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Ally and Emma followed me inside, pulling up stools at the hideous yellow linoleum counter while I started the coffeemaker.
“Ooooh, banana bread,” Ally said as she lifted the lid on the Tupperware and took a deep breath, sighing ecstatically.
“I’m not much of a baker,” Emma confessed. “Banana bread is about the best I can do.”
“Well, it looks pretty good to me. Pass me a knife, Zee, and I’ll get it sliced.”
Passing the knife and a plate over, I said grandly, “Coffee and banana bread on the patio, ladies?”
Ally nodded. “Good plan. Make the most of the sunshine. It won’t be around much longer.”
“True,” I agreed.
Once we were sitting on the patio, Emma said, “It’s so good finally to meet you, Zara. Ruby spoke about you often.”
“She was a wonderful lady.”
“She was. I know it was a hard decision for her to move to the nursing home. But I think when the garden started getting away from her, that’s when she realized she couldn’t cope here by herself any longer.”
I felt my heart twist, part guilt, part sorrow. “I wish I’d been here. I could have helped her.”
“Oh, please, don’t be hard on yourself. She was so proud of you, running your own restaurant in New York, how hard you and your husband had worked. I had the privilege of nursing her at the home and I know she was very well cared for there.”
“Thank you for telling me that. It helps a little.”
Emma smiled, sipping her coffee before asking, “So, are you and your husband planning to stay here, or will you go back to New York?”
There was an awkward silence while I frantically tried to gather my thoughts. How could I say my husband is now my ex, is in jail and I needed to sell the house to make up for what he had done? I couldn’t, obviously, so I settled for “Ex-husband. The rest is up in the air at this stage.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s definitely for the best.”
“Well, whatever you decide further, hiring Matt to do the work here was a good decision.”
“Good to know,” I said with a smile.
“You know Matt well then?” Ally piped up, passing Emma a plate with a slice of banana bread on it.
“Thanks. Yeah, pretty well, I guess. Everyone knows everyone around here, it’s such a small town, you know? He’s a bit older than me, so we didn’t run in the same crowd. I mean, I was—” She cut herself off as a shadow passed over her face.
“You were…?” Ally prompted when she didn’t continue.
“Sorry, lost my train of thought,” Emma replied, looking down at her coffee. Ally and I exchanged worried glances. Emma suddenly seemed very sad.
“Honey, are you okay?” Ally asked.
Emma gave herself a shake. “Sure, of course.” She took a bite of banana bread. “Anyway, where were we?”
“You were about to give us the dirt on Matt. Married? Single? Other?”
“Ally!”
“What?” Ally eyed me innocently.
Emma giggled. “He’s pretty cute, hey.”
“I’ll say.” Ally ignored my shushing gesture. “Well, is he?”
