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“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Awww, please call me Lily.”

“All right, Lily.” I open the door wider. “Can I invite you in for some sweet tea? I just learned how to make it right.”

Her smile grows. “I’d love that.”

I lead her inside and get us both a glass before we settle on the couch.

Lily takes one look around the room, and I see her expression change. Her eyes move over the furniture and the windows before she blinks away a tear.

And somehow, that makes me like her even more.

She loved him too.

“Oh my, this place brings back so many memories.” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be sorry.”

She looks at me, and I reach over to take her hand.

“I’m kind of tired of people avoiding the elephant in the room that is shaped like my dead husband.”

Her eyebrows lift.

“I like it when people talk about him freely,” I continue. “Everyone always gets uncomfortable or changes the subject, but I don’t want people to pretend he didn’t exist just because he died.”

Understanding fills her face.

“Well, then, do I have some stories to tell you about those three tornadoes.”

I laugh. “Three?”

“Jude, Dex and Damiano. And don’t get me wrong, Dex was the roughest one, but Damiano had this special way of using his charm to get out of trouble.”

I laugh out loud. “Oh, he totally did.”

A memory immediately comes to me of Damiano walking through our door with that exact look on his face.

So… I did something stupid.

He’d gotten pulled over for speeding, and we suddenly had a ticket to pay. Somehow, I couldn’t even stay properly mad at him because he kept giving me that stupid, charming smile while explaining how, technically, the speed limit had changed halfway down the road and it really wasn’t entirely his fault.

It was.

It absolutely was.

“The trouble he talked them all out of every day.” Lily shakes her head, smiling at the memory, then looks at me. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad to be here too. I understand all of Damiano’s stories a little better now.”

“Oh Lord.”

I laugh and take another sip of my tea.

“So what brings you here today?”

Lily takes a sip of hers before putting the glass down.