Carolina Moon

She was making all these plans. It’s just that she was so alive one minute, and the next … I’m just so sad and confused about it.”
    “I understand.” Faith knew very well what it was like to be left behind after death. “Honey, you should just go on home. Want me to take you?”
    “No, thanks, no. I think I’ll just walk. I keep expecting to see her, coming down the street with Mongo. I just keep expecting that,” Maxine murmured, and scrubbing at tears, walked toward the exit.
    “I know,” Faith said quietly, and turned blindly away. She couldn’t explain how much worse it was when you did see the dead, every time you looked in the mirror.
    “Here.” Boots held out a second hankie.
    “You’re prepared.” Annoyed with herself, Faith took it long enough to stop any damage to her mascara.
    “I’m heartsick about that girl, and I barely knew her.” To give Faith a moment to recover, Boots began to select apples. “I came out myself today because I couldn’t think about anything else at home. Poor little Maxine. How much harder is it on her? It was kind of you to offer to take her home.”
    “It would’ve gotten me out of marketing duty.”
    Boots laid a hand on Faith’s arm until Faith looked at her. “It was kind of you,” she repeated. “It’s a comfort to me to see kindness in the woman my son is in love with. Just as it was to see that little flash of jealousy. All in all, I’m glad I decided to give myself and J.R. a break from our diet and make apple cobbler tonight. You give my best to your mother, and Lilah, won’t you?”
    Boots glided away with her apples, leaving Faith frowning after her. “Pretty sharp, aren’t you, Miss Boots, for all your fluttering?” Faith mumbled. “Pretty goddamn sharp.”
    Irritated, Faith pushed her cart through produce, plucking up Lilah’s items and wishing she’d skipped the damn market altogether.
    She had been jealous. Damn it. Had Wade flirted back? She scowled at the boxes of butter in dairy. Of course he had. He was a man. Very likely he’d considered doing more than flirting. The bastard. How many times had he imagined Sherry naked, fantasized about getting her that way, and then …
    Good Christ, what was she doing? Working herself up into a mad on Wade over a dead woman? How petty, how shallow, how horrible could she be?
    “Faith?”
    “What?” She snapped it out, whirled with a box of Land O Lakes in her hand and a killing glare on her face.
    Dwight held up a hand for peace. “Whoa. Sorry.”
    “No, I’m sorry. My mind was on something.” Making the effort, she put a bright smile on her face and bent down to the toddler riding in the basket seat. “And aren’t you the handsomest thing? You and Daddy doing the marketing today?”
    Luke held up an open box of Oreos. “Got cookies,” he announced, and as his face was already smeared with black, he’d been enjoying them.
    “So I see.”
    “His mama’s going to scalp me if I don’t clean him up before she sees him.”
    “Faces wash.” But Faith moved strategically out of the reach of chocolate-gunked fingers. “Lissy got you doing the shopping today?”
    “She’s not feeling well. Got herself in a state about what happened yesterday. She says she’s afraid to set foot outside the house, and had me checking locks six times last night.”
    And wasn’t it just like Lissy Frazier to make it all about her, Faith thought, but nodded sympathetically. “I guess it makes us all a little edgy.”
    “She’s a bundle of nerves right now. I’m that worried about her, Faith, seeing as she’s got another month or so before the baby comes. Her mother’s over there, staying with her a while. I figure the Champ and me—” He paused to ruffle Luke’s hair. “We’d take ourselves off for a while. Give her some peace and quiet.”
    “Aren’t you the good daddy? Have you heard any more about where things stand?”
    “Carl D.’s investigating, and he isn’t sharing a lot. I guess it’s too soon for that. I guess they’ll get the autopsy results soon. Carl D.’s a good man, don’t mean to say otherwise. But this sort of thing …” He trailed off, shook his head. “It’s not what he’s used to dealing with. None of us is.”
    “It’s not the first time it’s happened.”
    He glanced back, looking blank for a minute, then his eyes clouded. “I’m sorry, Faith, I wasn’t thinking. This must bring back bad memories for you.”
    “The memories are always