She heard a text come in and ignored that, too. But after another thirty minutes, she had to glance at her phone. If it was Maxi, she felt too guilty ignoring him while she was staying on his property.

Sure enough, he’d been trying to reach her, and when she hadn’t answered his call, he’d resorted to a message.

Are you okay? Seth said there was an incident, and he feels terrible about it. He wants you to know he’s sorry and that he would never hurt you intentionally.

Putting the ice pack on the towel she’d gotten to absorb the condensation, she sat up to respond. She didn’t know how much her new property mate had told Maxi, but Maxi didn’t seem to be upset.

Or was that still coming?

Who is he?

Seth Turner. A phenomenal artist. Made the sculpture in the entryway when he was only eighteen. He usually focuses on the stages of a young man’s life, and the way he does it is so insightful. I’ve never seen anyone else be able to use negative space the way he does.

She assumed negative space referred to the parts of the sculpture that weren’t really there but were sort of assumed.

I have a whole series of his work in the library upstairs, Maxi added.

She didn’t really care about Seth’s work. She didn’t care much about anything these days except finding a hole she could crawl into.

What’s he in town for? A gallery showing?

She hoped it was something like that. Then maybe he’d change his mind about staying longer and leave after the show was over.

No. His mother lives in the area. Her name’s Aiyana Turner. She founded New Horizons Boys & Girls Ranch 20something years ago.

Boys and girls ranch? What’s that?

It’s a boarding school just outside of town for troubled kids. Aiyana does a lot of good for a lot of people.

So Seth’s home for the holidays?

Yeah. He said he was going to teach an art class at the school for his mother, so he’s probably home for that, too.

She sighed. Teaching sounded long-term.

I don’t want to get in his way, she wrote. Maybe I should head back to LA.

Definitely not! He won’t bother you. That’s what he wanted me to tell you. And there’s no way I’d trust him with Kiki. He’s a great guy—don’t get me wrong—but I can’t see him taking care of a parrot.

A tear rolled slowly down her good cheek—until she dashed it away. She couldn’t stay here. Not with Seth Turner around. But she didn’t feel as though she could abandon Kiki.

She couldn’t face returning to Los Angeles, either.