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Okay. Where should I meet you?

Americana Eats?

That was the nicest restaurant in town. It served salads, steaks, pasta and homemade pie and was expensive enough that she didn’t go there very often. But this felt like a celebration. What time?

Six? You can just take Ari home with you after.

She smiled at her phone. She almost couldn’t believe it: She’d weathered the storm. The difficult situation she’d faced with Glenda being her daughter’s stepmother had come to an end. “Hallelujah,” she said on a long, relieved exhale.

* * *

The restaurant had a flocked tree at the entrance. It was fake, but at least it wasn’t as cheap and cheesy as the one at the drugstore. Patience had been trying to get the businesses in Hard Luck to exhibit a little more taste and style, to make the town more appealing, but not everyone understood the goal. Some missed by a wide margin…

“I have a table prepared for you now.”

She turned when she heard the hostess’s voice and followed her to a booth in one corner of the restaurant. It was more crowded than she’d expected. With the holidays right around the corner, there was a festive spirit in the air that was bringing more people out of their homes despite the cold.

Since she’d beaten Jack and Ari to the restaurant, she listened to “Deck the Halls” by Mannheim Steamroller playing in the background while perusing the menu. Her father hadn’t reached out to see why she hadn’t come back after she walked out this morning, and she hadn’t contacted him to explain. She could feel the gap between them widening, knew the rift would be harder to heal the longer she let it go, but she couldn’t face the thought of trying to talk to him. Not yet.

“Hi, Mom!”

Hearing her daughter’s voice, Patience lowered her menu. Ari was coming toward her, grinning widely, which gave Patience the impression she’d enjoyed having time alone with her father. “Hi, baby,” she said and got up to give her a hug.

Jack stood behind Ari, his hands in his pockets. “Looks like it’s going to storm again,” he said.

Patience wondered if he’d brought up the weather because he didn’t know what else to say. It was slightly awkward to be out to eat together after such a long time of having to account for Glenda and the displeasure she’d feel if they ever did anything—even transfer Ari from one car to the other—without her. “It’s been a cold winter,” she said.

When she sat down again, he slid into the booth across from her and Ari sat beside her. “What looks good?” he asked, picking up the menu the hostess had left for him.

“Everything,” Patience replied. “I haven’t been here since forever.”

“Can I get a steak?” Ari asked eagerly, looking up at her father.

“Sure,” Jack replied.

He could afford it. Patience had to be more careful. She ordered a bowl of baked potato soup.

Jack seemed surprised that she didn’t order more. “That’s all you want?”

“With the bread they bring, that’ll be plenty,” she said.

He got fried zucchini as an appetizer, and insisted she help eat it. Then, like Ari, he got a steak. Over dinner, they talked about how much better Ari was getting at volleyball—Jack had gone with her to the school gymnasium to help her practice her serves. Then they talked about how Jack’s parents were doing—they’d moved to Vegas shortly after she and Jack moved out—and his two brothers—only one still lived in town—before moving down the list to his best friends and some of the neighbors they both knew. By the end of the meal, Patience had relaxed and was having fun. It was surprisingly easy to fall into a comfortable rapport since she knew Jack so well.

“How are you and your father getting along?” he asked after they were served piping hot slices of apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream melting on top—something else Jack had insisted she enjoy with them.

It was a conversational question. He had no way of knowing she and Carl were currently in an argument. Given his combative history with her father, Patience didn’t feel comfortable venting about what’d happened this morning—even though she would’ve liked to, since she was still angry about it. “About the same,” she replied.

“Do you like working at the church?”

She shrugged. “I guess. Doesn’t pay much, but Hard Luck isn’t exactly teeming with opportunities.”

He looked up. “You could come back to work for me.”

She sat taller. “Schedule the trucks again?”

“And run the office. Why not? You already know how. You’re the one who helped me start Mather Trucking in the first place.”

So Glenda was losing her job as well as her marriage. That made sense. If they were getting divorced, they wouldn’t want to continue working together. Patience knew exactly what that felt like. But wouldn’t it be weird for her to go back to work for Jack? People might think they were reconciling or something… “I doubt my father would be happy if I quit on him again. He barely forgave me for doing it the first time,” she said with a laugh.