“She quit after two weeks to run off to Vegas with him. Never got any kind of car until we bought her a used Taurus. She was just rebelling by going to Ojai, like every other time.”

“You said Barnett was working some kind of traveling rodeo?”

“For all I know he put stars in my daughter’s eyes with rope tricks. I’m allergic to horses . . . out of the blue she’s married, informing me she wants lots of babies. Not just babies, lots of babies. I said who’s going to pay for all those babies, and she had a ready answer. Cowboy Buckaroo was putting away his chaps and spurs, whatever, and getting himself a real job.”

Balquin snorted. “Like I was supposed to stand and applaud. What was this great career? Working for a pool-cleaning service.”

I said, “They were married a while before they had Kristal.”

“Seven years,” said Balquin. “Which was fine with me. I figured maybe Lara was finally thinking straight, doing some financial planning. She got herself a job— not a great one, supermarket cashier at Vons. And Cowboy bought himself some chlorine and went out on his own.”

“You see them much?”

“Hardly at all. Then one day Lara dropped in, nervous, sheepish. I knew she wanted something. What she wanted was money for fertility treatment. Turns out they’d been trying for years. She said she’d gotten pregnant a few times but miscarried. Then nothing. Her doctor was thinking some sort of incompatibility. I knew for her to show up she’d have to want something.”

I said, “Why was there so little contact?”

“Because that’s what they wanted. We invited them to every family affair but they never showed up. At the time, I assumed that was his doing, but now I’m not sure. Because my therapist says I need to confront the possibility of Lara’s complicity in a destructive dyad. As part of the process.”

“The process?” said Milo.

“The healing process,” said Balquin. “Getting my act together. I have a chemical imbalance that affects my moods but I also need to take personal responsibility for how I react to stressful situations. My new therapist gets what loss is all about and she brought me to the point where I can take the gloves off when it comes to Lara. That’s why your call was so perfect. After you called, I told my therapist we’d be talking. She thought it was karma.”

Milo nodded, crossed his legs. “Did you give Lara the money for treatment?”

“The two of them had no health insurance. I’m not sure if fertility’s even covered by insurance. I felt sorry for her, knew it was tough for her to come with her hand out. I told her I’d ask her father and she thanked me. Actually hugged me.”