Page 208 of The Woman Left Behind

He’d made arrangements before, and at that dinner was not only Sergeant Lynda Westwood and her husband, but the husband and wife who had retired from the motel business, and their daughter and son-in-law who took it over.

I’ll admit, I cried just a little when the man looked at me and said, “God, you’re the perfect combination of those two lovely people.”

But after I got over that, it was a nice night.

They’d asked if I wanted to see the room Mom and Dad stayed in, but I declined. We didn’t even go to the motel.

Though, I discovered Coeur d’Alene was an insanely gorgeous place, and weirdly, I felt some peace that Mom and Dad rested in such splendor before they came home to me.

That said, I told Harry I never wanted to go back.

I knew he thought it was gorgeous too.

But he agreed.

By myself, I went through their room and picked a few things I wanted to keep.

Once I’d done that, I let Ronnie and George, Shane and Sherise, and a few of their other friends make their selections.

Then Harry, Ronnie, George and I donated what we could, sold what we could, and got rid of the rest.

Rus and Doc came over, and they and George helped Harry paint the room.

(Painting, by the way, was also “man’s work,” and that was okay by me, considering, while they did it, I hung in the kitchen with Ronetta, Cin, and Doc’s very pregnant wife Nadia, with Maddie, and Doc’s son, Ledger, out back, playing with the dogs.)

I left all my stuff in my old room and created a cozy, cottage-y space that was a whole lot more unisex in taupes and soft mushrooms with a fun pouf at the end of the bed and fluffy dried grass instead of flowers in vases on the nightstands.

Harry’s dad had been an electrician before he retired, and he installed two droplights covered in wicker shades on either side of the bed. And there were lots of fluffy pillows for lounging (and other).

We did this because Harry found an architect who was going to design the blowout of the back of the house, and he said, if we didn’t mind some dust and noise, he could do it while we were still living there.

This thrilled Greg and Josh, and they moved forward with the sale of Harry’s place (though Amanda and Caroline had already had the old kitchen gutted before that even started).

The detritus of the burnt down stables were removed, and a large, attractive garage/storage building was going to be put up.

I was excited for them, and for Harry.

Same place. Same people.

But a fresh start.

And he’d always have the home his mom and dad gave him.

Greg wasn’t only an electrician, but like Harry, he was handy, and he liked to be busy. So when he was in town, he helped me with my properties, and my owners paid him for any electrical work that needed to be done, not to mention installations and repairs.

He liked this so much (along with being close to his boys, his grandchildren, Amanda, and…well, me), eventually, he was up in Misted Pines more than he was down in Phoenix.

Though, part of this might have been because Caroline’s daughter pitched a fit when Caroline asserted she did have a life outside of unpaid babysitter and daycare duties, and she was going to live it.

This caused ongoing dissension because Caroline was hurt, Greg was angry, and as such, Misted Pines was a more peaceful option.

They got ATVs and a speedboat, and Josh and Amanda and the kids came out all the time, even if the drive was quite a haul.

Though, I noted Josh and Amanda didn’t have the same relationship Harry and I did.

I noticed this around the time they got in a huge fight over Josh not wanting the living room changed and Amanda demanding it be changed (I didn’t weigh in, but I thought Josh was right, sure it was semi-kinda dated, but it was still attractive and hella comfy).

To let them have at it, Harry and I took the kids to Double D for sundaes (and Harry’s adorable niece Eugenie got hot fudge and ice cream all over her face and even in her hair, but what was more adorable was watching Harry dunk a napkin in a glass of water and clean her up).

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