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crisp, with the stars shining clear and bright above us. Not even the mayor’s appearance had managed to dampen our evening, and as we drove back home I said, “That was fun. We should do it more often.”
    “When do we get the chance, now that we both have men in our lives?”
    I shrugged. “I’m not sure how frequent a visitor Jake is most of the time,” I said. “But at least you can count on Chief Martin.”
    “Phillip is rather attentive these days, isn’t he?” Momma said.
    “I’m amazed you get a night to yourself now and then,” I said.
    Momma laughed, a rich and lovely sound I cherished. “He wants to make up for lost time.”
    “Well, that’s one thing I have to give him credit for.”
    “What’s that?” my mother asked.
    “He has excellent taste in women.”
    She grinned and patted my arm lightly. “I could say the same thing about Jake.”
    I’d managed not to bring up Chief Martin’s ex-wife during the entire evening, and I’d planned on waiting until tomorrow to broach the subject, but driving back was a perfect time to do it. There was a dark silence in the world around us, and we were isolated within it.
    I took a deep breath, and then said, “I need to tell you something, but I don’t want to ruin the nice mood we’re both in.”
    “Are you and Jake getting married?” she asked expectantly.
    I couldn’t have been more surprised by her question. “What? No. Of course not. What gave you that idea?”
    “I’m sorry. Perhaps I’ve been waiting for an announcement for some time.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. Jake and I are both just fine with the way things are now.”
    “You haven’t even discussed the possibility?” she asked softly.
    “Not a whisper,” I said. “You know as well as I do that my marriage to Max was mostly a nightmare, and Jake lost his wife and child in a car crash. I know it happened a long time ago, but the wound is still fresh in his heart. Jake loves me, and he even tells me so now, but his wife was on a whole other level. I couldn’t begin to replace her in his eyes, and I know it.”
    There was silence for some time before Momma finally broke it. “Of course you can never replace her, but you don’t have to. It doesn’t mean that Jake still can’t marry you.”
    I couldn’t believe we were having this particular conversation. It was miles from where I wanted to be. “Momma, I can say with all certainty that if Jake were on our porch on bended knee with a ring in his hand when we got home tonight, I would run away into the woods screaming.”
    “Was it honestly that bad being with Max?” she asked.
    “There’s a reason I call him the Great Impersonator,” I said. “I never knew when to believe him. The funny thing is, though, I was still surprised when I caught him with Darlene. That’s something that’s not easily forgotten.”
    “Jake is a better man than Max, though.”
    “Of course he is,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean I want to exchange vows with him.”
    We were silent for a few miles, and then Momma asked, “Ever?”
    “I won’t rule it out forever,” I admitted. “But neither one of us is in any hurry to expedite things, and I hope you can say the same thing about you and our police chief.”
    “He asked me, I turned him down, and things are finally getting back to normal,” she said with a smile. “I’m making him court me until further notice.”
    “Good for you. In a roundabout way, the chief is what I want to talk to you about.”
    I looked over and saw Momma’s lips press firmly against each other. “Suzanne, you’re still not happy about me seeing him, are you?”
    I laughed softly. “You know what? It turns out that it’s not nearly as bad as I feared it would be.”
    “Then what is it?”
    “It’s Evelyn,” I said simply.
    I saw Momma stiffen. “So, you’ve heard the rumors, too.”
    “You know what she’s been saying about you?” I asked.
    “Of course I do. I