Mel was quiet for a moment. When she pulled into the bar parking lot next to Jack’s truck, she asked, “Have you had some counseling, Kaylee?”
“Yes, right after she died, for several months. I’m not sure it helped.”
“But this will take time. Of course it will take time. I’m not a religious person but I bet your mother is not very far away. I bet she’s your guardian angel. I bet she helps put the right people all around you so that you can feel her love even from a distance.”
Kaylee smiled. “Sure,” she said.
Mel patted her hand. “I’m never sure of the right thing to say. But knowing you a little bit now, I believe you’ll get through this difficult year and find joy again.”
“That might take a miracle,” Kaylee said.
“Miracles happen around here all the time. It will come, I’m sure of it. As your world gets bigger than your grief. Anything I can do to help, just say the word.”
“Thank you, Mel.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “Will you help us again tomorrow?”
“Absolutely! It was a very good day.”
Landry did ask Jack if his help was needed in the filling and transporting of holiday food boxes, but Jack said, “We’re good. If you come around, you get cookies, but we’re covered.”
So instead, Landry made an appointment to speak with Brie.
“I’ve been thinking. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can move forward on this divorce with the least difficulty?”
“Have you talked to Laura? Do you have any inside knowledge as to why she’d hire a lawyer and ramp up her settlement demands?”
“I did talk to her. She said she wanted another chance with our marriage, but that’s out of the question. Especially now that she’s trying to hold me hostage.”
“Well, the fastest and least cumbersome way is to offer her half the value of your property. I don’t think that’s the smartest way, but it is probably the quickest.”
“That wouldn’t leave me in a very safe place,” he said. “I owe money on the house and land. I took out a mortgage so I could ‘loan’ her money.”
“Do you have records of those transactions?”
He reached for the papers in the inside pocket of his jacket and passed them to Brie. “Here’s what I have. I never asked Laura to sign a loan document, but here are copies of checks I made out to her and I did write ‘loan’ in the notes section. I’m emotionally tied to the property. I grew up there. It was all my father had when he died. He had a pension from the communications company he worked for, which is a fancy name for a phone and cable company. My dad was a hardworking cable man. I can pull together some money, if it would help. I can get a loan using my property as collateral.”
“Help what, Landry? Get the divorce settled?”
“Yes, before I hate her. I should have done it years ago, when I realized she’d chosen something else over our marriage. I should have done it when my net worth was a bunch of pots and a kiln. I should have done it before my father passed away. I thought she was as unmotivated as I was but I think I was naive. She asked me for money quite often. She said she wouldn’t contest or argue against a divorce, but here she is asking for money.”
“I could find out from her attorney what it would take to end it on good terms,” Brie said. “If they want to go the distance, we can take your case to the mediator. Usually abandonment factors in the bottom line. She left you. She never lived with you after that. She might only be successful in getting half of your net worth at the time of separation and nothing more...”
“It wouldn’t be much,” he said. “I’m a pack rat. A tidy pack rat, but I have all the old tax returns and bank statements. I’m self-employed; I kept very good records.”
“Let me give it a go.”
“I think that would be a good idea,” he said. “Thank you.”
11
KAYLEE HELPED WITH the holiday baskets on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and again it brought her great pleasure. Her mother used to always say, Feeling a little sorry for yourself? Do something nice for someone else. Particularly someone you don’t know. That will put you right. She hadn’t done it intentionally but it never failed to be completely true. And it wasn’t a case of seeing people who had it worse and thus making her feel better. It was about giving. Her mother was right. Giving fed the soul.
When she got home, she fed her kitty and then went straight to Landry’s house. She found him in the shop, working on his sculpture. “Did you go to Eureka and get seafood?”
He grinned at her. “Shouldn’t you kiss me before you ask if I’ve done my chores?”
She hopped right into his arms and kissed him long enough and lovingly enough to convince him of her gratitude.
“Can I see it?” she asked.
“First we have something important to do. Go pet your dog and then I have somewhere to take you. I have something to show you.”
“What?”
“A surprise. You’re going to like it. Let’s not waste a lot of time with you trying to figure it out.”
“I’m not that crazy about surprises.”
“No arguing for once!” he said. “If you don’t like this one I promise I’ll never do it again!”
“Fair enough,” she said, running out to the kennel to check on Lady. The new mother was looking so good. She’d filled out, her coat was clean and shiny and thick, her puppies were getting big and playful. Lady looked to be a yellow Lab with the most beautiful American head, a long
