And now Lena offered her this gift, even though she had treated her like shit at first. Jess wanted to thank her, to apologize again, to tell her how much the offer meant, but the right words eluded her. Keep it simple.
“I like that. Friends.” Jess took a deep breath to push the stroller up the hill. To her surprise, her lungs burned less than expected and she even had a little air left to talk. Maybe her doctor’s appointment would be something to look forward to after all.
Chapter Twelve
“Oh, here’s the crossing where the cute cat crossed the road two years ago. You have to turn left.” Lena waved toward the side street.
Cute cat, really? But Jess had stopped asking questions thirty minutes ago. The answers were just too confusing. Lena’s internal map was like a collage, a collection of mental pictures, fun facts, and memories of unique trees.
All too soon after leaving the highway east of Seattle, Jess was lost. She’d followed Lena’s directions and turned more times than she could count onto increasingly worse roads.
She wasn’t completely lost, of course. If she looked at the sun and the time, she could calculate the cardinal points. She’d always prided herself on her sense of direction, which also helped her navigate twisted coronaries with a thin wire and transformed the black-on-white X-ray into a three-dimensional map in her mind. But her mental road map included street names and clear directions.
She needed to trust Lena to return her to safety after their fruit forage expedition in the Washington wilderness. At least Lena seemed confident in her instructions.
“Stop here and I’ll open the gate,” Lena said and pointed to a grassy spot next to the road.
Gate? Maybe she didn’t know what she was doing after all. Jess saw only clusters of trees and shrubs overgrown with weeds and vines. But she did as instructed.
Lena jumped out of the car and approached the hedge, if you could call something that was a mixture of at least half a dozen plants a hedge. She reached between the green leaves and pushed.
Slowly the hedge, or at least a part that was more than wide enough for her car, moved. An overgrown dirt road led around a bend.
Jess followed Lena, who shut the gate behind her car.
Smiling, Lena returned to her seat and motioned Jess forward. “Only another mile. The road won’t get worse.”
As promised, they soon reached their destination. The old wooden farmhouse didn’t look too bad from a distance, but when Jess stopped between the house and the barn, it became obvious no one had lived here for quite some time.
“Are your friends still using the house?” Jess doubted it was safe.
“No. When they come here, they hike down to the river and camp. They use the place not more than three or four times a year but are reluctant to sell. They have a vague plan to renovate sometime in the future and retire here.”
The paint was flaking and had faded to an indistinct pale gray in most places; the windows were boarded shut, and weeds, grass, and moss grew everywhere—the yard, the porch, and even parts of the roof. The barn was in similar condition.
Jess couldn’t imagine the work it would take to make it inhabitable again. “Might be cheaper to tear it down and build a new house.”
“I guess. I suppose it’s mostly nostalgia and not a real plan.” Lena stretched her arms over her head, and her T-shirt rode up to reveal a toned stomach. She had dressed differently for today’s expedition. Instead of her usual layers of loose linen and cotton, she wore jeans and a T-shirt. Both were faded and frayed at the seams but looked soft and comfortable despite the tight fit. “Are you ready to stretch your legs a little bit? The orchard is behind the kitchen garden, or rather, what’s left of it.”
Jess opened the trunk to get the buckets. “Lead the way.”
The walk through the overgrown garden didn’t take long. The sun shone, and a light breeze carried a mixture of scents Jess couldn’t identify. Everything smelled fresh and full of life. Bees and birds buzzed around them, not minding the intrusion into their territory. As they followed the almost unrecognizable path, Jess looked around for the vegetables that must have grown here years ago, but she couldn’t identify anything. “Mom would love it here.”
“Oh, she does. She came with me last year to collect some seeds. It was difficult to get her to leave. Only when darkness fell was I able to tear her away. I wonder why she volunteered to stay home with Ella today.”
“She’s taking her to meet some friends. I think she wants to show off her perfect granddaughter.” Jess laughed. “I can see her staying here for hours. I didn’t know you’d known her for so long.”
“She bought one of my preserves last year, and we started talking about heirloom tomatoes and old types of vegetables. I mentioned this place to her, and she asked to go together. Her knowledge is amazing, I learned so much from her on that trip. She doesn’t just know the facts, but she can also relate them to you in such an interesting way. I think she might miss teaching.”
Jess blinked at the open admiration in Lena’s tone. Intellectually, she knew her mom was an accomplished botanist who had published several papers and books and had been a popular professor at the university. But for
