“That mean those other two sisters are coming back, too?” Marcus asked.

“They’re here, but it’s not a matter of coming back. They were only summer visitors. They never did actually live here. They were big-city girls out of Dallas, remember?”

“I do remember that about them. And they had kind of strange names.” Marcus stopped by a door. “Here it is. Some things never change.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Dana said. “Good to see you again, Marcus.”

“You too.” Marcus waved over his shoulder.

He wasn’t much taller than Dana, and she was considered medium height at five feet six inches. But he carried himself differently now. When they were kids, he’d reminded her of a miniature rock star with all his kinky dark-brown hair down to his shoulders. Now it was cut close. No one would ever believe that those blue eyes could have ever been glazed over from smoking too much weed during lunch.

It took all of fifteen minutes to enroll Brook, and the principal, Mrs. Johnson, wanted her to stay. “I see you brought your backpack. I’ll get Flora’s granddaughter to show you around. She’s enrolled in most of the same classes that you are.”

“Okay,” Brook said slowly, dragging out the syllables.

“You don’t have to stay today if you aren’t comfortable with it,” Dana said.

Brook shrugged. “Beats mopping floors and cleaning rooms.”

Mrs. Johnson leaned into a microphone and said, “Cassidy Jones, please come to the office.”

Before she even got the last word out, a slightly overweight girl with a jet-black ponytail, a round face, and pink glasses poked her head in the door. “Yes, ma’am?”

“This is Brook Clancy, a new eighth grader. Y’all have the same schedule.”

Cassidy nodded. “Then we’ve got English first hour and about five minutes to get there, so come on.”

“Hello, Cassidy. I’ve known your grandma all my life. I’m Brook’s mother,” Dana said.

“Pleased to meet you.” Cassidy smiled. “We’d better get goin’. The bell is going to ring anytime now.”

Brook picked up her backpack, laid a hand on Dana’s shoulder, and then followed the girl out of the office and into a hallway of chattering kids. Dana hadn’t planned to leave her at school, and worry gripped her heart even worse than on Brook’s first day of kindergarten.

“It’s okay,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Cassidy is a fine student. She’ll take good care of her today, and by Monday, your daughter will be part of everything.”

“I hope so. Thank you. We’re out at Annie’s Place. I did write down the phone number there, didn’t I?”

“You did. We all know it by heart anyway from making reservations for Sunday dinner. Sorry to hear about Annie. She was always a big supporter of our school. I’m sure Brook will be fine. Besides, you brought all the paperwork, so you made my job easy. Will you pick her up, or shall I make sure she’s on the right bus?” Mrs. Johnson put on her glasses and glanced down at the form in front of her. “Are you going to run the place? I’d sure hate to see it close. How’s Zed doin’? He and Annie have been friends for so long and worked together for, what, fifty years?”

“About that long. Uncle Zed is sad, but so are all of us. It came as a shock to us, since she didn’t want him to tell us that she was sick. We sure hope he’s not thinkin’ of retiring anytime soon.”

“Uncle Zed?” Mrs. Johnson asked. “But Zed is black. Is he . . . ,” she stammered.

“No, that’s what we’ve always called him at home,” Dana answered. “He’s been more like a grandfather than an uncle, but—” She shrugged.

Mrs. Johnson straightened all the papers and put them to one side. “Cassidy rides the bus to the cabins some of the time, so that will make things easy. I’ll just tell her to be sure that Brook is on the bus with her.”

“Thanks again.” Dana started toward the door.

As the phone rang, Mrs. Johnson picked it up and waved Dana out with her other hand.

Her thoughts were all over the place in the quietness of the truck as she drove back up the highway. Surely there wouldn’t be a drug problem in the school. Marcus and a very small group of kids were the only ones who got into that scene when she was there. But with him being a teacher? Had she talked to Brook enough about the dangers? She made a mental note to do that over the weekend. And to warn her about what could happen if she were to take drugs and drink liquor at the same time.

She didn’t remember driving home or even across the bridge, but there was the turn and she had missed it. She drove all the way to the bar up on the hill, turned around in the parking lot, and drove slower on the way back. The cabins and store were both visible when she made the right-hand turn. She parked her truck in front of the house and walked back to the store. She wished that she had seriously considered homeschooling Brook so she wouldn’t have to worry about all the outside influences, but then, teaching her in front of her two aunts would probably be even worse than what she’d get in public school.

Life was not going to be a bed of roses. “Or maybe it is,” she said as she opened the door and flipped on the lights. “Roses have thorns, and believe me, Tawny and Harper have always been thorns in my side.”