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“You taking any furniture with you?” he asked. “Because if so, we should load that first.”

“Not really—just a set of bookshelves I bought after my divorce. There’d be nowhere to put anything, since the place where we’re going is already furnished.” She lowered her voice so that Ari wouldn’t overhear the next part. “I don’t think my father would let us take any of the furniture, anyway—it belongs to the house, which belongs to the church.”

“I see.” He peered into the bathroom and her bedroom as they passed the entry to them. “Where is the good reverend?”

She could hear the antipathy in his voice. “Don’t know. Probably out visiting someone. But he could come home at any time.”

He didn’t respond to that. They’d reached Ari’s room, where she was dumping her socks into the box she’d just made. “Hey,” she said when she looked up and saw Kanon.

“Hey,” he replied. “You excited about your new place?”

She twisted her long hair around one finger in a nervous gesture. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen it yet.”

“Well, if you don’t like it, I’m betting your grandfather will let the two of you come back here.”

“Maybe,” she said and tossed her pajamas in with her socks.

Patience knew it was probably a bit discombobulating to get news about her father’s divorce and move to a new house in the same week. But Ari seemed to be fine carrying on without Glenda. Hopefully, she’d be fine with living in a different house, too. “It’s cute,” she said. “It’s in a huge backyard. And the Devlins have a big super friendly German shepherd that I think you’re going to love.”

“They do?” Ari asked excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

“I just thought of it.” Her father had never been a fan of pets, and Patience didn’t want to get a dog or cat they couldn’t bring in the house, so even though Ari had asked for a cat she’d had to be satisfied with Jack’s little bulldog. “There’s a tire swing hanging from a big apple tree and lots of other fruit trees, too.”

“That sounds good, but—” she nibbled on her bottom lip “—won’t we feel weird going through someone else’s gate every time we want to come or go?”

“We won’t have to go through their gate,” Patience explained. “We have a separate entrance off the alley. We even have a small garage space of our own with storage above it.”

“But I don’t know the Devlins,” she complained.

“You’ve seen them at church. You’ll recognize them. Maybe you’ll even have Mr. Devlin for English in a couple of years.”

“When will we see Grandpa?” she asked.

“Whenever you want,” Patience said and that seemed to let her know that it wasn’t the end of the world. Patience had no desire to keep her from her grandfather.

Kanon helped by carrying box after box out of the house until they’d filled his truck and her 4Runner. Since she and Ari weren’t taking any of the big stuff like beds, dressers, TV or the like, that was almost everything, except Patience still had some art pieces hanging on her bedroom wall she’d purchased from a woman to support her fledgling career. She planned to come back for those.

“I can get anything else later,” she told Kanon as he carried out the last heavy box and she got a smaller box of toiletries from the bathroom.

Before they could get into their respective vehicles, however, her father drove up. He parked at the curb, since Kanon’s truck was backed into the drive, and got out, his face turning beet red—something Patience could see even though it was dark except for the halo of the streetlight overhead. “What’s going on here?” he asked as he crossed the lawn.

Kanon didn’t respond. He shoved his hands into the large pocket of his sweatshirt and leaned against the driver’s side door of his truck, letting her handle the situation, which was how she would’ve preferred it, anyway.

“Ari and I have rented the mother-in-law’s quarters behind the Devlins’ house,” she said.

“Because…”

“It’s been wonderful living with you, Dad, but I feel, as a mother, it’s past time for me to be out on my own with my daughter.”

His nostrils flared, but he didn’t respond to her. He turned to Ari. “You don’t have to go, you know. You could keep your bedroom and stay right here with me.”

Ari looked torn as she glanced between them. “You mean, without my mom?”

“That place is too small for two people,” he said. “You’d be better off staying here. You only have four years left before you graduate. No need to uproot you now.”

“I’m not uprooting her.” Patience was angry that he’d try to undermine her authority with her own daughter, but she was trying to avoid a big blowup and that meant giving him some latitude. She had caused him a shock by not warning him that they were leaving so soon. “We’ll be only five miles away. She’ll still be going to the same school, have the same friends and be able to come see you whenever she wants. Besides, the home where we’ll be living is not that small. She’ll still have her own room.”

A muscle moved in his cheek. “It’s unnecessary,” he insisted. “Ari should be able to decide whether she wants to go or not.”