“What do the new houses look like?” Andrea said, changing the subject abruptly.
“I haven’t seen them yet. I thought I’d walk across the field tomorrow and take a look.”
“I hope they’re not tacky boxes.”
“I doubt they are. The builder told Mom they’d be selling for a lot of money.”
“That’s good. How was the ride to Callen?”
“Long and hot. I’d forgotten how far a drive it is.”
“You figure out yet how long you’re going to stay?”
“I have no idea. Andi, we talked about all this. I don’t know what’s the best thing to do with the farm. I hate to sell it, but none of us wants to live here. You have your home and your family out there in Oklahoma, and Rob has his life in L.A. I have my business out in the western part of the state-”
“Which you can run from Callen. You do it from home, as it is. Why can’t you run it from Callen?”
“I can, and I will, for a while. But just because I don’t have a husband and family in Woodboro, or because I don’t have to go into an office every day, doesn’t mean I don’t have a life there. I have friends, I have a social life, and I’d appreciate it if you’d respect that.”
“I do respect that,” Andrea soothed. “I just meant that right now, you’re the logical one to deal with all this. Neither Rob nor I are in a position to take off for a few weeks. We’re lucky that your accounting business is such that you can work from anywhere.”
“Oh, the wonders of technology and computer systems that interface.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You said your computer hooks into your clients’, so you can travel back and forth. When was the last time you went into any of your clients’ offices?”
“I do an in-house audit twice a year for each client.”
“And you have how many clients?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Well, there you go, then. Your business is a success, you only have about a month and a half when you need to be on-site. The rest of the time, you can work from Callen.”
“I don’t plan on being here long enough to worry about it. You wouldn’t be having second thoughts about selling the farm, would you?”
Andrea’s hesitation spoke volumes.
“I just want what’s best for everyone,” she said. “Maybe we could keep the house and a few acres.”
“I thought we already agreed that it would be best for everyone if we sold the entire property.”
“I think we need to discuss it a little more.”
“If you were undecided, you should have said something before I drove across the state to get the ball rolling on the sale.”
“I simply think we shouldn’t be too hasty.”
“Andrea, I will stay here long enough to take care of our business and to carry out Mom’s last wishes. But I have a life in Woodboro, and I intend to return to it. This is a temporary stop for me. If you want to hold on to the farm, I suggest you and Jerry find a way to buy both my and Rob’s shares and move yourselves out here.”
“You know we’re not in a position to do that.”
“Well, neither am I.”
“But-”
“Enough, Andrea. I’m exhausted. I’m not going to continue this discussion anymore tonight.”
“Well, fine, Lorna. We’ll talk about it after you’ve had a few days to rest up from your trip. Maybe you’ll feel differently after being there. Let me know when you’ve put Mom to rest.”
Andrea hung up before Lorna could respond.
“And thanks for your support,” Lorna muttered as she dropped the receiver in its cradle.
What had gotten into Andrea, she wondered. Two weeks ago she thought selling the property was the best thing to do. She and Rob had both agreed that, with no one in the family interested in running the farm, the smart thing would be to sell it off, pay the taxes, and split the proceeds three ways, as Mom’s will had decreed they should do if and when they decided to sell. Why the sudden change of heart on Andrea’s part?
“Well, no change of heart for me,” Lorna said, reminding herself to call a Realtor tomorrow and make an appointment to have the property appraised. She had no idea what it was worth, but she suspected it would be quite substantial.
She started to lock the front door, then remembered the three urns in the back of the car. She went outside and lifted the box gently, carefully carrying it up the front steps and setting it down on the top of her grandmother’s piano. She didn’t know what to do with it overnight, though, so she locked the front door, turned out all but the hall lights, and carried the box holding her mother’s ashes up to the second floor. She placed it beside her mother’s favorite chair.
“Sorry, Mom. I don’t have much experience with this sort of thing.” Somehow, she knew her mother would be amused.
But when it came time to sleep, Lorna lay on her old bed in the room she’d shared with Andrea from the time they were little until Lorna had left for college. The pillow felt like a rock, the mattress like a bed of nails. After an hour of tossing and turning, she went down the hall in the dark to her mother’s room, and climbed into her mother’s bed.
You are ridiculous, she told herself. Thirty-four years old, and you’re curled up clutching your momma’s pillow.
But in spite of her best efforts to shame herself into returning to her own bed, somehow it felt right. Within minutes, Lorna was sound asleep, and if Uncle Will was on the prowl, he didn’t bother to disturb her.
2
Lorna woke to the sound of voices being carried from a distance. She roused herself and went to the window and leaned out. At the far end of the property-the parcel that had been sold-three police cars were lined up along the side of the field.
The builder must have forgotten to apply for his permits, she thought. God knows, anything passes for high drama in Callen.
She pulled on a pair of gray knit shorts and a red tank top, and tried to brush her light brown hair into submission. Finally she pulled it back into a ponytail and searched her suitcase for her flip-flops. Before she went downstairs, she peered out the window again. An ambulance was just pulling up beside the cruisers.
One of the workmen at the development must have gotten injured somehow was her first thought. She took the stairs two at a time and went into the kitchen to look for coffee, but came up empty. The convenience store a mile down the road sold coffee, she recalled from her last trip home, so she grabbed her purse and headed out the front door. She could deal with just about anything if she had her coffee first.
Twelve minutes later, Lorna was returning home, a twenty-ounce cup of coffee in hand, when a black car bearing the words County Medical Examiner on the door sped by. She pulled over to the side of the road and watched the car turn right onto Conway Road, the road that ran behind the farm. The road one took to reach the new development that was growing across the field.