“Bullshit. She was too smart for that. When did this happen?”
“Almost three weeks ago. I had just moved in with her when it happened.”
“Was there an investigation?”
“I assume so, but my mother would have gotten the report.”
“Damn, I’ve been out of state on assignment for six weeks. I didn’t know. I missed the funeral. I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “A few people from town came. She already had it planned out, it was simple.”
“Your mother was her daughter?” he presses.
“Yes. She didn’t come. They didn’t get along very well. They’re fighting—were fighting.”
“You said you moved in with Twila. Aren’t you supposed to be in school somewhere?”
Clutching my hands, I shake my head. “I was but Mom refused to pay for the semester. By the time Nana found out it was too late for me to enroll.”
My stomach takes that moment of silence to growl. Embarrassed, I shift, then wrap my sweater tighter around my body.
He pauses and glances around the cabin. “Why isn’t the heat on? Why are you using battery operated camping lamps?”
Reaching around me he flips the switch for the overhead light. Obviously, he’s spent a lot of time with Nana. She spoke so fondly of him I was almost jealous.
“Why aren’t the lights working?”
“The generator quit. I tried to restart it. The gauge says there’s fuel, but it won’t come on. I’m not real technical. By the time I realized it wasn’t working, my phone was out of charge, and I couldn’t call for assistance.”
“Is that your car out there?”
I nod. “It’s got a flat.”
“All this has happened in the three weeks since Twila died?”
He has the same doubt in his voice that I’ve been afraid to voice to myself. It sounds so much worse with him saying it.
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I’ve been eating crackers and?—”
“A meal?
“It’s been almost a week. I think the school bus will go by at the bottom of the hill. I was going to walk down there tomorrow to see if they’d let me ride to town.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m here now. Pack a bag of what you need and what’s important to you like phone and computer. Plan on a few days. You’re gonna stay with me until I figure out what’s going on with your cabin and get your tire changed. We’ll go to town now, eat, and get food supplies which I needed anyway.”
“I haven’t showered?—”
“You are beautiful just the way you are. Let’s move it.”
Honestly, I need a break from this place. Too much has happened too quickly. The fight with my mother and being forced to leave school. Nana’s fight with mother. Nana dying and then the cabin falling apart around me. The cabin is all I have left. I need be able to live here, get my car fixed, and find a job. Maybe I can get my old job back at the diner.
“Do you have a washer?”
He nods.
“May I use it tomorrow?”
