“Bingo,” Will pointed at her. “We’re in a hurry to get to the hospital because my old man’s on his way out for the final time and—”

“God rest his soul,” Iris said.

“Sure, you bet.” Will squeezed my shoulder, which made an odd popping sound under his grip. Though I tried to keep my wince invisible, I was pretty sure Max noticed, because he gave me a sly wink. “Anyway,” Will went on, “Dad and me hadn’t talked in years. The stubborn old coot thought I was nuts to buy that time-share condo down in South Carolina—”

“Which we still have. We go every year,” Iris cut in.

“Yeah, we love that place. Anyway, one big family Thanksgiving dinner at the old house, Dad kept going on and on about it. I told him to stop, but of course he wouldn’t. Finally, I stood up said, ‘Iris, we’re leaving and not coming back until he apologizes.’ We walked out the door and didn’t look back.”

“Never did get a bite of turkey that year,” Iris said, sounding regretful.

The scene was easy to imagine. A table crowded with family, the patriarch at the end, looking over his offspring and their families, and, in this case, passing judgment. Classic stuff, really.

“Must have been hard on your mom,” Heather said.

Will shook his head. “Mom passed the year before all this. He was a cranky old bugger before she died, but turned a lot worse after she was gone. Anyway, that was twenty years ago—”

“Seventeen,” Iris said.

“Right, almost twenty years back. And Dad and me haven’t said a word to each other since. But then my baby brother calls and says Dad’s at the Petoskey hospital, had a bad heart attack, and isn’t supposed to last much longer. Well, my Iris here said we had to go. So we jumped in the car, took that shortcut, and wouldn’t you know it, the transmission went out and we were dead on the road. Popped the hood, but no one stopped, not until this little girl in that great big bookmobile stopped for us.”

“Took us all the way to the highway,” Iris said. “Miles from where she wanted to go.”

“That’s right.” Will beamed down at me. “Drove us to that gas station, where we could get cell phone reception and call a friend who could get us to Petoskey.”

“We are so grateful, Minnie,” Iris said. “If we’d spent any longer stranded, I doubt we would have made it in time to say good-bye.”

I smiled but was uncomfortable with the effusive praise. Julia had been more helpful than I’d been with talking to them and figuring the logistics. All I’d done was drive. “Glad we could help.”