A tall blond girl hit a spike for the Moose Creek Spuds, and the crowd cheered. Bea spotted her dad entering the gym and waved as he headed in their direction. They had driven separately this time, at Jeremy’s insistence, and he had embarrassed her to no end by activating the car locks on the Toyota in the parking lot. The loud beep-beep had caught everyone’s attention as they turned to see who thought it was necessary to lock their vehicle outside the school.

Why had she given up her Blazer for a Matrix again?

They’d always locked their car in Santa Clara, of course. But in Moose Creek? Dad never even locked the house unless he went out of town, let alone the truck. Same with Grandpa and Grandma. “Got nothin’ worth takin’,” Grandpa Rand told her once.

Jeremy watched the volleyball fly back and forth over the net. “We’ll be gone before the weather gets that bad.”

Bea squirmed. Would they? How could he be sure? If they ended up stuck here longer than expected, would Jeremy be okay with that? No Starbucks or movie theater. No RadioShack. He was being a good sport now, but winter was coming. If Jeremy was questioning gym time already, how was he going to handle basketball doubleheaders?

As Dad climbed the bleachers toward them, she forced the conversation in a different direction. “Did you see that chocolate cake in the lobby? With Heath pieces on top?”

Jeremy nodded. “Are they having a bake sale or something?”

“A silent auction, I think.” She scanned the game program and read aloud from the blurb on the front. “‘For Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, we are raising money for Susan Mullins, who is currently at the Cancer Center in Seattle receiving treatment for breast cancer. Please check out the items in the lobby and make your bids. The silent auction will close at eight.’”

Her voice stumbled over the words breast cancer, and she steeled herself against a slew of bad memories. She couldn’t cry, not with Dad about to join them. She’d learned the hard way he didn’t know what to do with her tears. And from what she’d heard at the store, Susan’s cancer had been caught in the early stages. Before it could metastasize.

She was lucky.

Dad reached them and took a seat next to Bea. His expression looked as sick as she felt, and he awkwardly patted her knee. “Such a shame about Susan. I hadn’t heard. I put a bid on that big chocolate cake.”

Bea nodded. He would do all he could to support the Mullins family. The whole town would. “That’s the one I want.”

A strong chocolate craving had kicked in the moment she’d laid eyes on it. She’d never wanted a cake so badly in her life.