Page 5 of When Cardinals Appear

Um, okay, then. That had seemed like a safe and innocent question but whatever. I gave up trying to be civil and leaned back against the seat, crossing my arms.

He glanced at me. “My dad retired. I own the business now.”

“Oh, wow. That’s great! When did that happen?” I latched onto anything to alleviate the awkwardness.

“About a month after your mom…” He cleared his throat. “He had a heart attack.”

“I’m so sorry. I hadn’t heard.” I reached out to him, but the look on his face told me he wouldn’t welcome my touch, so I dropped my hand. “Is he okay?”

“He’s better.” Nate shifted in his seat. “But between the heart attack and your mother’s passing”—his voice cracked on the last word—“I guess he realized life’s too short and decided it was time to retire.”

I bit my lip and turned away, blinking back a surge of tears. The news was hardly surprising. Mom’s death had shaken the whole town, not to mention my entire life. All my plans for moving to California directly after graduation had been obliterated the moment I’d learned she had cancer. I’d never intended to return after she died, but her inexplicable decision to name me executor had further altered my course.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I swallowed a sob, but a rogue tear still managed to slip through my herculean efforts not to cry. I swiped my hand over my face to dash it away but not before Nate saw.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “She was a good woman.”

I whipped my head around, raising my eyebrows. Nate and Mom had never gotten along. In fact, Mom was thrilled when I came home crying about the breakup. Ha, what an understatement. If I’d let her, Mom probably would have thrown a party.

Some of Mom’s animosity was perhaps my fault. At one point, I had considered postponing college. At the very least, I proposed starting locally at the community college before heading off to my dream school, when Nate could join me. But Mom put her foot down, threatening not to pay for any of it if I didn’t go. She didn’t want me to wait for “some guy,” as she so eloquently put it, to pursue my dreams. I knew she was still bitter about the divorce, but her angry objections to Nate always felt misplaced. He’d never done anything to warrant her dislike, but I’d always assumed he just reminded her too much of my dad. Or our relationship reminded her too much of theirs. My parents were also high school sweethearts, and Mom never quite forgave herself for graduating high school and jumping into marriage.

She said she wanted a better life for me, and she made me promise to move as far away from Cedar Haven as possible and never to settle. That was what she felt she had done. She’d given up some of her dreams when she married my father. They were so young, and it was natural that she worried I was making the same mistake. In the end, she won. She convinced me to go to Seattle, but I defied her in one way. I stubbornly stood by my commitment to Nate. And we saw how that worked out.

As if he’d sensed my thoughts, his cheeks reddened. “Your mother and I...” He cleared his throat. “We made our peace.”

“You did?” I couldn’t believe my ears. They talked? When? While I was away? I stared at him, the questions burning in my throat, but Nate simply nodded and didn’t elaborate.

“Well, that’s something, I guess,” I said. “With everything that happened, I never would’ve expected you to forgive her.”

Nate frowned but kept his eyes on the road. “I never held any ill will toward your mother.”

“Just toward me, then?” I covered my mouth with my hand. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.”

He shrugged in what I assumed was meant to be a nonchalant way, but it came off stiffly. “It is what it is.”

He scratched his eyebrow, a familiar gesture that demonstrated his discomfort. I hid a smile. We once shared such a strong connection that I could almost read his mind, and a part of me was thrilled that I could still read him so well, even after all this time.

We pulled into the shop’s parking lot. He backed the truck in front of one of the bays and hopped out. I waited in the cab for him to finish unloading the car, but I jumped when he opened my door.

“There’s some stuff you need to sign.” Nate nodded to the small office. “Your brother said you were heading to see him. I can take you when you’re done.”

I grabbed my things and went inside. Not much had changed since Nate had taken over the business. My family had been coming to Sanders’s Tire and Auto for as long as I could remember, both out of loyalty and because they were the only mechanic shop in town. As I stepped into the building, I spotted a seating area with some old chairs and an ancient television that was only capable of playing four channels. On the other side of the small room was a desk with a computer, printer, and phone. A man I vaguely recognized was on a call as I approached, and he held up a finger, indicating he would be with me shortly.

While I waited, I replayed the short conversation Nate and I had on the drive over. He and my mother had resolved their differences. I couldn’t get over that unexpected revelation. What I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on that wall.

“Ma’am?” the man at the counter called out.

I smiled and stepped forward. “My car was just brought in. A blue Ford Focus.”

“No problem. Have you been here before?” he asked as he typed into the computer. His graying hair fell onto his forehead, and he shoved it out of his eyes.

“Um, it’s been a few years, but I might be in the system. Or it might be under my mother’s name. I’m Lanie McAllister.”

The man’s head shot up, and his green eyes took me in as if seeing me for the first time. I took a wary step back. There were only two reasons why my name would be familiar to this man: either he knew my mom, or he knew my history with Nate. Neither was a welcome possibility.

“Melody’s daughter?” he asked.

“That’s me,” I chirped with feigned enthusiasm.

---