“'Jolene' isn’t a love song,” Atticus said. “Not according to Annie.”

  'Jolene'?

  “The Dolly song?” Iris asked.

  Atticus nodded, looking miserable. “He did it when we were in the lunch line and made her cry, so I had to hit him.”

  Did they even know what that song was about? Why would some kid be singing that to Annie? And why would it make her cry? As far as I knew, no one ever got into a fight over a Dolly song. She made us happy, not upset.

  “Which kid was it?” Iris asked as she took Rafferty’s backpack and slung it over her shoulder so he could run ahead with the little ones.

  “Johnathan Edwards,” Atticus said. “He takes dance classes with her.”

  “He sounded just like Dolly,” Caspian said. “It’s weird.”

  “Yeah, which made it worse,” Atticus said. “Everyone started singing along with him.”

  The little guys were way ahead of us by then, so I urged everyone forward. As we walked back toward the house, I marveled that an eleven-year-old kid knew a Dolly Parton song. This boy probably had a crush on her, as many of the boys did. That alabaster skin and striking red of hers made it impossible not to notice her. “He might like her—you know, trying to get her attention by being obnoxious.”

  “Boys can be super dumb,” Iris said.

  “Did you get into trouble?” I asked, worry prickling the back of my neck. I probably should have asked him that straightaway instead of trying to understand a sixth grader’s intentions. Atticus would have to be punished, even though it was the last thing I felt inclined to do. After the trauma of the last few weeks, I just wanted to hold him close and comfort him like I had when he was a baby.

  Guilt nagged at me too. During the kids’ lunch break, I’d been stuffing my face with pancakes. If school had called, I hadn’t gotten any messages. I had to get myself together or my boys weren’t going to make it through this.

  “No one saw us,” Atticus said. “Johnathan was too embarrassed to admit I’d given him a bloody nose and my eye hadn’t turned black yet, so we just dropped it.”

  “A bloody nose? What got into you?” I asked.

  “Rage,” Atticus said. “Pure and simple. No one hurts Annie and gets away with it.”

  “He pummeled him good,” Caspian said, sounding proud. “That Dolly impersonator won’t be singing again any time soon.”

  “I have to punish you,” I said to Atticus.

  “I know. But it was worth it.”

  5

  Stella

  After I got the boys a snack and settled at the kitchen table to do homework, I pulled Iris aside. “I’m going to pop into town and tell Jennie about what happened at school.”

  “No problem. I can stay as long as you need me.”

  I told the boys I had errands to run but would be back in an hour or so. Thad was having none of it. “Me go with Mama.”

  No one else asked to go, so I scooped my baby up and hauled him out to the minivan. It was a necessary evil, this white whale of a car. As ugly as it was, the functionality won me over in the end. Now I just needed to keep up on the payments.

  I got Thad settled into his car seat and then took off for town. He was babbling away in his singsong voice, telling me the story of Pooh and Piglet that Iris had read to him before his nap earlier.

  By the time we’d gotten to town he was on to Tigger. “Come on, my chatty one. Let’s go see Aunt Jennie.”

  “Me down.”

  I let him down but told him to hold on to my hand. The parking lot was mostly empty, but I didn’t want to take the chance of him bolting suddenly and getting hit.

  Fortunately, the bank was as quiet as the parking lot. Jennie was behind a teller window counting cash. I spotted Jasper Moon in the glass-walled office behind her. He didn’t look up from whatever he was doing on the computer. I’d enjoyed meeting him at the diner. I liked anyone with a good sense of humor and the ability to beat Renee in a pie contest.

  Jennie looked up and smiled when she saw it was me. “Hey, what’re you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to talk to you for a minute about something that happened with the kids.”

  She looked momentarily wary for a split second. “Great. It’s time for my break anyway. You want to get some fresh air out back?”

  “Why not?”

  “I’ll just tell Jasper I’m going to step out,” she said. “Be right back.”

  I remained at the counter, watching as she popped her head into Jasper’s office. He lifted his gaze and then turned toward me to wave. I nodded back to him, embarrassed to have interrupted my friend’s work. I hadn't thought about it before barreling my way in here. However, he seemed perfectly fine. In fact, he was coming out of his office and headed my way.

  “This is the second time I’ve seen you today,” Jasper said to me. “After months of hearing about you from Jennie and driving past your ranch sign every morning.”

  “I need to use the ladies' before we go,” Jennie said to me. “Won’t be a minute.”

  Was it my imagination, or was she leaving me alone with Jasper on purpose?

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been over to bring you a welcome gift,” I said.

  “Think nothing of it.” He leaned casually against the side of the counter. “I was glad to finally meet you. Jennie talks about you all the time.”

  Darn, he was good-looking. I’d noticed at lunch but had been distracted with everything else going on to really take in what a fine specimen of a man he was. Broad-shouldered but slim and beautiful eyes the green hue of a mountain stream.

  “I hope this doesn’t sound strange or an overstep.” He lowered his voice. “But is everything all right with Jennie? She’s been acting strange all week. Sort of spacey and jumpy at the same time.”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Maybe a fight with her husband?”

  “Why do you think that?” I asked.

  “This is going to make me look even more like a nosy neighbor.” He smiled, showing off his straight white teeth. “Earlier, when I was walking to lunch, I saw her arguing with a man in her car. I assumed it was Mark.”

  “Assumed?”

  “He wore a hat low over his forehead and sunglasses, so I wasn’t for sure it was him.”

  “They never fight,” I said, matching his quiet volume. Had something happened? God, please let them be okay. If those two broke up I’d have to give up all hope there were happy marriages out there. Not for me, obviously, but for my best friend? Yes. Plus, I loved Mark. He was one of the good ones. Jennie could be a lot. I knew that. High-strung and bossy. But it never seemed to bother him.

  “Couples have rough patches,” Jasper said.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked, blurting it out without thinking.

  “Not for a few years. Bad breakup before I moved here. So my bad patch was more of a forever patch.”

  I studied him for a moment, surprised at this confession. He seemed like the type of man who had everything, including an adoring wife.

  “She never got any of my jokes,” he said. “Should have been my first clue we weren’t meant to be.”

  Interesting. I couldn’t remember laughing at anything Rex ever said either. Was that what had driven him away? He simply needed me to laugh at his jokes?

  Jennie returned from the bathroom. I shared a glance with Jasper before she and I walked out back. The minute we were outside, she started rummaging through her purse. Finally, she pulled out a lone cigarette.

  “Jennie, when did you start up again?” I asked, shocked. I’d been preoccupied with my own problems, and here my best friend was obviously going through something.

  “Recently. Don’t tell Mark.”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  A ray of sun appeared from behind a purple could, lighting up her blond hair. She wore it pulled into a tight bun for work. Did it hurt? When we were kids, she used to have a pony that swung back and forth when I walked behind her. She was always in a hurry. Ready for the next chapter without enjoying the one she was in.

  “Are you and Mark okay?” I asked.

  She lit her cigarette and took in a deep inhale before turning to blow it away from my face. “Why do you ask me that?”

  What should I say? Your nosy employer saw you in the car fighting with your husband? “I don’t know. You seem kind of spacey and jumpy at the same time,” I said, finally, borrowing words from Jasper.

  “We’re fine.” Her eyeliner was slightly smudged. I don’t know when I’d last seen her with anything but flawless makeup. Maybe when we were in high school? I could remember when she and Mark had gotten into a fight and she’d cried telling me the story. We’d been on the bed, sitting cross-legged as we dissected the disagreement. He’d thought she was flirting with some other guy and had gone completely bananas. What had she said? “Sometimes he holds me a little too tight, and I just want to fly away somewhere.”

  Now, as she puffed away on her cigarette, I remembered why I’d come to see her in the first place. “I came by to tell you about something that happened with the kids at school.”

  Her eyes glinted with impatience. As much as I loved her, when it came to how she mothered Annie, she reminded me of my mother. Hard and strict. Impossible standards.

  “What happened?” Jennie asked.

  I told her the story, expecting her to find it slightly humorous as I did. Instead, she paled, and when she lifted her cigarette to her mouth, her hand shook.

  “Weird, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, super weird.” She seemed to be avoiding my gaze, looking out to the parking lot to her car. A four-wheel-drive Subaru. I’d been jealous when she told me she was getting a new car. But just because they didn’t have money problems didn’t mean she didn’t have any other worries.

  “Well, I should get back to work.” Jennie dropped the cigarette and stomped it out with the bottom of her shoe. “We should go out tomorrow night. Blue Bonnet has live music. My treat. Celebrate…you know.”

  “My impending divorce?”

  She had one hand on the doorknob but turned back to me. “Did he serve you papers?”

  “Not yet. I’ll probably have to do the filing, like everything else in our marriage.”

  She let go of the knob and turned all the way around to face me. “Was it really that bad? Being married to him?”

  “You remember, don’t you? You were there.”

  “No one can really know what it’s like to be in a marriage,” Jennie said. “Except the two in it.”

  What was she trying to tell me? Was she unhappy? Jennie and Mark had been high school sweethearts. One of those couples that seemed destined for each other. As far as I knew—and I’d spent a lot of time with them over the years—I’d never heard one cross word between them.

  “You lost your spark,” Jennie said. “Do you still love him?”

  “He’s the father of my children.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  I breathed in the scent of woodsmoke in the air and dug deep for my answer. “I can remember being so in love with him, I’d have walked a thousand miles through the desert to find him. But he kind of ‘boiled the frog’ me. Little by little, he turned up the heat until I was cooked. I could only see all the ways he’d disappointed me. How little he seemed to care for the boys. His way of controlling me, you know, with the food and stuff.”

  “How do you mean?”

  I played with the zipper of my jacket. Why was she asking me all of this now? Hadn’t she been with me the last ten years? “You know how he was.”

  “But do you ever, like, think maybe there was a part you played in it all too?” Jennie asked.

  I studied her. She knew me, didn’t she? Couldn’t she see how that question haunted me? “It’s all I think about.”

  She seemed taken aback by this. “Well, marriage is hard. For everyone.”

  “Whatever’s going on with you and Mark, you can fix it. I know you can. It’s not like Rex and me.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Mark.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Rex is a cheater, Jennie. You know that. He’s done this so many times before. Whoever he left me for, I hope she’s prepared to be with a man-child instead of a man. Mark’s a man. He takes care of you and Annie. You’re lucky. You know that, right?”

  “Why are you comparing them?” Her voice sharpened.

  I stepped back and almost fell from the top step. “You’re acting really weird.”

  For s second her eyes glittered, and I thought she was going to launch into me. However, her mask lowered once more and she gave me a bright smile. “Am I? It’s about time for my period. PMS has been terrible lately. We’ll pick you up tomorrow for dinner. Make a fun night of it.”

  “Sure, that’s fine. It’ll be good to get out of the house.”

  She turned and this time stepped inside, letting the door slam behind her. I picked up her discarded cigarette butt and put in the dumpster on my way to my van.

  Driving home, I turned the radio to one of the only stations we could get out here. They played country from all eras, and if it had come in with a little less static, it would have been perfect.

  I thought about Jennie, mulling over our conversation. She had been acting strangely. I felt sure of it. If Jasper was right and she was having marital problems, why wouldn’t she have told me? Maybe she didn’t want to burden me, knowing what I was going through.

  Of course that’s what it was. She was always putting me first. All my drama with Rex and she never once expressed impatience with me.

  Thank God for Jennie Armstrong. I said a little prayer of thanks, as I did often when I thought about all she’d done for me. We’d been through a lot together. Without her and Iris, I wouldn't have made it through the last thirty days.

  Jennie was a loyal friend—supportive and encouraging—even when I made stupid choices. When I’d told her I was pregnant, she’d looked me straight in the eye, and without an ounce of pity asked me what exactly I planned to do with the life God had given me. “You got to figure a new path for yourself,” she’d said. “One that makes a good life for that little baby.”

  I’d assumed she felt sorry for me. Maybe even disgusted that I’d lost the scholarship and everything I’d worked so hard for because of a boy who roped cattle. However, she’d not once said anything negative about this curve my life took. My mother didn’t speak to me for the better part of a year, even though we lived in the same house. Dad wouldn’t look me in the eye. It was only Annie and Iris who had supported me unconditionally.

  Only once, and this was recently, she admitted to being jealous of my good grades and the scholarship I’d gotten. However, she’d never wanted to go to college. At least as far as I knew. She’d always said she just wanted to marry Mark and have a family. The fall after graduation, she and Mark had married and gotten pregnant with Annie right away. We had our babies four months apart. Just like that, we were grown up. And back to living the same life.

  Somewhere along the line, the jealousy veered the other direction. I was jealous of the kind of husband Mark was, especially when he opened his plumbing business and made such a success out of it. She remodeled their house and always had a new sweater to wear. I’d scraped along with what the cattle made, a constant, nagging worry about money plaguing me. There’s nothing quite like money worries to keep you awake in the middle of the night.

  Of course, things hadn’t always been easy for Jennie and Mark. I knew that. Just like everyone else, they’d had lean years. A few times they’d worried they’d lose Jennie’s family’s property. Mark did the jobs, not only working their land but becoming an apprentice to a plumber. Mark’s plumbing business thrived before long. Now he made great money. They’d paid off their house and given up farming, keeping only a few chickens and a dog.

  There had been more than once over the dozen years I'd been mighty grateful for the free plumbing service, I reminded myself.

  Jennie loved working at the bank and told me the extra money was going into a college fund for Annie. Yet another thing I felt jealous over. My boys would be lucky to have their books paid for, let alone all of the rest of it at the rate I was going.

  It had all worked out for my friends and I was glad of it. Even if at times it left me feeling a little sorry for myself.

  I could hear my mother’s voice. Why did you have so many kids, then?

  “Because they’re going to make the world a better place,” I whispered out loud. “Just watch and see.”

  6

  Jasper

  Saturday morning, I sat on my porch sipping a strong cup of coffee, watching the sun rise over the eastern mountains. Covered in freshly fallen snow, the mountains were awash in pink morning light. I’d lived in Bluefern for ten months and even during the days when the temperature dropped below zero, I never grew tired of the landscape.

  When my boss had asked me to head up the bank out here in Bluefern, I’d never set foot in western Montana. I’d grown up in a town in California just north of the Bay Area and with my money being tight, my mom and I hadn’t traveled much. As a kid, my world had been small, yet I never felt deprived. I had books. They were all the traveling I needed. I went through a closet to Narnia, solved international crimes while wondering what a dry martini tasted like, and floated down the Mississippi on a raft with my friends Jim and Huck.

  As a boy, I’d never wanted to cause my sweet mother any consternation, especially given our circumstances. I was a good student and earned a scholarship to college. Once there, I chose a nice, safe accounting major and then got a nice, dependable job at a bank. I quickly rose up to management and before I knew it, I’d opened two new branches and was then asked to open a third.

  In Bluefern, Montana, population 2,134.

  “Does a town that size even need a bank?” I’d asked my boss, Mike Turner.

  “They’ve had to do all their banking in Bozeman,” Mike had said, rubbing a hand over his bald pink head. “The townsfolk are excited to have one close by. It’ll be a cake job. If you can stand the winter.”