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“Just a bit.”
“Nobody you can hang out with?”
I shrugged. “People are kind of suspicious of new people around here, apparently.”
“But you’re trying to make friends, right?”
“Promise.” But I wasn’t sure if I even liked any of the girls. We’d left our home to escape gossip, and the only people who wanted to talk to me were the biggest gossip-mongers in the entire school.
“I’m going to meet the man who hired me to landscape his property this morning,” he said. “Want to come with me?”
I made a face. “You’re going to let me tag along to a business meeting?”
“It’s not a meeting,” he said. “Just a casual encounter with a paying customer. You’ll give me something to small talk about.”
That made me laugh. Dad definitely wasn’t the outgoing one in the family. “All right, I’ll go. But only so I can watch you embarrass yourself.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Always warms the old heart.”
“Old is right,” I teased. “Look at all that grey.”
“Go on, you. Get ready. Wrap up warm. It’s freezing out there today. We’ll pick up some food from the chipper on the way home.”
I flinched at the wordhome.
“Hey,” he said, “it’s going to get better.”
I resisted the urge to pick at a tiny chip on my nail polish. “It just doesn’t feel like home yet.”
“Come on.” He took my hands to pull me to my feet. “I wouldn’t be any kind of father if I let you wallow in the maudlin and the self-pity and the—”
“All right, Dad. I get it.”
“Get your coat, too. We’re going out on the town.”
Shaking my head, I got my jacket and a warm beanie. On second thoughts, I put on some mascara so I looked less ghostlike. Anything to make Dad’s life easier.
Shortly afterward, we walked out of the estate, huddling close together for warmth. We came out onto a main road that looked familiar. I was pretty sure that field I’d been gawking at was nearby. On our side of the road were more houses like ours, but across the street, the houses all appeared to be recently built in varying styles.
“The man who’s hired me owns half the properties in town,” Dad said. “All the new ones anyway.”
“Oh, the foreigners?” I said.
“Foreigners.” He snorted. “I think he’s English, and he’s lived here for at least ten years.”
I shrugged. “Everyone hates those people, I think.”
“That’s sad,” Dad said. “I suppose nobody likes change, even if it does some good in the long run.”
“So exactly like back home then.”
“You know better than anyone not to listen to gossip anyway,” he chided.
“I was kidding. Sort of.” I rubbed my gloved hands together. “It really is cold. I think it’s colder here than back home.”
“I checked the weather,” he said. “It’s at least two degrees warmer here. Nice try though.”
“Don’t you miss it?” I asked, upping my pace to keep up to him. He was faster than he looked, and apparently especially eager to reach his destination. Not working had probably been killing him.
