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Her father had no guilty conscience for what he did, not even to his loved ones.
Her grandfather wasn’t stupid though and had most of his money in other pots. Places her father couldn’t find and didn’t know about. It was all left to Vivian when he passed. It allowed her to leave the town that had never been her home and start over here.
Looking back, she realized she never felt like she had a home until now.
Who would have thought a home in Paradise Place would be the place she’d feel most at peace with.
She had to remind herself of that as she drove along with her boyfriend to meet his parents.
“So a little background on my parents if you want,” he said.
“Yes, please. That will help.”
“My mother is Kelly and she is a CPA for an accounting firm. My father is Drew, he’s a software engineer.”
“So he does some of what you do?” she asked, not positive what Brent actually did.
“Yes and no,” he said. “He understands it more, but it’s not the same. He writes code and analyzes data for a power company.”
“And you do it for the government?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Different pots of data, but I guess in a wide picture, maybe it’s the same.”
He never talked much about his job so she let it drop. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to know what he did and it was fine.
“And your brother?” she asked.
“Tyler is a physical therapist. You know about Maureen.”
“I do. Do they talk about her often?”
“Speaking of that,” he said. “I hope you don’t think my mother is nuts or anything. But she talks about Maureen as if she’s still around. She says Maureen talks to her in dreams. We are used to it, but others might not be.”
“I don’t think that is nuts at all,” she said. “I think it’s really sweet. I dream of my grandparents now and again. They don’t talk to me, but I kind of wish they did. I’m bummed now that they don’t.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes. I don’t truly believe that when a person dies that they leave. Not all of them. I guess if you are willing to open your heart up you believe anything. And there are people in this area who will tell you things that make you shiver.”
“Like who?” he asked.
“One of my clients. Her name is Camile. She comes in every Monday. Always has these cryptic things that make no sense but they do to the person she says them to. Then there is Hannah’s cousin Blair. She has dreams about people and they tend to come true. The day that Blair was talking about that dream Camile was there and latched right on. She’d made a few comments about a man and dog in my life without knowing anything about you or Sammie.”
“That’s a little creepy,” he said.
“It could be. I don’t think anything of it. I think she is humored a lot, but if you look into what she is saying, there is some truth to it.”
That was all she was letting on. Like everything else in her life, she figured if she played along with the things in front of people’s faces they wouldn’t look when their backs were turned.
“I suppose,” he said. He glanced behind him to see Sammie lying down in the back. “I’m glad she settled in.”
“Me too,” she said. “Kind of like us. Are we settling in?”
He smiled at her. “More than I have with anyone else. Which of course my mother is likely to bring up too. Don’t hold it against me.”
She laughed. “I won’t. I promise.”
But an hour later she was on the back deck of the Elliots’ home and Kelly Elliot was holding no punches. “You’re a miracle worker. I’d been on Brent’s case for months to comb his hair let alone cut it. Not only did he get it cut but you trimmed his beard and it’s still looking good.”
