“She had a talk with your mom before she left,” his dad said.

When had Kate had a chance to do that? Whatever she’d said must’ve worked a miracle. His dad said he was seeing a side of Susan he’d hadn’t seen in years. She’d finally forgiven him for the mistake he’d made all those years ago. Lucas was happy for them.

Jamie visited him at the shop at least once a week and filled him in on her love life with Aaron. Brody kept bugging him to get an e-mail address so they could communicate more.

Lucas dipped the cloth in mineral spirits again and smoothed it over the drawer face a second time. He was nearly ready to apply the final coat of polyurethane when his shop door opened. Jamie entered, shutting the door. She turned and held up a copy of the New York Times.

“Did you see this?” Her chin jutted forward.

“See what?”

“The article about Kate.” She extended the paper.

Lucas wiped the side panel of the pie safe, wiped the rim along the top, taking care to get into the crevices.

“Luc.” Jamie approached, her flip-flops shuffling on the cement floor.

“I’m not interested.”

The newspaper smacked against her jeans-encased leg. “You are, too, and you know it.”

He moved around the pie case and wiped down the other panel.

“She lost her syndicated column,” Jamie said.

Lucas’s hand paused over the rim, then continued. Why had Kate lost her column? The story had died down just as her publisher hoped it would. Had the scandal done irreparable damage? How can they cancel her column when she’s worked so hard, God? Is she going to lose everything, despite all her efforts?

“You have to do something, Luc.”

He shook his head. “Maybe Kate decided to focus on books instead of the column.”

“That’s not what the article says.”

Lucas looked at the paper, torn between grabbing it and reading every detail he could find about her life without him, and burning the paper so he could spare himself the agony.

“I’m sure she’s fine. The story faded quickly enough.”

“Her book sales are in the toilet.”

Lucas arched his brow. “Did the article say that too?”

Jamie hitched her pointed little chin up a notch. “I’ve been keeping track of her numbers on Amazon.”

“What’s that?” He wished he hadn’t asked. His sister was drawing him in, and he only wanted to put it behind him. He wiped the top of the pie case even though it was already clean.

“Amazon—where people buy books online?” Her look said, Duh. “She used to be ranked, like, below two hundred, and now her book is nearly at two hundred thousand!”