-Chapter 26-

Ice Lake, Washington

Ren went to the oven to check on the apple pies again.

They looked good.

She made a cup of tea and fell back into her memories of how sometimes when she’d visited Chet’s grave, she prayed for the day Lee would come home and resurrect the towing business and maybe settle down here.

I know it’s never going to happen but I can’t help wishing for it. Sure, but you gotta let go, girl, she’d tell herself. That’s how it has to be.

Lee had set out on a new life, a good life, and she was happy for him.

For not long after Lee had moved to Seattle, he met a girl, Eileen, the prettiest thing. She was a nurse, smart as a whip, and so sweet. After they were married, Eileen had made sure they made the six-hour round trip from Seattle to Ice Lake every month to visit.

It wasn’t long before Eileen was pregnant with their first, a boy. They’d named him Brett, a mix of Eileen’s dad, Brad, and Chet’s names. Then Eileen had a girl, Lisa, then another boy, Jack. And with the arrival of each of her grandchildren Ren drove into Seattle and stayed with Lee and Eileen to help out.

Those days had been so joyful.

Ren felt alive again. Something new was reborn in her heart.

The greatest thing was how well she got along with Eileen. Maybe it was because Eileen had lost her own parents at an early age that they seemed to be on the same emotional frequency. They understood how people needed to hang on to each other any way they could.

They were more like mother and daughter than in-laws.

“You know,” Eileen said, “We’ve got plenty of room at our house and we’re going to add a bathroom in the basement, Ren. Why don’t you move in with us?”

“Thank you, honey, but I can’t leave the lake. It’d be like leaving Chet. As long as I can look after myself and Tipper, I’ll stay at our house in the mountains.”

“Well, if you ever change your mind, you know how we feel.”

Ren got by, taking things one day at a time, “because that’s how they come,” as Chet used to say.

She didn’t have to worry about finances. She had life insurance money and a settlement from the logging company whose truck had hit Chet. Doug Elam, the owner of the company, had come to her home, sat in the living room where he’d presented it to her himself with tears in his eyes because he’d known Chet when they were both starting out. Doug hugged her before he’d left.