house and a pint of whiskey in his system.
The crowd had thinned out, and the conversation in the circle broke in different directions with us in the middle, too far away to actively contribute. He shifted so we could see each other better, his smile warm as the whiskey in my bloodstream.
“I can’t believe you’re right here in front of me,” he said.
“Technically, I’m on you.”
A chuckle. “Much preferred.”
“How’s your Mom feeling?”
“Good,” he said with an easy sort of relief. “She’ll be back in Houston every six months for checkups, more if she’s symptomatic. But she’s cancer free. How about your mom? I heard she’s wearing oxygen now.”
I nodded. “It’s been …” A sigh. “It’s been hard. Thank God for Dottie taking us in when we lost the house. As brutal as it’s been, it’s kind of been a relief not to be behind. Didn’t matter how hard I worked, we were never able to save, and it’s just … it’s so nice not to have to worry about it anymore. Is that terrible to say?”
“Not at all. I’m glad it brought you here.”
My heart twisted. “Me too.” Don’t tell him now, Presley. Do not tell him right now. “Tell me about Africa. What’d you do there?”
His face lit up. “It was … it was crazy, Pres. Our objective was to head up sustainable rural development—water reclamation, sustainable agriculture, fish farming, land use management. Four villages in two years made a turnaround I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it myself.”
“So it was a success, then. Teach them to fish, feed them forever?”
He nodded, but his joy dimmed at the mention. “It wasn’t without its share of failures though. There was a fifth village we couldn’t get off the ground. Very few things compare to the pain on a farmer’s face when his crops are destroyed by insects or the fishing plots we’d dug by hand dried up. They’re starving and have so little. I spent a small fortune on shoes, bikes, mattresses … don’t tell my boss.”
“Your secret’s safe.”
“I just … I could help there in a way I’ve never experienced before. I could give, use the excess in my life to give somebody else a chance. It’s all I want to do for the rest of my life.”
My heart slid into my stomach, though I smiled with deep and earnest admiration. “You found your calling.”
A wistful smile brushed his lips. “Guess I did. How about you?”
“I mean, I don’t know if you could count candle making as a calling, but it’s what I want to do. If I had my way, I’d have my own brand, maybe my own shop. But for now, I just fill wholesale orders for stores, usually under their branding. That’s where I made the most money in Maravillo. I made milk soaps and lotions using the dairy from a local creamery that one of my best friends ran.”
“You should open your own store.”
I laughed. “Because it’s that easy.”
“Get a small business loan.”
I gave him a look. “I work at a diner.”
“I could help.”
My look deepened. “Sure—could you buy me a new truck too? Or maybe yacht, while you’re at it.”
“It’s within my means,” he teased. “Although I don’t know what you’d do with a yacht.”
“Eat caviar on the deck in a G-string and listen to yacht rock, obviously.”
“Who doesn’t love Steely Dan?” he asked on a laugh.
“People without yachts, but they’re just jealous.”
“God, I missed you,” he said with that look in his eyes that once got me pregnant.
Don’t fucking tell him, Presley!
I smiled and said, “I missed you too.”
Before he could do something stupid like kiss me, I looked around and realized my cousins and I were the only ones left. Poppy yawned so big and loud, answering yawns rippled through us.
“We should go,” Jo said, hauling herself up to stand, which sounded like it took a tremendous amount of energy to achieve, what with her dramatic creaking and groaning.
“I’ll call an Uber,” Daisy offered, already unlocking her phone.
“Y’all have Uber?” I asked, surprised by my casual use of the word y’all. This place had always rubbed off quick.
“Uber is really just old Stan,” Poppy clarified.
“Stan? With the suspenders?”
“And the newsboy cap,” she confirmed. “A couple years ago, he quit his job selling papers outside HEB in favor of driving people around town.”
“And nobody else had the same idea? I can’t imagine just having one option on the app.”
“Oh, he’s not on the app,” Jo said. “You just text Stan where you’re