Ava gasped. “You talked to a stranger?”
“Not until after he’d had people introduce him to me. He grew up here and everyone knows him.”
“Wait! Did you say Stewart? Your father told me about them. The family owns that town.”
Kate blinked a few times. Her mother never mentioned her father in that casual way. “Yes, it’s the same family.”
“Do you have a date with him?”
“This Saturday. He doesn’t live here now but he’s thinking of moving back.”
“That’s good,” Ava said. “He’ll be a safety net for you when she gets too bad.”
“Uh, listen, Mom, I need to go. I start my job tomorrow and I need to look over the listings. I love you!”
“Yes, but, Katie, honey, I need to be sure that you’re safe.”
“I am very safe. ’Bye, Mom.” She touched the button, turned off the sound and put her phone away.
Kate stared out the truck window. She was embarrassed down to her bone marrow. “I, uh, I apologize for—”
“No need,” Sara said brightly. “I know your mother quite well. What do you think of this part of town?”
Quite well? Why had she never been told any of this? It took Kate a minute to recover enough to be able to see what was around them. It was difficult to believe that this was part of the perfectly manicured Lachlan that she’d seen. Houses with broken porches, roofs with blue plastic covering holes, weeds, two dogs fighting, crumbling sidewalks. This wasn’t the result of a hurricane, just plain old-fashioned poverty.
“This area is where Jack’s grandfather and I grew up,” Sara said. “We were next-door neighbors.”
Jack and Sara smiled at each other across Kate in a way that showed they shared both memories and secrets.
“We’re here,” Sara said as Jack pulled into a weed-infested driveway. The house was in bad repair but Kate could see its potential. Add a little entry porch, repair the windows, paint...it could be nice.
Sara picked up her big black camera bag, got out of the truck and went past the house to the back.
Kate started to get out but Jack turned to her. He looked serious.
“I don’t think you should take more calls from your mother in front of Sara. She doesn’t need to hear more of that.”
He looked like he was bracing himself for a fight, but Kate said, “I agree. I feel bad that she heard that. It won’t happen again.”
Jack seemed surprised at her answer, and he gave a smile. “Bet you think this place should be bulldozed.”
“Are you kidding? I could make that house so cute that one look at it and you’d turn into a girl.”
When Jack laughed, it was so contagious that Kate joined him. She was startled to see Sara in the driveway photographing them through the windshield.
“Don’t mind her. She’s always doing that. She’s trying to replace writing novels with a photography obsession. She needs to be addicted to something.” He struggled to get out of the truck and winced when his left leg hit the ground.
Kate got out the other side, still smiling. Maybe it was from a lifetime of dealing with her mother’s up-and-down moods, but she was glad that no one was angry at her. Her mother’s comments must have stung Sara, but she’d been nice about it.
She followed Jack down the driveway and to the back of the house, then halted when she saw the tree. It was huge. Not big—enormous. It was on its side, delicate greenery spread on the ground. It was lushly covered in beautiful red blooms. The wide, shallow roots were standing upright, taller than a person. Sara was moving around it, taking what seemed to be a thousand photos.
“Shame.” Jack was looking at the tree. “I knew it was in bad shape, but still...”
“Even now, it’s beautiful.”
“It is. But the rain and disease were too much for the old lady.” He turned. “At least it missed the house. Small favors.”
Sara returned to the roots and the wide, deep hole it had made. “Kate, would you mind stepping down in there so I can get a size comparison? I’d ask him, but...” She shrugged.