Mom's the Word (24 page)

Now empty-handed, she took Neal's hand in hers and turned to the couple who had become more than friends, more than neighbors over the past year. The four of them touched foreheads as they came together in a group hug.

“We love you guys,” Karol said, winking at Dyanne and slipping off her shoes.

“Us, too,” Neal said, fumbling with his toes to get his shoes off. Rob was already out of his jacket and trying to head for the pool.

Karol, who had just completed her first book tour and joined Fallon on the bestseller's lists, gave her husband a playful shove backward and took Dyanne's hand.

The two women ran toward the pool hand in hand, laughing all the way. The husbands followed, but slowed down to watch as their wives tumbled over the edge.

“Mom's the word!” Karol shouted as they jumped in.

Neal braced himself as the splash rose from the pool and washed over him in a cleansing wave. He looked up at the sky and raised a thumb as Ryan had earlier.

Mom's the word, indeed.

1. As the book opens, Karol Simon has lost a best friend, but gained a new neighbor. Her reaction to the new people next door is less than hospitable. Have you ever had a close friend or coworker move away? Were you surprised by the emotions left after they were gone? Did you transfer any of those emotions to the new people who took their place?
   
2. Rob and Singh are close friends, too, but they deal with their friendship a bit differently than their wives do. How do you feel about the way these two men deal with their concerns about their two families becoming too close?
   
3. The young mothers in Karol's church are looking for a mentor, but she doesn't feel qualified to give them the answers they need. Yet later, Karol feels compelled to do some of these same things for someone else. What do you think made the difference?
   
4. Karol's children seem out of control when Dyanne and Neal move in, but they've been fairly well behaved until the neighbors move away. Has your family ever gone through a “phase” where things just seem off-key for a while? How did you deal with it?
   
5. One of Karol's poems is “Jesus Be a Fence.” Have you ever had problems with your neighbors or wished you had more privacy? Do you like fences in general or do you think they are barriers? Explain your answer.
   
6. Karol's mother refuses to be called Mom, but she calls her husband Pops. What do you think about spouses referring to each other this way? How does Faith the Second use her name to shield herself from being shelved into a particular role? Does she feel the same way at the end of the book?
   
7. When Karol realizes what her husband and Singh have done, she is very angry. Do you think she handles the situation well? What might you have done differently, given the same circumstances?
   
8. Fallon Gray is Dyanne's biggest author. She comes to Tallahassee to write a book and instead she finds God writing on her own heart. Is Fallon someone you'd want to meet in real life? Did she say something in the story that spoke to your heart? If so, what was it?
   
9. When she meets Karol and her children, Fallon has a sense that they are “always people,” the kind of folks God gives you who always understand who you are. Do you have these types of people in your life? Did you hit it off with them immediately when you first met them or was it a gradual process?
   
10. In her fervor to be prepared for the baby she wants to have, Dyanne makes a very expensive impulse buy that causes an uproar in her marriage. Have you ever bought something that you regretted later? Did you return it or keep it? Has anyone ever bought something with part of your money without telling you about it? How did you feel?
    
11. Karol's oldest son, Ryan, starts to bloom when the neighbors move away. How does his emerging adolescence affect his perception of the loss of the neighbors? What do we learn about Karol through Ryan?
    
12. Rob is a patient and kind husband, but as he tells Karol often, he is also a man. In all their ups and downs, what does Rob seem to want most from Karol? How does he differ from Singh? Could you imagine any man you know giving his wife twenty-one days off from motherhood?
    
13. Though she wants more than anything to have some time to herself, when Karol gets that time, she's unsure at first what to do with it. What would you do with twenty-one days off from your responsibilities? Is there a passion you've set aside for someday?
    
14. Karol once thought her friends Hope and Singh were perfect. In the end, she realizes that only God is perfect. Have you ever set someone up higher than he or she could live up to? Did you still love them when they failed to meet your expectations? Have you ever been the person who had a fall in someone's eyes? What is your relationship with that person like now?
    
15. Both Karol and Dyanne think the grass must be greener on the other side. Do you think that both women come to respect one another in the end? How does Dyanne help Karol find her old self again? How does Karol help Dyanne discover the person she wants to be? Which of the books in the story would you want to read first—Karol's or Fallon's?