the two-mile run she’d started doing the first of the summer. She’d said she was getting in shape so that basic training didn’t whoop her ass. Joanie had seen her daughter in cheerleader action for four years—there was no way that anything they could throw at Zoe would get the best of her. She touched the senior picture of Zoe sitting in the kitchen window.
What if Zoe faded now that she’d left the house? Would Joanie be able to close her eyes and remember all those times? What if she couldn’t even remember what Zoe looked like without pulling up one of the hundreds of pictures she had on her phone?
Joanie’s front door opened, and Diana yelled, “You ready?”
“Not really.” Joanie rinsed her coffee cup, dried it, and put it away.
“Second thoughts?” Diana peeked around the kitchen door.
“Oh, yeah, lots of them,” Joanie answered.
“Me, too, but I imagined Rebecca demanding that I get out of her room. I took that as a sign that we should go,” Diana said.
“I haven’t gotten up the nerve to even look in Zoe’s room. I’m afraid if I go in there, I’ll back out of this trip. This will be the first time ever I’ve gone anywhere without her,” Joanie sighed.
“Me, too.” Diana gave Joanie a sideways hug. “This empty-nest stuff stinks.”
“Yes, it does,” Joanie answered as she turned off the kitchen light and rolled her suitcase outside.
It was only a matter of crossing her and Carmen’s yards to get to Carmen’s porch.
“Carmen,” Diana shouted from the front door, “are you ready?”
“I’m not going,” her voice echoed from the back of the house.
Joanie gave Diana a long look, and the two of them headed down the hallway. They found her stretched out on Natalie’s bed, arms crossed over her chest and eyes staring at the ceiling.
Diana got her by the elbow and pulled her up to a sitting position. “You are not dead. You’ve got some fight left in you, so get up.”
Joanie’s heart hurt for Carmen. She’d probably wither up and die if Brett sent divorce papers, especially at that time. “We’re not leaving without you, and if you say the word, we can have a six-foot hole dug when he gets home. Right in the front yard. Think about how disappointed Tootsie will be if you don’t go. She’s done so much for us these past thirteen years. Remember how she came over here and sat with Natalie when she had her tonsils out? And how many times did she and Smokey take the girls for ice cream and a movie just to give us an evening alone?”
“Y’all can go. I’ll be fine. Tootsie will understand,” Carmen argued.
“Are you packed?” Diana asked.
Carmen nodded. “But I can unpack. I can’t leave my daughter. What if Natalie gets kicked out of basic and she comes home and I’m not here?”
“If she gets booted out, then she’ll have to call you to come get her.” Diana drew her up to a stand. “And we’re just as close to Lawton in the northern part of Texas as we are right here in Sugar Run.”
Carmen balked when Diana pulled her toward the door. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.” Joanie got behind her and gave her a gentle push. “If you can’t even do this, then how are you ever going to fight Eli about this divorce? If you stay here all alone with no support, you’ll be by yourself when he comes home. If that happens, he’ll steamroll right over you. But if that’s what you want, then when we come home, we’ll help Natalie pick out a real good mental home for you,” Joanie said with a shiver. If she were in Carmen’s shoes, she might really end up in a facility for folks with broken minds. “Think about how hard it would be on Natalie to see you in a place like that.”
Carmen flipped her off and stormed out of the room, got her suitcase by the handle, and said, “I’ll never put Natalie through that shit. Let’s go.”
Luke Colbert was actually looking forward to being semi-unplugged for a few weeks. He’d have his device to use if he just had to have internet, but for the most part, he’d be on vacation. Fall weather was perfect for sleeping out under the stars and getting a brand-new perspective on what he wanted to do next with his life. Spending the days on the road definitely had an appeal. Had he not been so involved with technology,