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He wondered whatever happened to Heather. He hadn’t heard anything about her since his father told him she’d left him and gone back to Ely.

A car pulled slowly down the drive where Kanon was parked—probably a parent coming to pick up a student. He was afraid sitting there for too long would raise questions, so he took that as a cue to leave and drove away. He’d been planning to go somewhere to work on his computer. He liked the coffee shop, but Buzzworthy was closed for the day, and he was getting hungry.

He decided to eat at Flip-n Burger while he created a Facebook banner for one of the clients who’d had him design a book cover.

The restaurant was busier than he’d expected. Apparently, teenagers came here to hang out after school, so he decided he’d wait to order until there weren’t any lines and found a two-person table in the far corner on which he set up his laptop.

He was just lifting elements from the layered files of the author’s cover when he looked up to see if he could finally get his order in and saw Glenda with two teenage girls. He watched as the trio carried ice cream shakes to a table near the door where they started to sit down. But then Glenda spotted him and motioned to her young companions to move to the table right next to his.

“Kanon, what are you doing here?” Glenda asked, making it clear by the excitement in her voice that she was glad to have run into him.

“Just getting a few things done,” he replied.

“For the motel?”

He had some ads and other promotional materials he wanted to create for the motor inn, so he nodded even though he hadn’t started those projects yet.

She gave him another toothy smile. “Are you looking forward to the festival?”

“I don’t know if I’m looking forward to it, but I’m getting the motel ready and I’m hoping it’ll be successful.”

She gestured at one of the girls. “Have you met Ari?”

Ari had to be Patience’s daughter. Not only did he recognize the name, there was a strong resemblance. But he wanted to see how Glenda would respond, so he said, “No. Is this your daughter?”

She slid an arm around the girl’s shoulders in an ingratiating manner. “Sort of. I’m her stepmom.”

“My mom is Patience Mather,” Ari said, wiggling out of Glenda’s grasp.

“I’ve known your mother for years.” Kanon identified himself, then said, “I was living here on and off while your mother and Glenda were in high school and remember them. I’ve also been working with your mother on the festival since I moved back.”

“The festival’s going to be fun.” Ari gestured toward the other girl. “This is my best friend, Mia Foster. Do you know her dad? He went to Hard Luck High, too.”

They talked about Mia’s dad, a man named Rowan, but Rowan was ten years older than Kanon and Kanon didn’t remember him. Once they established that, Ari and Mia said it was nice to meet him and slid into their seats to enjoy their treat. Glenda sat down with them and made a few comments that were directed at them, which they answered, but they were clearly more interested in their ice cream and each other.

As they talked and giggled, Glenda kept looking over at him and attempting to draw him into a conversation, especially after the girls recognized a boy from school and hurried over to him.

“I’m embarrassed about the scene you witnessed at the coffee shop on Sunday,” she said once they were out of earshot. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

He looked up from his computer. “No problem.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I married Patience’s ex.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Then maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by what happened at the coffee shop.”

She blinked, obviously unsure how to take his words. “They were already breaking up. I didn’t cause that. They struggled from the very beginning, probably shouldn’t have married despite the pregnancy. But Patience’s dad is so religious he wouldn’t hear of anything else.”

Intrigued in spite of himself, Kanon leaned back. “How old were they when they got married?”

“Seventeen.”

The age difference between Patience and her daughter revealed that Patience had been very young when Ari was born. But Kanon hadn’t known exactly how everything had transpired. Although he’d been back in Hard Luck—on and off—during that time, he hadn’t paid much attention to anyone else, especially someone Patience’s age. He’d been fighting too hard to get a grip on his own life. “He was only seventeen, too?”

She nodded.

“That’s young, all right. What did they do after they got married? Did they move in with her father?”

“No. They lived with Jack’s parents for a year.”