Kenna stood like a general commanding an army as the people of Keeneston flooded into the Ashton Farm. The football team raised the tent and then carried in tables. Her friends were unloading the decorations from the trailer Taylor Everett had brought. The Belles, the town’s supposed charitable organization for unmarried women, but really more like a husband hunters club, sat with Grace and her daughter, Faith, separating wildflowers into cowboy boots for centerpieces.

“What do you need us to do now?” Paige and Dani asked as they wiped dirty hands on their jeans.

Kenna looked at her watch. “Crap. It’s noon!”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time to get this finished,” Paige reassured her.

“No, not that. Everything is perfect here, but everyone is here!” Kenna waved her arm frantically at the entire backyard filled with people.

“Oh, crap!” Dani gasped. “No one is at the café!”

“Shit,” Paige said under her breath. “Grace, Faith, Knox, Nikki!” Paige yelled.

Nikki’s gigantic boobs poked up first. Then Knox set down the mallet he was using to hammer in the tent stakes as Grace and Faith extricated themselves from all the wildflowers and cowboy boots. “You all need to grab a couple of people and head to the café. There’s no one there!” Paige called out.

Nikki, as president of the Belles, was feared and loathed but wielded too much power to be denied. She reached for the nearest Belle who screeched in surprise as Nikki’s talons sunk into her arm before dragging her off. Grace and Faith hurried off, picking up Addison Rooney and Ava Miller, both of whom had babysat Faith before. Addison was the daughter of the town’s two defense attorneys, Henry and Neely Grace, and a lawyer in her own right. Ava was in medical school in Lexington where her mother, Emma, was also a doctor. Her father was the retired deputy everyone called Noodle for his love of noodling catfish.

“Couldn’t you have sent someone else beside Knox?” Aniyah huffed as she stood nearby with a small battery-operated fan.

“Why?” Kenna asked.

“I was enjoying the view of that fine specimen.” Aniyah pouted as Knox slipped a shirt on over his head, covering his rippled abs, and grabbed a couple of his buddies to go to the café.

“And what would DeAndre say?” Dani teased.

“My Sugarbear knows where my heart lies. I was simply appreciating God’s fine work,” Aniyah said, turning her fan back on.

Kenna looked to where Aniyah’s state trooper boyfriend stood, talking to Knox before he jumped into the waiting truck. DeAndre nodded and walked toward the tent. He stripped off his shirt and picked the mallet back up as Dani, Kenna, and Paige sucked in a breath.

Dani snatched Aniyah’s fan from her and blasted her and her friends. “What do you think you’re doing?” Aniyah squawked.

“Observing God’s artwork,” Kenna replied without taking her eyes from DeAndre’s dark, rippled body.

“He’s younger than our son.”

“Son of a—” Kenna jumped as Dani and Paige let out a squeak.

Will crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to grin. “Busted.”

Kenna rolled her eyes. “I’ll have Nikki take off her top when she gets back so we’ll be even.”

Will shuddered. “What are you trying to do? Give me nightmares?” He leaned forward and placed his lips by her ear. “I can think of something you could do to make it up to me.”

Kenna felt her lips tugging into a smile as she shook her head. Her husband was incorrigible.

“The guys are here to help. The cows are at the butcher and will be ready tonight. We’ll start smoking some of the meat then so I may not be home until real late. So, what do you need us to do?” Will asked her.

Kenna welcomed her friends and within minutes they were fanning out over the backyard. The tent was finished, the tables were rolling in, chairs were being set up, and the table of honor was being raised.

* * *

Miss Lily Rae Rose sat with her sisters, Daisy Mae and Violet Fae, at the Blossom Café. Their very distant and young cousins, Poppy and Zinnia, were waiting on the few occupied tables. Lily’s eyes narrowed.

“Something is going on,” she told her sisters as Nikki Canter and one of the nameless blonde Belles hurried into the café.

“Why do you say that, Lil?” Daisy asked as she took a sip of her iced tea.

“Look around. None of the regulars are here and Knox just slid his truck to a stop outside so fast there’s still smoke in the air,” Lily said as her sisters looked up to see Knox and some of his teammates stumble through the café door.

“Hi, Miss Lily, Miss Daisy, Miss Violet,” the boys said politely as they took a seat at a nearby table.

“Hello, boys. What has you all in a lather?” Miss Lily asked, putting on her best innocent old lady face.

“Just taking a quick lunch break before getting back to the farm. Helping Coach Ashton out before I leave for college. He’s been telling us he got in great shape by tossing hay.” Knox snorted in disbelief before shrugging it off. “So, we’re giving it a try.”

“That’s nice, dear,” Miss Lily smiled before turning back to her sister. “That young man’s pants are about to burst into flames for all the lying he’s doing.”

“Lily Rae,” Violet scolded, shaking her white head at her sister. “You know darn well Will did such a thing. Nothing strange is going on.”

The door opened again as Addison, Ava, Faith, and Grace came in laughing. Lily looked to her sisters and simply raised an eyebrow as Addison and Ava sat at one table and Faith and Grace at the table next to them.

“Okay, so it’s a little strange,” Daisy agreed as the newly arrived all shouted out their hellos the to them.

“I’m telling you, something is up,” Miss Lily promised as she turned up her hearing aid. She’d find out what it was if it was the last thing she did.

Ten minutes later, the door opened again and Nora Owens, the owner of the Fluff and Buff, walked in. She wore all black to make the salon look fancier. Her blonde hair was cut in a short chin-length bob and highlighted with pink and purple streaks.

Violet leaned over to her sisters. “I’d love to have purple hair.”

“When you’re as old as we are, there’s no point in waiting,” Daisy snorted as they watched Nora pick up a to-go order and head their way.

“Hi, ladies. I’ll see you tomorrow for your perms,” Nora smiled as she stopped at the table.

“I want purple hair,” Violet told her.

Nora blinked once and then nodded. “I can do that.”

“I want yellow. Not like a canary. I don’t want to look like a bird,” Daisy said, getting into it, too.

“I can do a blonde on you that will look pale yellow,” Nora told her.

“Come in, Lily. Do something, too. You’re always such a stick in the mud,” Violet taunted.

“Hey, I’m the one who took us skydiving,” Lily protested. But as she looked at Nora’s youthful hair, she knew she wanted to do something fun, too. “Pink! I want a light pink like you have.”

The sisters giggled and Nora’s smiled widened. “It’ll be so much fun. Can you get there an hour earlier, though?”

“We’ll see you then,” Lily told her, getting into the idea of doing something radical for their birthday. Then she froze as Nora left. She leaned forward. “I got it! They’re doing something for our birthday.”

“Which one is it?” Violet asked. “I’ve lied about my age so much I don’t remember how old I am.”

The three sisters thought for a moment. “Well, it doesn’t matter,” Lily said. “That’s why they’re being strange. Let’s see what Aniyah says about us changing up the schedule for tomorrow.”

Lily dialed Aniyah and waited for her to answer. “Yes?” Aniyah asked, sounding distracted.

“She’s distracted,” Lily whispered to her sisters. “It’s Lily. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind a change of plans tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, Miss Lily. What’s up?”

“Do you have a moment? I don’t want to interrupt anything.”

“Girl, you aren’t interrupting anything. I’m over here watching Will Ashton work the football players at his farm. It’s a mix of the seniors who just graduated and some of his pro players. Half of them have their shirts off and—”

Daisy shook her head. “See, nothing. You’re imagining things, Lil.”

Lily’s doubts remained as she relayed the change of times for the next day. Aniyah was nice enough to drive them around to their appointments when she wasn’t working in Frankfort as Riley Davies Walz’s assistant. Aniyah was only in Frankfort part-time now that the session had ended.

“See, I told you they weren’t up to anything,” Daisy scolded when Lily got off the phone.

“Hmph.” Lily would just see about that.

The tables were up, and it was time to decorate. The men were running the electric work for the chandeliers as the women began decorating the tables. As soon as this was done, they’d head back to Keeneson High School to make another round of desserts. After baking half of them that morning, they had needed a break. This was their break.

“We’ve got a problem!” Aniyah yelled as she ran toward them on her tiptoes to prevent her five-inch heels from sinking into the grass. “The Rose sisters think something is up. They changed their plans for tomorrow, and Miss Lily sounded real suspicious.”

“What did you tell them?” Kenna asked a little more harshly than she meant to.

“I told them we were at Will’s farm watching some of his players tossing hay. Will suggested it to us earlier in case something came up.”

Kenna looked frantically around. “Sienna!”

“Yes, Mom?” Sienna asked as she smoothed a wrinkle from a tablecloth.

“Which Thoroughbred players live nearby?”

“Jaylen King moved to a house about twenty minutes away and Zack Sanders is about fifteen minutes away. Why?” Sienna told them as she walked closer.

“Will! Trey! Get over here now!” Kenna yelled to her husband teetering on a ladder and the man holding the ladder.

“What’s going on?” Sienna asked again.

“Miss Lily called Aniyah.” Kenna relayed as Will and Trey joined them.

Trey looked down at his phone. “Definitely suspicious. Knox just texted. They asked him where on the farm he was working out. Luckily he remembered the lie and told Miss Lily the same thing.”

“Call the players and get all the seniors and the recent grads over to the barn now! Trey and Sienna, get as many players as possible there as well! Hurry!” Kenna screamed.

People scattered quickly. Boys leapt into the back of pickup trucks. Men and women jumped into their cars and drove them into every nearby barn they could fit them in before closing the doors. Kenna stood outside staring at the main house from the drive and sighed in relief. Nothing was visible from the road as very expensive sports cars and trucks raced past her. The NFL players had arrived.