She’d folded the cloth napkins again and again and picked out and discarded a dozen different dresses.He'd do anything to protect his wife.

For two days prior to the party, Marissa had scrubbed the kitchen floor and back porch on her hands and knees, polishing everything until it shined, until you could see your face in the silverware.

Lemon bars and cinnamon almond cookies and heavily frosted cupcakes. Grilled watermelon and brown sugar– cinnamon pineapple. French goat cheese and radicchio salad with figs. And the rest of the menu was just as extravagant. But the only barbecue she served that night was a barbecue, bacon, and blue cheese potato salad.

It was her first real introduction to the people Paul had known his whole life, and she’d been nervous, preparing for weeks, picking out the food and insisting on professional catering even though no one catered anything in Angel, unless you counted placing an order for baby back ribs or pulled pork from Gunny’s Smokehouse. The appearance of cool, even though she was anything but. Every fifteen or twenty minutes, Marissa slipped into the downstairs bathroom just to towel herself off, so her skin would stay cool and smooth and unblemished by sweat. It was late July, still eighty degrees and humid at dusk, and all those torch flames only raised the temperature around the yard even more. She can’t help but respect him for it, and suddenly suspects he’s Whatever you need.” He’s dead serious, even though he has no idea what he’s offering or what he might be agreeing to. It’s clear he doesn’t question other people often. Timmons.” “ Are you sure about that?” He stares at her, almost startled by his own question. Trey isn’t Dix, he’s just providing some info, filling in some blanks. And it’s not relevant, not for this one night. Don’t use that to make him do this.” She’s not sure what Timmons is suggesting she hasn’t had the chance to quiz Trey about his home life. His father isn’t in the picture anymore, and his mother’s not well. “You need to understand that Trey is a good kid. At least he was willing to admit he’d heard about Little Paris’s son, even if he couldn’t speculate who the mother was or where the boy might be if he’s not with his daddy. But others are.” Timmons wipes his forehead with a sleeved arm. That’s all.” “ Is he in danger?” But he doesn’t ask if Trey is in trouble.

All Our Darkest Secrets by Martyn Ford