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“You sound good.”
“I’m better than good. Sally, Flo, and I went to bingo last night at the church and I won! One hundred and fifty dollars!”
She laughed. “What did you spend it on?”
“Well, I gave fifty dollars back to the church, of course, and then the girls and I went out to breakfast this morning and left a ten-dollar tip. My treat. And Istillhave sixty dollars left!”
Kara let her grandmother talk. About bingo, about her friends, about her blossoming garden. At the end of the conversation, Kara said, “I just needed to hear your voice, Em. And—I wanted to let you know I love you.”
She ended the call when she spotted Ashley Dunlap step out onto the deck and walk toward her. “Am I interrupting anything?” she asked.
“Nope.” Kara pocketed her phone. “Just talking to my grandmother. How are you?”
“Okay. Relieved, I guess, that this is all over.”
Kara waited. Ashley had something else on her mind.
A moment later, she said, “Do you go to church?”
“No.”
“I do. My dad comes with us sometimes, but it was my mom who took us, and I feel closer to her there, sometimes. And in church we talk about forgiveness a lot. I know I have to forgive my uncle. But I’m having a hard time thinking about what he did. My dad told me he killed five people, but he didn’t give me details. Tell me, please.”
“Your dad needs to give you the details, or you can find them on your own—it’s going to be written up in the newspapers, on the news.”
“Why won’t you?”
“I will, if that’s really what you want. You’re seventeen. You’re mostly an adult. But I think it should be your dad.”
“He’s so sad. I thought he would be angry, but he’s...just sad.”
“He’ll tell you. Ask him, he knows you can handle it. And yes, we had evidence, and when confronted with the evidence of his crimes, your uncle confessed.”
“I just don’t see him killing anyone and it hurts. And I don’t want to forgive him because my dad is hurting. But I feel like I have to because otherwise I’m not a very good Christian.”
“I’m not the person to talk to about faith, but forgiveness is about you, not him. It’s so you can live in peace, not for him to live in peace. You don’t want to carry the burden of Damon’s crimes or betrayal—because that’s what you’re feeling, as if he betrayed you and your family—in your heart. It never ends well.”
Ashley thought about that, then said, “Are you leaving?”
“In a day or two. Maybe Monday.”
“Do you think—maybe—before you go, that we could talk more?”
Kara didn’t feel comfortable in this role, but Ashley needed to talk to someone.
“Sure,” she said. “But I really think you’ll be surprised if you talk to your dad. He wants to help you and Whitney get through this.”
“I don’t want to burden him.”
“He’s your dad and he loves you. Talking to him isn’t a burden. In fact, I think he wants it, but doesn’t know how to start.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“Maybe I am.” Kara wasn’t a hugger, but she gave the teenager a spontaneous hug because she clearly needed it.
Maybe Kara needed it, too.
SATURDAY
