones that the birds and the bees get when spring is on the way. Her focus shifted toward him, standing there with bedroom hair, and she almost dropped the pan of muffins that she was carrying to the oven.

Bedroom hair? Spring fever was taking over for sure.

Conway, Arkansas

Sugar did up the breakfast dishes and checked her calendar like she did every morning. She picked up a pen and wrote HOME in the January 29 slot. With good weather and no hiccups, they could be hooked up at the house next to Flossie’s by nightfall.

“Still happy?” Jasper wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Too much to describe. How about you?”

“Like you said, there are no words. Do you realize that our grandbabies won’t be off out there in West Texas? I wish Dotty would have hired her when she was twenty-one.”

“I was selfish back then and didn’t want people to know that she worked in a bar,” Sugar admitted.

“And she refused to come work for us in the inn,” Jasper remembered.