Some kind of lonesome settled in that night, taking the edge off of the warm, fuzzies Thelma Louise had left behind. The crickets chirped and the bull frogs hummed but that didn’t hide the fact that Dixie was all alone. All those years growing up, Mama had often come crawling in to bed to keep her company. Even if she stayed in the next room with Owen, her daughter knew she didn’t have far to go to find her. Tonight, Dixie couldn’t get to Mama, no matter how hard she tried.
Dixie curled up in a ball and whispered to herself, “You’re Dixie Mason and you are one brave girl.” That might have been true in the light of day but Jamie Ann Ray was there for one more night before the new girl took over. She stared up at a pale slice of moon hanging in the sky and took some comfort in knowing it was the same moon that had been looking down on her and Mama all her life. It would have to do.