In many ways Kathleen hadn’t changed much. Yes, she had more wrinkles and her hair was shorter now, but she still had the same fierce expression in her blue eyes, and the same buoyant approach to life.

How could she ever have thought her mother would be content in a residential home?

Liza watched several episodes, and then walked across to the shelves where the photo albums were kept. She carried them back across the room, piled them on the floor next to the sofa and started to go through them one by one.

The photographs charted her mother’s life history, from her childhood through to college and the early days of her twenties. Liza was interested in those early days.

When she reached the photo of Ruth, she paused.

Ruth and her mother had obviously been close. Why had they lost touch?

She and Angie hadn’t fallen out. It was more that life had pried them apart and they hadn’t tried hard enough to bring themselves back together. The most likely explanation was that the same thing had happened between her mother and Ruth.

The letters had been mailed in California. So did that mean they were from Ruth?

She put the album down, thinking about herself and Sean.

Not all relationships ended in an abrupt way. For some it was a slow easing apart. In some way that was more dangerous because it could go unnoticed amidst the pressure of life.

She felt guilty for not asking him to come and join her. And guiltier still when she was forced to admit she didn’t want him to join her.

She was a family person. Her family was everything.

And yet here she was, happier than she could remember being for a long time.

Alone.

So what did it all mean?

16

KATHLEEN

OKLAHOMA~AMARILLO, TEXAS

Kathleen sat in the back seat, dark glasses covering her eyes. It was a hot day and Martha had insisted on keeping the roof closed and the air-conditioning on so the car was deliciously cool.

Kathleen stared out the window, taking in the landscape.

What would Route 66 have looked like in its heyday? She wondered what experience those earliest people to travel the road would have had. Nothing like the comfort of this, that was certain.

“Are you all right back there, Kathleen?” Martha glanced in the mirror and Kathleen produced her most reassuring smile.

“Never better.”

She’d been a great deal better, but Martha was already anxious enough and to admit how she felt would stimulate a flow of follow-up questions that she wasn’t able to answer. She’d never been a person who shared each and every feeling. And how could she share something she didn’t understand herself?