LORETTA LAID THE grocery bags down on the old, scarred wooden table in the kitchen at their house. Hazel trailed in behind her and put another sack down.

“What’s for dinner, Mama?”

“Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and Brussels sprouts.”

Hazel scrunched her nose. “Bleh. I hate Brussels sprouts. Can we have broccoli instead?”

It was hard to argue with a kid who liked broccoli. “Broccoli it is. Go wash your hands and you can help me.”

“Okay.”

Hazel wandered off, so Loretta unpacked the groceries and put them away, then sifted through the day’s mail. Bills and junk. She checked her e-mail and discovered one from her lawyer.

Nothing unexpected. Her ex requested Hazel’s appearance at a fund-raiser for his political campaign during the third week in June. Which didn’t fall at all on his normal visitation schedule. In fact, Tom hadn’t seen Hazel in the past two months. Because it wasn’t about him wanting to see his daughter—it was about making Hazel available at a time and venue that suited Tom.

Loretta would never keep Hazel from her father. And even though she knew he’d only spend the briefest amount of time with her during that visit, she e-mailed her attorney and told him she’d make sure Hazel was there. Since school was out for the summer, it was an ideal time for Hazel to make the trip. Even if she wouldn’t spend as much time with her father while she was there that Loretta would like her to.

Tom was a cold man. It hadn’t started out that way, but it sure had been that way for the last five years of their marriage. Tom was all about building his political career. One would think he’d want to show himself as a family man, at least outwardly. Instead, he liked to pretend his daughter didn’t exist.

Probably because the new family he was setting up for himself was so much better suited for his future in politics. Better political connections. More money. And with his new wife, Melissa, already pregnant, the visibility factor of a smiling, socially appropriate pregnant woman would be well accepted by the voters in his congressional race.

Loretta ignored the pang in the vicinity of her heart. The way Tom treated Hazel, as if she was a political pawn to be dressed up and paraded around only at certain times that benefited him . . .

No. She wasn’t going to go there. Instead, she called Hazel into the kitchen, and the two of them set about making dinner.

At nine, there were some things Hazel couldn’t do in the kitchen yet. Not that you could tell her that. Her daughter had an independent streak the size of Oklahoma, and Loretta didn’t want to discourage her, so she very cautiously watched while her daughter learned the fine art of frying chicken. Something every Southern girl—and boy—should know how to do.

They even cut up the broccoli together, and if there was one thing Hazel liked to do, it was wield a knife. She knew how to be careful, because Loretta had told her that if she treated handling a knife with anything but seriousness, her days cooking with her mama were over.

Hazel had taken that instruction to heart, and she was always focused and methodical as she sliced.

Before long, dinner was ready, which was good, because frying chicken made Loretta hungry.

They ate at the dining room table, a ritual from their former life—the one rule of Tom’s that Loretta had wholeheartedly agreed with. No cell phones and no television. This way, they could talk to Hazel and find out about her day. It had been the one time her daughter had had her father’s undivided attention. Loretta had enjoyed those times, and she intended to continue them with Hazel.

“I heard from your dad today. He wants you to come to Texas this month.”

“Really?”

Seeing Hazel’s eyes light up caused a mixture of joy and pain in Loretta’s heart.

“Yes.”

“I wonder if we’ll go camping.”

And there went the tight squeeze in her stomach. “Actually, he’s doing some fun things for his political campaign.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound fun.”

“But you’ll still get to see him. Won’t that be nice?”

She poked the broccoli around on the plate. “Sure. I guess so.”

“I’ll talk to him and see if he can squeeze in some fun things for you two to do together.”

Hazel shrugged. “He’ll just say he’s busy with his politics stuff, like always.”

One thing she gave her daughter credit for was that she knew her father, and knew him well. She never gave up hope that maybe one day he might want to see her just to spend time with her and have some fun, but she knew it was typically to drag her around for campaign stops.

Smart girl. Loretta didn’t want to give her false hope.

But she’d still call Tom tonight, as much as she did not want to speak to her ex.

So after dinner, when Hazel was outside kicking around the soccer ball, Loretta took out her cell phone and tapped Tom’s number.

He answered on the third ring.

“Hello, Loretta.”

“Tom. I heard from my attorney today that you want Hazel for a week this month.”

“Yes. I have important campaign stops in Houston and Austin.”

“It might be nice if you visited your daughter according to the terms of our divorce decree.”

He paused before answering. “I’m very busy.”

She rolled her eyes and swallowed the retort that hovered on her tongue. “I know you are. But she misses you and wants to do something fun with you. Maybe you could carve out some time that week for something that doesn’t have to do with your political career? Even if it’s just to take her out for ice cream?”

“I’ll have my assistant check my schedule. Otherwise, I’ll e-mail you the specifics of when we’ll be there to pick her up.”

Uh-huh. “We” being either his personal assistant or a hired nanny. Tom would never take time out of his “busy schedule” to come fetch his daughter himself.

“Great. You do that.”

She hung up, then threw her phone across the table.

Waste of time. She knew the entire week would be filled with political appearances and Hazel would come home Sunday night grouchy and once again disappointed in her father.

Loretta made a note in her calendar to do something fun with Hazel after she got back from that week with her dad.

Tom might be a shitty parent, but Loretta wasn’t. And she’d do everything in her power to make sure her daughter was happy.