It was a tough place to travel even in his thoughts.
* * *
Exhausted, Olivia closed the front door and tossed her purse on the small table close by. Pressing fingers to her temples, she wandered first to the window, then over to the bookcase. She picked up a picture of her late husband. “Oh, Ted. It isn’t getting any easier.” Holding the picture close, she remembered how he had been there one day, gone the next. “Joey’s gotten into even more trouble. A lot worse than talking back to his teachers, and the fights.”
Olivia stared into Ted’s steady brown eyes. Joey looked so much like him, down to what had once been a wide, frequent smile.
The empty house echoed in the silence.
“Now Joey’s actually stolen. A headset, of all things.” Shrugging, she traced Ted’s smile. “And he acts like it’s nothing.”
The doorbell rang, startling her. Fumbling, she replaced Ted’s picture. She pulled open the door and was surprised to see Kate... She couldn’t place her last name. “Hi.” Trying to compose herself, Olivia opened the door wider. “Please, come in.”
“I hope I haven’t come at a bad time,” Kate replied, surreptitiously looking into the living room.
Olivia shook her head. “It’s...it’s fine.”
“You don’t have company?”
Olivia flushed, realizing Kate must have seen her talking to Ted’s photo while standing in front of the picture window. “No one alive.”
Since Kate’s husband, Tucker Grey, was Rosewood’s sheriff, she had been one of the first to learn about Ted’s death. She had made efforts to reach out, but Olivia’s parents had circled the wagons. And Kate had tactfully withdrawn. Until today.
Olivia pulled herself together. “Don’t mind me. One of those days. Please, sit down. Can I offer you some iced tea?”
“You read my mind. Need any help?”
More than she could voice. “No, it’s all made. Do you take yours sweet?”
“Just plain. I save my calories for cookies and candy.” Barely having landed on a chair, Kate stood up. Trailing Olivia, her sandals clicked on the wooden floor. “When I’m antsy, I eat extra goodies, so it’s good I like my tea without sugar.”
Olivia reached into the cabinet for glasses.
“Did you say the tea’s already made?” Kate asked, pausing at the refrigerator door.
“The pitcher’s in the middle on the right.”
“Lemons in the fruit drawer?”
Amused, Olivia hid her smile. If this was Kate not helping, she could only imagine when she pitched in wholeheartedly. “So is something making you antsy?”
“Afraid so. Do you want to sit at the table?” Kate gestured to the round table. “Kitchens always seem friendlier to me.”
“Cozy.” The word popped out. Funny—she hadn’t thought anything had been cozy for so long. She reached into a cabinet and pulled out a box of coconut macaroons.
After they’d settled at the table, it didn’t take long to pour the tea, squeeze a few slices of lemon.
“You’re probably wondering why I showed up without calling,” Kate began. “But I’m desperate.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows.
Kate immediately scrunched hers together. “I don’t mean for company. That came out all wrong. I get this way when I’m frazzled. Did I ever tell you how I met Tucker?”
Olivia shook her head.
“I won’t go into detail, but I was frazzled to the max. Still amazes me that he ever proposed.” Kate’s green eyes softened. “Sorry, I also go in about a hundred different directions when I feel like this.”
“Like what?” Olivia prompted gently.
“Sorry, it’s about a project I’m working on. Or not working on, I should say. I’ve been commissioned to do a new painting.”
“You’re an artist?”
“You didn’t know?” Kate’s surprise glided into a smile. “I trained first as an artist, then in restoration. I primarily worked on museum pieces. Now they give me referrals for different types of work. That’s how this family found me.” Kate stopped abruptly. “I don’t know why I assumed you would know I’m an artist. We haven’t really talked a lot. I know—” her chipper voice changed notes “—that it hasn’t been easy for you.” She met Olivia’s eyes. “I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost Tucker.” Amazingly, she wiped away a tear.
And Olivia reached out. “It’s all right.”
“No, it’s not. But I suppose you can’t say that, that it’s awful, I mean. You always have to be brave for your son.”
“You know Joey?”
Kate’s eyes darkened and her expression dimmed. “Not really. Not firsthand.”
The school theft. Of course the sheriff had been informed. Olivia felt the heat that suddenly colored her face.
“Please don’t be embarrassed. If Alyssa lost her dad... She already lost her first mother. Her world would just about end.”
Confused, Olivia tried to remember what she could about Kate’s family and came up blank. “You’re not Alyssa’s mother?”
“Her mother died when she was ten. I met Tucker about two years later. Since then, I’ve been her mom.”
Olivia instinctively sensed that theirs was a true mother/daughter relationship. “That’s lovely. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen that happen before. Becoming a child’s real parent after a death, I mean.”
“I was...I am very fortunate. It’s hard to imagine that anyone else can take on that role once you’ve lost your spouse.” Absently, Kate circled the top of her tea glass with one finger. “That’s how Tucker felt. It’s how I imagine anyone would feel when they really love the person they’ve lost.”
Olivia’s throat tightened.
“I’m sorry. I’ve made you think even more about your late husband.” Kate’s sunny exterior now wilted in remorse.
“No. I was talking to his picture when you arrived.” Olivia again imagined how foolish she must have looked, yet she sensed Kate wouldn’t laugh, wouldn’t judge. “So he was already on my mind.”
Kate reached out a friendly hand. “Is it loneliness or something else?”
Olivia sighed. “Joey. How I’m going to handle him with Ted gone. I never could have imagined him stealing. I understood when he cut classes because he couldn’t face people, but this... It’s not the way he was raised.”
“Of
