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he’d just find himself a renter, and that would be all right too.” Booker said he might use it if North doesn’t hire someone to watch over the fields he just purchased. “You’re right. I never realized this land would butt up against his. That’s wonderful. Also, you might not have known this, but you also have access to the river from your place. I remember seeing a dock there when we were looking for mushrooms this past spring.”

“It’s hard to believe that so much has changed since then. None of it—well, hardly any of it—seems all that good, don’t you agree? Aunt Holly was alive. We were all hanging out around the house. I don’t care for mushrooms at all much. However, I certainly enjoyed going with you guys and her to find them. Her just being there when we needed her. Abby is filling in nicely for her, but I do miss her hugs. Aunt Holly had the best hugs. That was the best time. Don’t you think?”

“Yes. I miss so much with her being gone. But Amy did tell me she’s planning on organizing repeats of some of the things that she used to do with us. To keep her memory alive. I think that’s a good idea.” Booker agreed and then asked him if he wanted to walk through the house with him. “I do. But I would like for you to tell me what brought you outside in the first place. The lady showing you around, she called me when you’d been out here for so long.”

“It hit me.” Wats knew what he meant without him explaining too much. “She’s gone. My mother is gone. All the aunts and their meanness are gone. It’s all gone, and it hit me right in the heart so badly I needed to sit down.”

“Nothing more than that? I worry about you sometimes. All of us, as a matter of fact. Especially after North telling us about his episode.” Booker told him it was nothing like that. “I hope so. I can’t lose another person in my life, Booker. It’s too much now. I need you guys here to balance me out.”

“I thought you had a girlfriend for that.” He patted him on the back as they moved through the house he’d purchased. “As I said, I like Rayne. She’s wonderful. Sheesh, Wats, I just bought a house. I wonder what dear old Mom is thinking about that.”

They were both laughing as they made their way through the home. It was a nice place, but as he’d said to the realtor, it needed work after being empty for so long. The kitchen, while in good condition, was out of date and needed to be taken down to the studs and built again. Bringing it up to this decade.

There were six bedrooms on the second floor with ample closets and two bathrooms, one at each end of the long hallway. The master suite was on the third floor, and it looked to Wats like a person could simply live up there and never leave.

“The views from here are amazing. You can see deep into the woods from here and the river too.” Booker opened up one of the doors, both of them thinking it was a closet. “Christ, it’s a nursery. It’s as big as my flipping condo. I love this place.”

So did Wats. As they went to the bank to sign the paperwork, they had fun. He was glad that Booker was over whatever had happened at the house and was moving on. Now, if he could only convince Brandon of the same thing. The man wasn’t in a funk—the opposite, as a matter of fact. But Wats was more worried about him than he was any of the rest of them.

Chapter 4

Rayne waited for her turn to talk to her adviser. She’d been called in, along with the rest of the nursing students that were in their home stretch. After four and a half long years of being together, they were as close as they could be to each other. And none of them seemed to have any idea what this was about. When her name was called, she got high fives from the others still waiting as she made her way into the office.

“Hello, Rayne. I’m sorry about this short notice, but there are some things we’d like to speak to you and the others about. As you might have heard, there has been a shake-up at the hospital.” She said she’d not heard anything. “I’m sorry. Then let me explain. I was hoping we could get behind this before it got out. The hospital is approximately fourteen nurses short now for staffing. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I’m afraid it is. The inspector, who came by yesterday, said we cannot continue to have our doors open being so short-staffed as we have in the past. Since we’re growing, the town, I mean, then we need to have the place up to staffing requirements at all times. He heard about the accident that put us in a bind a couple of months ago. The accident that was out on Highway Forty. Do you remember that?”

“I’m not from around here, sir. I drove back and forth from my home in Columbus for classes. I’ve only just moved here to go to the hospital for my technical courses. I like the small-town feeling here.” He said that was why he’d called her in. “I don’t understand.”

“You and the other nursing students that have come in are being given an opportunity to take your state boards now. Today. From your grades, I believe you’d not have a bit of trouble passing. You’ve carried a good GPA since you started in this program.” Her mind went all over the place about taking her tests today. “One of the other students decided she’d not have to stress about the test if she didn’t have time to do