“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? That way, if anyone comes in, you can give them a candy bar, and they’ll vote for you. I’ll just watch our soap at my place until after Mother’s Day, thank you very much.” Dotty had no doubt that she would miss Winnie. They’d watched their program together for the past twenty years. But the game was on, and Dotty had her heart set on that crown, which was way prettier than the blue ribbon and trophy Winnie got for her afghan.

  “You aren’t nice even to me, and I’m your best friend, so I don’t think you’ll need to wear that blue dress.” Winnie got up slowly and left the room.

  Dotty pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Monica.

  “Hello, Nana,” her granddaughter answered. “Is everything all right? Have you changed your mind?”

  “Hell, no!” Dotty said. “I’m at peace with my decision. Where are you right now?”

  “At the grocery store, buying supplies for a couple of weeks,” Monica answered. “Do you need something?”

  “Yep, I want a dozen of those miniature cupcakes brought to me every day for the next two weeks. You can bring the first dozen tomorrow, and if they don’t have nice ones there, then you can make some for me. There’s a mini-cupcake pan in the cabinet to the right of the stove,” Dotty answered. “I’m going to win that Mother’s Day crown just to prove to Winnie that I’m nicer than she is.”

  “Good grief!” Monica sighed. “Are you two competing, again?”

  “Yes, we are,” Dotty answered, “and this time, I’m going to win. I intend to wear that crown on Mother’s Day here at Pecan Valley and get my picture on the bulletin board in the lobby. That way, she can’t hold that trophy she got for her afghan at the county fair over my head any longer.”

  “Nana, you two have been best friends for most of your lives,” Monica reminded her. “Why can’t you stop this competition?”

  “Because we have so much fun, and it makes things exciting. I won five bucks last week when I bet her that Gladys and Harry were in a relationship,” Dotty bragged.

  Monica gasped. “Nana! Those two old people have to be at least ninety.”

  “Both of them are eighty years old,” Dotty corrected her. “They’re the same age me and Winnie are. They ain’t lived a righteous life like me and Winnie, so God aged them worse than He did us.”

  “Are you jealous? Do you have a little crush on Harry? And with all this arguing you and Winnie do, how can you say you’re closer to God than Gladys?” Monica teased.

  “Hell, no!” Dotty’s voice went up to the screeching she made when she saw a mouse dart across the floor. “I’m not jealous, and me and Winnie is like sisters. We argue and bicker, but God help anyone who tries to get between us. We’ll join forces and take them down. And honey, I’m not falling in love, and if I did, it would be with a guy who doesn’t need a walker, and who has his own teeth. I’d need a little more from a man if I was going to let him bounce my bed springs.”

  “Nana!” Monica gasped again. “What has got over you? You and Winnie cleaned the church and never missed a Sunday. I’ve never heard you talk about sex or what goes on in the bedroom.”

  Dotty laughed so hard that she snorted. “Honey”—she wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve—“you should’ve been a fly on the wall and listened to some of those conversations while we were cleaning the church. It’s a wonder lightning bolts didn’t come out of the sky, shoot through the rafters, and turn us both into a pile of ashes right there between the pews. I’ve got to go now. My game show is coming on television. Don’t forget to bring those cupcakes.”

  “Will do,” Monica said. “See you in the morning.”

  “Bye now.” Dotty ended the call, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV.

  * * *

  “She’s still alive and just as sassy as ever,” Monica said, sighing as she parked her car in the driveway of her Nana’s house between Bells and Luella, Texas. “Then why does this feel so final?”

  She didn’t have an answer, so she slung open the car door and marched across the yard. The roses were in desperate need of some tender loving care. There were cat prints in the dust on the porch, and next week, she would have to either mow the lawn or pay someone to do it for her. If Nana had been there, the roses would have looked like they were ready to be photographed for a magazine, and the porch would have been shiny clean.

  She fished around in her purse for the key ring her grandmother had given her when she went by the assisted living center located in Bells that morning. Just having the keys in her hand meant that Nana had decided to “try” the facility with her friend Winnie, and she wasn’t coming back home. Nana was going to stay at the Pecan Valley Retirement Center for the rest of her days.

  Tears flowed down Monica’s cheeks and dripped onto her T-shirt. Change was one of the few things she hated, and inheriting Nana’s house and what was left in it would be a huge change in Monica’s world. She opened the old wooden screen door, and memories of all the times she had slammed that door flashed through her mind.

  Monica Joanne, how many times have I told you not to slam the door? Nana’s voice was clear in her head.

  “But, Nana, we didn’t have a door like this at our house, and it’s so much fun to slam it and then see if I can jump off the porch before I hear the noise.” More tears dammed up behind her eyes as she looked down at the keys. The whole place now belonged to her—kit and kaboodle, as Nana had said. She’d be responsible for keeping the lawn, taking care of the roses, and making sure to wash the cat prints off the front porch. THE BEST GRANDMA IN THE WORLD fob on the key ring was telling the absolute truth. Dorothy Allen, aka Dotty or Nana, was the best and always would be, but Monica didn’t think she should be in an assisted living center, even if she was eighty years old.

  “Hey! Are you going to live here or rent the place out?” Tyler Magee yelled from the other side of the picket yard fence.

  “That would be none of your business,” Monica said through clenched teeth. Winnie had deeded her place over to Tyler, and Monica had prayed the whole way from Sherman to Luella that he had already sold it and moved to Siberia or maybe somewhere in the middle of Africa.

  “I heard that Dotty gave you her house this morning?” Tyler pressured. “I’ve been sorting through things that Granny left behind and haven’t even made a dent. I’ve been going through stuff over here a little at a time. I couldn’t decide whether to rent the place out or live here, but this past week, I made up my mind to move in. They won’t let me have pets in the house I’m renting, and I promised to take care of Granny’s cat, so . . .” He shrugged. “Besides, I like the peace and quiet out here in the country.”

  Evidently, God had better things to do today than listen to her prayers, or maybe He felt kind of sorry for Siberia and Africa and didn’t want to inflict a two-timing—she blushed at the name she was about to call him—on either place.

  “So do I,” Monica said as she unlocked the door and disappeared into the house. She stopped inside the door and took a deep breath. The scent of lavender, Nana’s favorite fragrance, still lingered. The living room looked empty now that the outdated orange and brown plaid sofa and Nana’s recliner were gone. The only piece of furniture left in the room was an old, wooden rocker with wide arms. Monica slumped down into it and sighed. “Why, Lord, would you do this to me?”

  Don’t be blamin’ God for Tyler and Raylene Carter’s mistakes, scolded Nana’s voice in her head.

  “But God could have struck Raylene’s conscience,” she grumbled, “or maybe set just a little fire under her butt to let her know where she was headed if she did something so mean.”

  She glanced around at the bare walls. Light spots and lots and lots of nail holes dotted them where Nana had taken pictures down. Monica hated to paint, but before she moved in, she would have to either do it herself or hire it done, and she was way too tight with her money to pay someone to do what she was capable of doing herself.

  She pushed up out of the rocking chair and went to the kitchen. She ran her hand over the yellow-topped chrome table with its four matching chairs. One of her earliest memories was sitting on a big thick phone book on one of those chairs. The first decision she made that morning was to leave the antique set right where it was. The second was to move out of her apartment in Denison and into this house.

  * * *

  Tyler knew that he should be in the house figuring out what to donate to the women’s shelter in Sherman and what to keep, but after seeing Monica, he needed a moment. He sat down on the porch swing and let his mind wander back to the biggest mistake he had ever made in his entire life.

  That would have been ten years ago, when he let Raylene Carter talk him into going into Nana Allen’s garage with her during their early graduation party. That started a mess that was like a small snowball rolling down a hill. By the time it got to the bottom, it was as big as a boulder.

  Raylene backed him up against the wall and kissed him with lots and lots of tongue. He didn’t even realize that she was unbuttoning his shirt until she pulled it over his shoulders. She had his belt undone, his pants unzipped, and her hand inside his underwear when Monica flipped on the light.

  “Busted!” Raylene giggled.

  Monica’s face turned scarlet. Tears sprang from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Then she simply flipped the light back off and closed the door.

  “I guess that means you’re needing a date to the prom now.” Raylene removed her hand. “Pick me up at six. I’m wearing red, and I don’t like roses, so get me a white orchid for my corsage.”

  He had tried to talk to Monica, but she wouldn’t even speak to him, and being the stupid young guy he was at that time, he had taken Raylene to the prom. He had been miserable all night, especially when he found out that Raylene had deliberately caused the problem because Monica had beat her out for the valedictorian honor.

  “If I couldn’t be number one, then she deserved to suffer, so I broke y’all up,” Raylene had told him when they got to the prom.

  “That was downright mean,” he told her.

  “I worked hard to be valedictorian. I’m going to a private after-party, and you’re not invited, so I’ll be ready to go home at eleven o’clock. You can drop me at my house, but don’t expect a goodnight kiss,” she’d said bluntly.

  Granny’s calico cat, Sheba, hopped up onto his lap, turned around a few times, then curled up and closed her eyes. Winnie had given him specific instructions about what to feed her and how to take care of her when she’d given him the house.

  “She’s a good cat, and a wonderful mouser, so you take care of her. That’s the only thing I’m asking you to do. I don’t care what you keep or what you give away, whether you live in the house all the time, part of the time, or sell it. Just don’t give Sheba away or take her to a shelter,” Granny had said.

  “You missin’ her?” Tyler rubbed the sleeping cat’s fur. “Me, too, but I miss Monica even more. I can go visit with Granny, but Monica won’t even talk to me—not even after ten years.”

  She’s not ever going to talk to you if you don’t make an effort, the pesky voice in his head said. You were the one who messed up, so you should be the one to try to make it right.

  “I did try for a whole summer,” he muttered.

  Sheba opened one eye and growled.

  “So, you’re not on my side, either,” he said, and sighed. “Okay, I get the message.”

  He set the cat on the porch swing, took a deep breath, and slowly walked down the steps and across the yard. Just as he opened the gate separating the Magee and the Allen properties, Monica came out of the house and headed to her car. She popped open the trunk and picked up two bags of groceries.

  Tyler sucked in another lungful of air and let it out slowly as he unfastened the gate and headed toward her car. She was on the porch when he picked up the last three bags and started toward the house with them.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Being a good neighbor,” he said, smiling. “We’re going to live next door to each other. We might as well be civil, for our grandmothers’ sakes if nothing else. It would break both of their hearts if we wouldn’t even speak to each other or help each other out when we get in a bind.”

  “I suppose it would.” She nodded. “Just put the bags on the kitchen table, and thank you.”

  Tyler chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Monica asked.

  “I was just wondering if you’re going to keep this kitchen table and chairs. Granny has a red one just like it, and I can’t give it up. I’m going to sell the one in my rental house and keep hers because of the memories. Do you remember how many times we rolled homemade play dough out on either table when we were little kids? Or had milk and cookies, or came in from playing in the snow and had hot chocolate and popcorn at one or the other of these tables?” he asked as he set the bags down.

  Monica whipped around, and her brown eyes locked with his. “Tyler, I remember everything—even the things that I wish I could forget.”

  “I apologized dozens of times.” He blinked and looked out the window at a couple of squirrels playing in a pecan tree.

  “Sometimes, it’s too late for an apology.” She unloaded one of the bags into the cabinet.

  “Even after ten years?” he asked.

  “Especially after that long! I still have trouble with commitment and trust,” she told him. “We were best friends, and then you were my boyfriend, and then . . .”

  “And then we were more, and I let Raylene ruin it, but I can’t blame her totally. I was stupid enough to let her entice me into that garage, so part of it’s my fault,” he finished for her. “Can we, at least, be neighbors and maybe friends?”

  “Let’s start with neighbors and see how that goes,” she answered.

  “Fair enough.” He motioned toward the walls with a flick of his hand. “Since we’re neighbors, do you want some help painting before you move in? We could swap off evenings. I’ll help you until we get this place done, and then you can help me.”

  Monica hesitated so long that he figured she was going to refuse, but she finally said, “I hate to paint, so I’ll take you up on that offer.”

  Tyler could hardly contain his excitement, but he just nodded. This was a step in the right direction, but he sure didn’t want to spook her or do anything that might make her change her mind.

  Second chances, even minor ones, didn’t come along very often, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize anything.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Monica punched in the code at the door of the assisted living center and was passing the nurse’s desk when a lady called out to her. “Miss Allen, our manager wants to talk to you. Follow me, please.”

  Sweet Jesus in heaven, Monica thought. Has Nana already been kicked out of this place?

  The woman led her down a hallway and knocked on a door. A brass plate said GLORIA CALDWELL, SUPERVISOR.

  “Miss Allen.” Gloria stood up and rounded her cluttered desk with an outstretched hand. “I’m so glad to meet you. Dotty and Winnie are fitting in so well here, and they are such fun to have around. They bring the morale up for everyone in the center.”

  Monica breathed a heavy sigh of relief and shook hands with the tall, thin woman. “Thank you so much.”

  “Dotty tells me you’re a registered nurse and that you are going to be living in Luella.” Gloria smiled and went back to sit in her chair. “Please have a seat.” She motioned to the wing-back chairs in front of her desk.

  Monica set her tote bag on the floor and eased down into one of the chairs. “Thank you again, and yes, ma’am, I’m an RN. I work in Denison at a nursing home, but I’ve taken my two-week vacation to get Nana’s place ready for me to move into.”

  “I’m going to have a position for an RN opening in a month. I’d sure like for you to think about applying for the job,” Gloria said. “Leona, our day shift RN, is retiring on June first, and I’d like to hire someone young to take her place. We don’t have a big turnover in staff. Most of our employees have been here for years. Leona was here when I took this job, and I’ve been at Pecan Valley twenty years. Would you think about it? Of course, there’s the usual vetting business. Background checks and references, but you’ve already done all that, so you know the ropes.”

  Monica’s mind ran in circles. The commute would be less than ten minutes, and she would have a day shift, as opposed to her current job working from three to eleven, getting home just before midnight.

  “It’s surely something to think about, but what about the fact that my grandmother is a resident here?” Monica asked. “Will that pose a problem?”

  “Not really,” Gloria answered. “Your job description wouldn’t put you in daily contact with the residents. Their primary care is handled by LPNs and aides. You would oversee those staff members and do a lot of paperwork. You’d have your own office and be on hand if Dr. Magee needed assistance with an emergency.”

  “Dr. Magee?” Monica asked.

  “Tyler Magee is our day shift physician’s assistant. He works closely with the staff at the hospital and routinely gives each resident a physical. He’s a very nice person, and we’ve been so pleased with his work here at Pecan Valley,” Gloria told her.

  There’s the kicker! Monica thought. “Can I have some time to think about it?” she asked.

  “I’m going to stop taking applications next week so that I’ll have a week for interviews and then some time for the vetting process,” Gloria told her.

  Monica stood up. “I’ll let you know by the end of the week, and thank you for telling me about the opening.”

  “Fair enough, and you are welcome.” Gloria smiled again. “Before you leave today, go by Leona’s office and visit with her. She’s right across the hall.”

  “I’ll do that.” Monica left the room and closed the door behind her. Her head still spinning with the pros and cons, she had started toward her grandmother’s wing when the door across the hall opened.