“I didn’t say that. I said I was glad she was doing this for her sake. It’s not like I’m withholding information. I mean, what if Violet doesn’t want to be found? Shouldn’t she be left in peace?”

“Unfortunately, Daisy’s interests and her mother’s may not coincide.”

“Look, all I know is I don’t like being put in the middle like this. I’ve told you as much as I know. The rest of it is your problem. I hope Daisy gets what she wants, but not at Violet’s expense.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “I guess in the long run, it’s theirs to deal with. I’ll find her if I can. What the two of them do with it is up to them. Daisy’s struggling with the notion of rejection. She doesn’t want to think her mother walked off and left her without a backward glance.”

“Violet wasn’t necessarily rejecting her. Maybe she was saying yes to something else.”

“Bottom line in that case? She put her interests above Daisy’s.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time a woman did that. Sometimes the choices are hard. If she had a guy and he was really good for her, it might have been worth the price. I don’t mean to keep defending her, but the poor woman isn’t here to defend herself.”

“That’s fine. I understand. She meant a lot to you.”

“Correction. Not ‘a lot.’ She meant everything to me.”

“Which puts you and Daisy in the same boat.”

“Not quite. I didn’t think I’d recover, but here I am and life goes on. Daisy should learn to do the same.”

“Maybe she’ll get to that one day, but for now she feels stuck.” There was a momentary pause while I roamed over the stories I’d h eard, looking for something else. I’m sure she was wishing I’d leave her alone. “What happened to your boyfriend?”

“What?”

“Your boyfriend. Weren’t you going steady with a guy back then?”

“That was Ty Eddings. How’d you hear about that?”

“Somebody mentioned him. I forget now who. We were talking about all the stuff that went on in the same time frame. The two of you broke up, right?”

“More or less. He left the day after Violet.”

“Because?”

“I have no idea. I mean, it’s not like we had a falling out. Sunday morning, we were going to meet and spend the day together. Instead, his mother drove in from Bakersfield and hauled him off. I never heard from him again.”

“That’s a tough one.”