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apprehensive, it should be Shaylynn.”
    Neil rolled his eyes in silent protest, but he knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on. How could he argue the point? The evidence had the scales tilting in CJ’s favor. Less than six months ago, Audrey drove her signature pink Cadillac in the yard of Neil’s childhood home in Mississippi. Her uninvited appearance was no real surprise to anyone. Audrey had shown up at eleven of the fifteen reunions Neil’s family had had since the divorce. The most recent showing made it an even dozen. Knowing the likelihood was great, Neil thought it was best that he gave Shaylynn fair warning. He didn’t know how she would receive the news that she would probably meet his ex-wife at the very same family gathering where he was taking her to meet his siblings and other family members, but Neil knew that it wouldn’t be right to withhold the information. Shaylynn didn’t even seem thwarted when he made the big reveal, and as they stood in the yard along with the other Taylor clan that day, Neil’s sweetheart showed no signs of insecurity when Audrey stepped out of her car, looking like the Mary Kay professional that she was.
    Ella Mae couldn’t be convinced that Audrey didn’t make it her business to look especially good when she knew Neil would be around. She had packed on a few pounds since their divorce, but she carried them rather well. Even still, she was no match for the much younger, much shapelier, much prettier new lady in Neil’s life. Audrey must have heard the standing eight count very shortly after she set eyes on Shaylynn, because less than an hour after she arrived, she made a remark about having a meeting to attend, and then she was gone. Neil couldn’t prove that she was lying, but if he were a gambling man, he’d put his money on it. It was too much of an irony that in all the years before, she’d been one of the very last to leave the reunions.
    â€œYou know I’m right,” CJ was saying. When Neil parted his lips to interrupt, CJ held up his hand to stop him. “And in the second place, I have to put myself in Shay’s shoes. I love Theresa.” He pointed toward the door that his wife had exited through earlier. “I love that woman with all my heart. And, God forbid, if my phone rang right now and somebody on the other end said, ‘Pastor Loather, your wife just got killed in an automobile accident,’ I would be devastated. I’d be more than devastated.” A pained look that crossed his face made Neil wonder if he was imagining that it was all true. CJ seemed to snap out of it as he added, “I wouldn’t get over that in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. Me and Resa have made a life together. We have hopes and plans and dreams for our family that a sudden death would snatch away.
    â€œSeven or eight years from now... ten or twelve years from now ... fifteen or twenty years from now, I’d still be talking about her. There would be sights, sounds, smells, music, television shows, even biblical passages that would remind me of her. And if ever God gave me the strength and courage to move on with my life, whatever woman would even have a remote possibility of sharing in it would have to be able to deal with that. You know why? Because Resa ain’t going nowhere. Not when it comes to this right here.” CJ pressed his index finger into his chest several times using quick hand motions. “And if you’re gonna be with Shaylynn, you’re gonna have to get over it, bruh, ’cause Emmett Ford, as dead as he may be, will always, on some level, live in that sister’s heart.”

FIVE
    â€œCome on in, baby.” Ella’s grin was wide as she stepped aside to allow the surprised dinner guest to enter Neil’s bachelor pad. She practically had to pull Shaylynn inside before quickly closing the door, barricading them from being battered by any more of the