Grace felt as if a stone were sitting in her chest where her heart used to be when she and Sarah left the house to go for a drive that afternoon. The only thing she could imagine was that whatever her sister had to tell her must concern Audrey. All kinds of scenarios played out in her mind: Sarah had seen Audrey with a fake ID at the bar she frequented on Saturday nights. Or she’d heard that Audrey had been smoking more than cigarettes. She had been such a problem child since she began her sophomore year that nothing would surprise Grace—and yet she sent up a prayer that the news Sarah had wouldn’t be anything to do with her daughter.
“Okay, spit it out,” Grace said the moment that her sister had driven around to the front of the doughnut shop and parked in the middle of the gravel lot.
“This is probably far enough that no one can sneak up on us and eavesdrop.” Sarah checked the rearview and side mirrors, turned the engine off, and faced her sister. “First of all, I’m sorry for the way I treated you when Justin left. And for the way I talked to you when Mama passed away. Blaming you being pregnant for her death wasn’t right.”
“Good Lord!” Grace gasped. “What brought all this on fifteen years after the fact? And I don’t remember you treating me so badly or blaming me for anything.”
“I didn’t verbally, but I did in my heart, and that’s just as bad,” Sarah said after a long sigh. “I thought you were a fool to even date Justin in high school. Then Mama died, and I needed to be angry at someone. My whole life changed. You were supposed to be old enough to know better than to get pregnant. And I might have been on probation the next semester of college, but at least I wouldn’t have been in Devine, Texas, working at a doughnut shop for the rest of my life.”
Grace grimaced. “Again, what brought all this on now? I thought we were all happy running the shop together.”
“We are now, but here lately I’ve been itching to settle down and have children of my own. I’ve loved helping you raise Audrey, but...” Sarah paused. “I was hoping for someone to share my life with, and maybe even have a daughter or two to carry on the family business since Macy is determined to have all boys.”
A little of the rock in Grace’s chest chipped away. “Boys can make doughnuts just as well as girls—and from the expression on your face, this isn’t just about me getting pregnant or raising Audrey as a single mother. I can tell something is wrong. Are you pregnant? Do you have a boyfriend that you’ve been keeping secret? Maybe a bad boy like...” Grace gasped. “Don’t tell me that Justin has come back and you’re dating him.”
“Good Lord, no to most of that!” Sarah answered. “But you nailed it on the secret boyfriend. Right after Thanksgiving, I met a guy named Joel at a bar up near Hondo, and we hit it off from that first night. He said he didn’t usually go to honky-tonks. I said I was there to have a few drinks and dance some leather off my boots, like I do every Saturday night. By Christmas, we were skipping the bar and going straight to a cheap motel that I usually paid for. I rationalized it by telling myself that I would spend that much or more on drinks.”
“And you fell in love,” Grace said with a smile.
“I did,” Sarah whispered, “and I fell out of love this morning. Evidently, Joel’s phone came out of his pocket and had slid up underthe bed. I spilled coffee and was cleaning up the mess when I found it.” Her voice cracked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Grace laid a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Go on.”
“I understand what you must have felt back then.” Sarah covered Grace’s hand with hers. “I found out this morning that he was married. I’ve been seeing him every Saturday for almost four months, and we’ve talked and texted every day. I was going to ask him to come to Sunday dinner and meet y’all today.”
“What happened?” Grace could feel her sister’s pain so much that she wanted to find this Joel man and kick his ass.
“I grabbed the phone, and a picture of a woman and three kids popped up on the screen. The text saidhappy anniversaryand that they’d be going to a hotel to celebrate,” Sarah went on softly. “I’ve been sleeping with a married man who was telling his wife that he was playing cards all night with his buddies.”
“What didyoudo?” Grace asked. “Did you beat him to death with a hotel lamp? Do I need to provide an alibi for you?”
“I laid the phone and the heart necklace that he had given me for Christmas on my pillow and walked out the door. His wife was wearing the same necklace, so evidently, he gave us each one—the sorry bastard. I went out to my truck with intentions of coming straight home, but...” Sarah took a breath. “I was mad at myself for being duped, mad at Joel for conning me. I was shaking too bad to drive, so I just sat there in my truck for a few minutes and tried to calm down. That’s when the door to the room right next to Joel’s and mine opened. A woman and man stepped out and made out like a couple of teenagers for a few minutes. Grace, it was Neal! The woman was Darla Jo!” She went on to tell Grace about Joel’s wife showing up and what had happened.
“Are you sure it was Neal?” Grace could barely whisper. “Macy is going to be devastated, and with Darla Jo...” She slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure it was Neal. No doubt about it,” Sarah answered and nodded with every word. “The sunlight lit him up real good, and I’d know Darla Jo anywhere. What are we going to do?”
“We have to tell Macy, but we should have proof,” Grace muttered. “Did you think to take a picture with your phone?”
“Nope, I was too stunned. But there was no mistaking that it was him and Darla Jo—or their vehicles, either. She’s been in the shop enough that I could identify that bright blue sports car of hers, and he’s been to the house in his red SUV,” Sarah said. “She’s buried two husbands and gotten rich off each of them. Do you think he’s after her money, or are they in this together and he’s after Macy’s money?”
The heaviness in Grace’s chest was overwhelming to the point that she had to remind herself to take a deep breath. “Why would he need her money? He’s the assistant manager of one of the biggest hotels in San Antonio.”
“Is he, or is he just an employee who has a room so he can be on call 24-7?” Sarah asked. “Do we tell Macy today or do some checking so we have more facts?”
Grace’s nerves got the best of her, and she giggled.
“This is not funny,” Sarah scolded.
“No, it’s not,” Grace agreed. “I was laughing at myself for thinking I’d done so good to offer help to Macy in her Sunday school class. Then I get the props knocked out from under me with this news. I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through this, Sister. I hope Joel’s wife takes him to the cleaners. I’m not sure if Macy would even believe us if we told her. Maybe we should try to help her find out on her own.”
Sarah nodded. “But we can’t let her buy a dress and flowers, and we’ve got an appointment to look at both at the end of the month.”
“That gives us a little more than two weeks,” Grace said.
Macy had never dated a lot, and until Neal came into her life, she had never been in a serious relationship. Grace couldn’t bear to see her heartbroken.
“I wonder what game he’s playing,” Sarah said. “Why would he string Macy along if he’s planning on going after Darla Jo? And everyone in town knows that Macy is engaged to him, so why is Darla Jo even seeing him? None of it makes a bit of sense.”
