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it was silly.”
    Hayden smiled through her tears. “Well, you did play eight different law-enforcement characters.”
    Mack hugged her. “Hayden, Mitch is right. Mom and Dad built this company to put food on the table. And then it grew into this big thing that we all became involved in. But when I was five, Dad and I were lying in the backyard under the stars one night, and he asked me if I could do anything in the world, what would it be?”
    “What did you say?”
    “I don’t remember,” she laughed, “but I do remember him telling me that whatever I put my mind to, I could do. At five, Dad had big dreams for me.” She sighed. “I think Mom and Dad saw an ugly world out there, and after they both lost their jobs, they were determined to protect us from it.”
    Hayden stared into the evening sky, the tiny stars twinkling above. “I never had any dreams. I never thought I’d do anything except what I was doing.” She looked down. “And truthfully, I didn’t do it all that well.”
    “Hayden, it’s not your fault you were coulrophobic. Besides, you were great at the administrative stuff. The business really needed that. Mom couldn’t handle it by herself anymore.”
    Hayden sighed. In the last year, since she’d finally admitted she wasdeathly afraid of clowns, she’d felt so guilty, but thankful to be included.
    Mack squeezed her hand. “You’ll find your purpose. I guarantee it. God won’t let you down.”
    With a collective sigh, they both leaned back into the bench and took in the expansive night sky that could only be seen from outside the city limits. Mack chuckled. “So you want to know what Mitch is going to do?”
    “He told you?”
    “He told us after you left the room. He’s working for a company called Ditch Witch.”
    “Ditch Witch? That sounds weird. Mitch at Ditch Witch.”
    “He’ll be one of their managers.”
    Hayden sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “So that’s the secret to finding your life purpose. It has to rhyme with your first name.” She leaned her head on Mack’s shoulder. “This family is safe. I don’t want to leave it.”
    Mack stroked her hair. “I know. It’s scary to think about. If we could all have Mitch’s confidence, right?”
    “What in the world am I going to do out there, Mack? What kind of difference can I make?”
    “Mitch is right. Mom and Dad equipped us. We just have to remember what we were taught, and we’ll be just fine.”
    Hayden didn’t know the world beyond children’s birthday parties and company picnics. She’d seen only glimpses, and that had been fine with her.
    Mack laughed. “Remember what Dad used to say any time we complained about change? ‘Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”’

Chapter 2
    Five years later
    H ugo Talley had told his doctor that he was fairly sure the antianxiety medication he was on was not working anymore. “My body has gotten used to it,” he complained. The doctor, a woman who looked better suited for the fashion industry, explained that was not possible. When Hugo replied, “Well, it’s not working,” the doctor had the audacity to suggest that the stress in his life had increased.
    “I’m in the news business.” Hugo wanted to shout it, but he didn’t. That was how he knew the Blue Pill wasn’t working well anymore. He was a few insults away from screaming at a woman half his age. “If people would stop drinking and driving, stealing cars, abusing their spouses, and being, in general, regular idiots, I wouldn’t have to take this at all.”
    The doctor sent him home with orders to get his stress under control.
    Now, sitting at his desk, Hugo popped the pill in his mouth and waited. And waited. Nothing. No difference. He’d seen the commercials on television. Being in the television business himself, he knew about all the smoke and mirrors. He’d still fallen prey to idea that he, too, could be smiling and bike riding, and holding the hand