Actually, I was grateful to be helping again. It had been too long.

After pedaling around town for nearly an hour, I found John on his lawn mower in front of the library. I didn’t have to engage him in a game of chicken to get him to stop this time. I just raised my hand, and he cut the motor.

He sat back in his seat as I walked my bike over to him, red leaves swirling down around us from the oak tree towering overhead.

He took his cap from his head and rubbed his brow with the back of his hand. “I’m guessing you’ve heard Mary confessed last night.”

I nodded. “How are you doing with everything?”

“Still putting one foot in front of the other.” He smiled, somewhat sadly.

“Listen, I want to apologize to you for the other day.”

He frowned in confusion.

“About the letter. I made a promise not to tell you where I got it from, but it wasn’t fair to you.”

He rubbed his chin. “It was Maureen, wasn’t it? She called me this morning. Said she wanted to meet up. Have a word about something important.”

“I’ll let her explain everything.” If she was ready to talk to John, the tip I had emailed her last night from Constance must have panned out. “I’m still sorry for my part in it though.”

“You’re not the one who needs to apologize.” John picked at a bit of dirt on his overalls. “What a family, huh? I didn’t know Mary was in such a bad way. I should have been there for her. And Connie, if only I had known she was trying to reach out to me.”

“It was cruel of Rip to keep that letter from you. I know what he was trying to do. I know he wanted to keep you and Constance at odds, but still, I can’t understand it.”

“Nah, you wouldn’t. You’re a good kid.” He shook his head and looked up at the sky. “I can’t help but think if my mother hadn’t died when she did, we all would have turned out different. We could have had happy lives.”

“You still can, John.”

He looked back at me and smiled. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m happy enough doing my thing. I don’t have any complaints.”

I adjusted my grip on my bike. “I was actually thinking you might want to expand your thing.”

He shot me a suspicious look.

“I was talking to a few people from the town council this morning, and as you well know, they’re going to try to turn the house into a museum if it can be restored, but when it comes to the land, Constance requested the old hobby farm to be converted into a petting zoo slash animal rehabilitation site. Now, the historical society has a lot of plans for the house, but when it comes to the animal rescue, they’re at a loss. A project like that needs someone in charge.”