“Sure, Dad,” she said, deciding to leave fighting that battle until she was ready to leave Howling for LA again.
After that Katie sat with her parents, listening as they filled her in on what had been happening in their lives and how Rose was undoubtedly the best granddaughter anyone ever had. They didn’t push her to talk about herself, but no doubt wondered again at the change in the girl who had once talked endlessly. Two hours later, she was heading to the houseboat with her mom and dad following.
It was moored about a ten-minute walk from Jake and Branna’s, on a part of the lake that was quiet and private. The mooring was hidden by a stand of trees and a mound of dirt that the locals called Shady Hill, because William Shady had dug it out of the ground when he’d decided he wanted to build his hut there back in 1880. Word had it he liked the water, and decided this was the place he wanted to set down some roots. The digging had taken him months, and at the end of it his heart had given out, leaving a hole and the mound of dirt. Locals had left it just as it was, even erected a small plaque.
Looking over the small houseboat bobbing on the gentle waters, Katie thought it was the perfect place for some solitude and thinking. The hull was painted white with a small red stripe, the windows sparkled in the afternoon sun. A canopy covered the deck and she could see a table and chairs.
The lake spread out before her, the mountains were to her right, and the redwoods to her left. She itched to strip off her clothes and dive into the cool, clear depths.
“Haven’t been on this thing in years,” her father said, coming to her side. His arms were loaded down with everything her mother had said she would need. “Harvey Reynolds, Macy’s dad, had a few of us guys out to a card night on here once. He drank so much he fell overboard. He didn’t talk to us much after that.”
Katie followed him and his chuckle across the gangway and after lowering everything to a table, she and her father explored. Four fold-out chairs on the polished deck sat around a wooden table, then through the first door was a compact galley kitchen and dining area. Everything gleamed, and she guessed that was Macy’s doing, and that she’d kept it that way in case her father returned.
“How bad is Mr. Reynolds, Mom?”
Nancy walked past her husband and Katie, heading for the bedroom with a pile of bedding in her arms.
“Not so good, baby, he won’t last much longer.”
“Macy said he loved coming here. Seems sad he can’t anymore.”
“I think he came here to escape his wife, between you and me.”
“Patrick, that’s not nice.”
“But true,” her father said, unrepentant. “Delany Reynolds is a not a nice woman, honey, and you know it.”
“Yes.” Nancy sighed. “She hates me because I’m in the book club and she’s not. I had to give her a jab the other day, and should not have got so much joy out of seeing her bare-assed and less than her pristine self.”
“You are a wicked woman, Dr. McBride.”
Katie watched her father sweep her mother into his arms and plant a loud kiss on her lips. They always did stuff like that, and she’d thought it was normal growing up.
“Get a room,” she muttered, like she and Jake used to. “So, how come Queen Delany is not in the book club yet, Mom?” Katie said as she opened a few cupboards and checked the contents.
“Who would put her name as their successor, Katie? Nobody likes the woman; we just tolerate her.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get any ideas about me either.”
Her mother just gave her a sly smile. Katie listened as she talked about the book club and other goings on in Howling, while she wandered around getting acquainted with the inside of the houseboat.
The walls were paneled in golden wood and the dining seats covered in deep forest green. Two comfortable chairs sat before a wood burner and she could imagine curling up in one of those in the winter with a good book. Shame she wouldn’t be here.
Following her mother into the next room, she found a bathroom and double bed.
“This is nice,” her father said from behind her. “It’s been redecorated since I was last here.”
“It’s lovely.” Katie looked around her. The bedcover was white with peppermint stripes and the pillows edged with old lace. White wooden louvers covered the windows and fronted the closet; a soft patterned floor rug was beside the bed.
“Seems kind of girly for Mr. Reynolds, don’t you think?” Katie picked up a rose-pink woolen throw that was over the end of the bed. “If this was his man cave you’d expect it to be… well, manly.”
“Delany would have decorated it, even though she never comes here. She controls everything,” Nancy said, stripping back the bedcover.
Moving to the other side, Katie helped her mother make it.
“The real reason she dislikes you, Nancy, is because she had the hots for me.”
“Ewww, Dad!” Katie found herself making gagging sounds, and realized she was starting to relax more in their company.
