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Patience leaned back in her chair. Glenda, again? This was a tough decision. If Jack and Glenda were really going to divorce, was it still incumbent upon her to foster a relationship between her ex-best friend and her daughter?

She didn’t want to perpetuate that, not when she finally had the chance to get Glenda out of her life for good. But she couldn’t only think of herself. What would be best for her daughter?

That depended on how Glenda approached the situation, she decided. If Glenda continued to try to prove she was the better “mom” and compete with Patience for her daughter’s admiration and affection, or if she filled Ari’s head with things she shouldn’t hear about her father, thereby damaging Ari and Jack’s relationship, the answer should be no.

But if she behaved kindly and decently, Patience couldn’t see where letting them spend a little time together could hurt anything as a sort of…tapering off. After all, she’d had to trust her daughter to this woman for the past five years and, depending on her perspective, Glenda had indeed been a decent stepmom.

She rolled closer to the keyboard and typed: Do you want to go?

I guess. She said I could invite Mia.

Patience hated to get this sort of thing started, where Ari would be going off with Glenda on a regular basis, but maybe it would play itself out. She couldn’t imagine Glenda would remain a big part of Ari’s life once she gained a little distance on the divorce. She’d start dating again and find another man—maybe someone who had children who would require her attention—and move on.

At least, Patience hoped it would go that way. That would be ideal.

Okay. Just have her drop you here at the church when you’re done.

Can’t I have her take me to Mia’s? We have that school project.

Fine. Thanks to her preoccupation with Kanon, Patience hadn’t gotten much done this morning and figured she could use the extra time to work.

Thanks, Mom. :)

Patience replied with a heart emoji and set her phone aside. She told herself to get back to work, but with Carl gone and Ari occupied so that she could work late, she returned to Kanon’s Instagram page instead. She was curious about how he’d overcome what he’d faced growing up and managed to become a functional adult when he’d basically had to raise himself. It was bad enough that his mother ran off, but to have a father who had been as unreliable as Frankie…

Actually, Patience suspected Frankie had been more than unreliable—that he’d been downright abusive. And yet…here was Kanon all these years later, seemingly okay. He was certainly resourceful and capable.

Switching to her browser, she searched for the most populated cities in the oil fields of North Dakota and read about Watford City and other places near the Bakken Oil Patch, one of the largest reserves in the United States. Had it been a difficult decision for him to leave the life he’d built there and come back? What was in North Dakota, besides his job, that he’d left behind?

She googled his name, but nothing interesting turned up. So she widened the search and looked into what it meant to be a roughneck. From what she could tell, the job revolved around long hours on drilling rigs, handling heavy equipment and doing whatever physical work needed to be done to keep operations moving. It sounded grueling—dirty, exhausting, and not for anyone afraid of hard labor or strict safety rules.

“Hence the name,” she murmured.

What surprised her was the money. Even at the lowest levels, the pay was far better than she’d expected, and it climbed quickly with experience. The higher-ranking positions—supervisors and managers—made salaries that rivaled professionals with advanced degrees. Of course, there was a reason for that. The work came with real danger: volatile equipment, high pressure lines and accidents that could turn deadly in an instant. It wasn’t hard to find references to serious injuries—or worse—which explained why companies paid so well to keep people willing to do it.

Kanon had been in it long enough that he was probably being well paid. Was that why it’d taken him several months to decide whether to return to Hard Luck and claim his inheritance? Maybe he’d had to give up a high-paying job to help run the motor inn, a business that certainly hadn’t been thriving before he arrived and came with no guarantees.

Would he stay the entire year stipulated in the will? Patience wondered. Or would he realize he was actually better off in North Dakota?

Because some things that seemed free really weren’t.

* * *

It was after three when Kanon stopped at the high school, now quiet in front. Only the thud of various sports practices carried from the fields in back. He’d been avoiding this place since he returned to town, knew it would contain too many memories, which is also why he’d finally decided to come—so he could stop dreading the sight of it.

The school resembled a Greek temple and hadn’t changed. But he had. The angry teen he’d been when he was attending this place seemed like another person. Had he really slept here night after night, when all the other kids were home with their families warm in their beds?

He had. That and other places around town. He’d never forget how bad the weather was the first time his father had thrown him out. It was this time of year, nearly Christmas, and he’d had nowhere to go. In a desperate bid to stay warm and out of sight, so he wouldn’t be humiliated by his situation, he’d huddled against the far building, the cinder block leeching what little comfort he had, his breath fogging the air like smoke.

That had been the start of the most hellish year of his life, the year right after his father had invited Heather Skaggs to move in with them. Frankie had known Heather from when he was growing up in Ely, Nevada, a couple hours away. But Kanon had never met her, not until she moved to town to be with Frankie. And she’d hated him on sight, hadn’t wanted to share Frankie with anyone.

Neither had she wanted to share what little money they had, especially because she was the only one bringing in a steady paycheck. She worked as a checker at Hannity Grocers, and Frankie picked up odd jobs—he was trained as an electrician—but it was never enough. So she looked for any excuse she could to get Kanon in trouble. She’d tell his father that he talked back to her, that he wasn’t doing his chores, that he was eating them out of house and home—even if it wasn’t true—and because Frankie thought he’d finally found a woman who’d stick with him, he always took her side.

The arguments and fighting escalated until Kanon finally punched his father back and was thrown out of the house. Frankie claimed he couldn’t live with them anymore if he wouldn’t show the proper respect for his “stepmother,” even though Frankie and Heather never married.

When Kanon wasn’t sleeping at the school or the church, he’d slide under the porch until his father passed out and Heather went to bed. They both slept with TVs on—one in the living room and one in the bedroom—which made it possible for him to sneak in and shower and wash his clothes. He was able to do that for several months—until the night Heather caught him. Then he couldn’t get away with it anymore because she started watching for him. That was why he’d finally left town. He’d had to leave to survive.

The anger that’d eaten him up back then reared its ugly head again. He’d ignored the letter Suzanne had sent him when his father died. Thanks to Frankie’s drinking and his violent outbursts, Kanon had always had a difficult time getting along with him. But it was the Heather years that’d left the deepest scars and were still something Kanon couldn’t forgive his father for.