Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

“Mama, what are you thinking about?” Mia asked. “You look like you’re a million miles away.”

“You mean like you do when I’m talking, and you don’t even look up from your phone?” Addy asked.

“Point taken,” Mia said.

Jesse jogged across the parking lot and got into the cool truck. “Man, it’s hot out there. Got that job done. Now it’s time for ice cream. Want to go inside the store, or get it at the drive-by and eat in the truck?”

“Truck, please,” Mia answered.

“Too messy,” Addy said. “Let’s go inside and eat at a booth.”

“Ma—ma,” Mia whined.

“Got to face the outside world sometime,” Addy told her.

“What if Lylah or Pete is in there?” Mia asked.

“Smile sweetly, say hello, and walk away from them,” Addy advised.

“I’d rather knock Pete through the glass window,” Mia said.

“Mama always told me to pray for my enemies,” Jesse said.

Addy bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, I’ve been reminded that I should pray for my enemies. Please open Lylah’s eyes to see that her son isn’t the guy she thinks he is, and while you are doing that, can you make her mute for a few weeks, so she won’t spread gossip about me and mine. And one more thing, Lord, forgive me for what I will do if she gets all up in my space about my daughter. Amen.”

“Amen!” Mia giggled. “Now that’s a prayer I can get into. Let’s go get some ice cream.”

Jesse slid a sly wink at Addy. “Mama just said pray for them. I never thought about a prayer like that.”

“It does put a whole new spin on talking to God,” Mia giggled.

Addy hadn’t heard her daughter laugh like that in ages. Hopefully, that meant her old Mia was coming back, and that hateful girl who had recently taken over her body was on her way out.

“Motherhood brings out a whole different side to a woman,” Addy said as Jesse snagged a parking spot close to the front door of the ice cream shop. “God must’ve heard me because the ice cream shop has only one elderly couple in there tonight.”

Mia hopped out of the backseat and beat both her mother and Jesse into the cool store. “Slowpokes,” she teased as she waited in front of the counter to order. “Y’all are getting so old.”

“Hey, now, I kept up with you all day, didn’t I?” Jesse argued.

She cocked her head to one side. “That’s because I took pity on such an old man and went slow so you could keep up.”

Jesse made the same gesture, and Addy held her breath for a brief second for fear that Mia would see the similarity between them.

“I was going slow so you wouldn’t feel bad,” Jesse assured her.

“Yeah, right!” Mia turned toward the young man behind the counter and told him what she wanted on her banana split. Then she went to a booth and took out her phone again.

“You two have the same expressions,” Addy whispered.

“Our eyes are alike, too,” Jesse said out the side of his mouth. “She’s going to figure it out, Addy. We need to tell her soon.”

“Maybe next week,” Addy agreed. “But for tonight, let’s just enjoy the fact that she’s not biting our heads off.”

Jesse carried the tray with three banana splits on it to the booth and passed them out according to what each of them had ordered. Addy could tell that he wasn’t quite sure where to sit since she was on one side and Mia on the other.

“You can sit beside me,” Addy said as she dipped deep into her ice cream.

“Thanks.” Jesse slid in beside her.

Thank God for cold ice cream, Addy thought when his hips and thighs were pressed against hers. I bet if I dropped a spoonful on my leg, it would sizzle.

Mia only took time away from her ice cream to text on her phone. Addy sent up a serious prayer that she wasn’t getting or sending messages to Ricky. Finally, when she could stand it no longer, she asked, “Who are you so involved with on the phone?”

“Well, it’s damn sure not Ricky, Mama, so don’t worry your head over that,” she answered. “I’ve been playing a game, not talking to anyone. The truth of the matter is Ricky said he didn’t like sharing me with other people, so I kind of lost my friends. They all told me he wasn’t a good man, but I didn’t listen, and now I’m out here in the world with no one.”

“That’s not true,” Jesse argued. “You’ve got me and your mama, Poppa and Nana, and Henry. And, honey, you can make new friends or maybe even rekindle old ones if you reach out to them.”

“I was rude to most of them,” Mia admitted.

“It doesn’t take much to apologize and tell them that they were right,” Addy told her.

“Maybe later,” Mia said. “Right now, I’m on level nine of this game, and if I can get to ten, then I’ll be higher than Ricky ever got, and that’s important to me.”

“Well, then get after it,” Jesse chuckled. “Beat him however you can if it makes you feel better.”

Addy could have kissed Jesse right there in front of the elderly couple who were heading out of the store, her daughter, and even God right then. She just kept shoveling banana split into her mouth instead and wishing that it would cool off all the heat that Jesse was causing by sitting so close to her.