“I wasn’t going to look at Silver Pines. I can’t move there until I’m fifty-five.”

“It pains me that you know that.”

Unity smiled. “Get a phone that texts.”

“Hallelujah.”

“Bite me. What else? Join a pickleball team with people my own age. Hire a full-time employee who isn’t past the age of retirement and, last but not least, move my business into an office.”

They looked at each other.

“Some of these are good,” Ellen said. “Like you getting a real office. Even if you never move out of Stuart’s house, it would be nice to get all that inventory out of your garage. You’d have more separation from work.”

“I do like the idea of that one,” Unity admitted. “I’m nervous about hiring someone full-time, though. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

“You’re a responsible person. Besides, you always have more work than you can do.” Ellen looked at her list. “There’s very little on here I can do on my own or even with you.”

“The point is to get out so Cooper realizes you have a life beyond him. He’s afraid he’s all you have.”

Ellen covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t tell you. Jeremy called today.”

Unity’s blue eyes widened. “Jeremy as in Cooper’s father? He called? It’s been seventeen years. What, did he lose your number until today?”

Ellen smiled. “Thank you for the righteous indignation. He’s called a couple of times before. Just to, I don’t know, get an update, I guess.”

“Is that what he wanted today?”

Ellen thought about the call. “No. He wants to see Coop. He wants to get to know his son.”

“Oh, no. Are you all right with that?”

“No. The thought of it terrifies me. Jeremy is some Hollywood movie producer in LA. He’s new and interesting and I’m just the mom.”

“You’re afraid you’re going to lose him?”

Ellen nodded.

“But you know you have to tell him.”

Ellen nodded again. She didn’t want to, but it was the right thing to do. She reached for her pen and added one more thing to her list.

Let Cooper meet his dad.

six

The distance between Thaddeus’s downtown Bellevue condo and his great-aunt Dagmar’s house was one hundred and seven miles. In the winter, the mountain pass between them could be difficult but in late June, the interstate was an easy two-hour drive.

As he paused to check in with the security guard at the entrance to The Village at Silver Pines, he found himself once again wishing she would consider moving to his side of the mountain. There were plenty of very nice retirement communities in the Seattle area and he’d told her price was no object. But no matter how he cajoled, Dagmar refused to move. She’d lived in Willowbrook her entire life. She claimed not to be a big city kind of person.