The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans Page A

she’s fine. Sean, how are you?” Max clapped his hand into the developer’s.
    Jade’s pulse slowed as reason gained ground, and she rested her head against Max’s shoulder. Rice stood off to one side, her eyes narrowed and observing. She smiled with a mini wave when Jade’s gaze crossed hers.
    â€œWhat are you and Jade doing down here, Mom?” Max said.
    â€œBlame Sean here. He has a property on River Street he thought would be great for a second Blue Umbrella.”
    â€œYou want space in the city?” Max peered down at Jade, his smile rescuing her from the muddy emotional pit.
    â€œYour mom thinks I should open up a second shop.”
    â€œBut do you?” Tender, patient, focusing only on her.
    â€œNo, actually.” There, she confessed it for June and Sean to hear. “Maybe someday.” Jade pulled Max away from the watching gallery. “It’s you I want.
    Not a second store. Not your parents’ friends’ money. Just. You.” The confession came from a deep, secret place in her heart, where only a few treasures lived. Paps and Granny, Aiden and Willow. And now Max.
    His lips brushed her ear. “It’s you I want. Just. You. Not an old fiancée who couldn’t stick around when the going got tough. She was always more like a buddy than a girlfriend. And don’t let Mom’s ideas become yours . . . unless you want.”
    â€œI’ll stick with you, Max, I promise, if you’ll stick with me.” She whispered her promise against his chest, the pound of her pulse matching the easy pulse of the breeze.
    â€œIn a few weeks, I’ll say it in front of Whisper Hollow and all of heaven.”
    She wrapped her arms around his waist, clinging to him as her will and emotions rebounded from the raw bomb of anxiety. She’d work every day of their marriage to deserve him.
    â€œJade, darling, it’s one forty.” June started for her car. “We’d better get you back to the shop.”
    â€œSee you tonight?” Max said, still holding her close, kissing her softly.
    â€œSee you tonight. And Max”—she brushed her hand over his thick chest— “if your mother doesn’t make it home . . .”
    â€œBenson Law has a fine capital defense team.”
    â€œThank you.” She smiled, everyday brightness returning to her internal world.
    â€œBack there . . .” Max walked with her to June’s car. “That was about more than me talking with Rice, wasn’t it?”
    â€œBack there was just a little bit of my old life trying to cheat the new.”

Nine
    Riding ten hours in the car with Willow from Prairie City to Whisper Hollow wore every fiber of Beryl’s being down to a bare thread.
    â€œWhy didn’t we rent a car? It’s a hundred degrees in this death trap.” Willow hooked her bare heels over the edge of the seat and hung her head out the window of Beryl’s Corolla as it clattered and rattled toward Whisper Hollow. “Sorry we didn’t make your wedding, Jade. We spontaneously combusted.”
    â€œWould you please, please, for the love of Pete, shut up?” Beryl swore, white-knuckling the wheel. The Corolla was a good, solid vehicle. So a little hot air blew in from the engine. And the floorboard was like a griddle when the muffler pipe heated up. At least it was warm. “I didn’t see you forking up the money to rent a car.”
    â€œHey, I’m a poor college student.”
    â€œAren’t you throwing the word student around loosely?”
    â€œI’ll go back to school. Sheesh, between you and Jade.” Willow picked at the exposed foam in the torn vinyl seat. “I need a little time to find myself.”
    Beryl squinted at Willow as if seeing herself forty years ago. What could she say? Do what I say, not what I did?
    â€œWe should’ve flown, Beryl. This is ridiculous. Aiden said he’d buy our