“You never gave us one day of worry, either of you.”

Ron gave a single heavy nod from behind her chair.

“Nate knows how to stretch a dollar.

Always has.”

“Is Jeff coming over for dessert?” Nate asked.

“Jeff is at the propane terminal working four hours of overtime,” Ron said, taking his reading glasses out of his shirt pocket.

“His mortgage payment went up forty-eight dollars after the county reassessed his subdivision lot.”

“Did he talk to the assessor?” I asked.