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Ari shot her stepmom a dirty look, obviously getting the same vibes he was—that being “friends” had nothing to do with it. But he smiled blandly. Then, after they left, he threw the napkin away when he went up to order his food.

Chapter Ten

Patience was alone with her daughter at the dinner table that night. “How’d it go with Glenda?”

Ari had been quiet ever since she’d come home. Faced with Patience’s question, she finally stopped stirring around her mashed potatoes and gravy and looked up. “Fine, I guess.” She rolled her eyes. “Classic Glenda.”

“What do you mean?” Patience asked.

Ari heaved a dramatic sigh. “She’s just so…cringy at times.”

Patience had guessed something was bothering her, but this answer wasn’t anything like what she’d expected. “In what way?”

Ari glanced toward the door, presumably to make sure her grandfather was already sitting in his recliner watching TV, something he did in the evenings if he wasn’t at the church working late or ministering to his flock. Apparently, she didn’t want to discuss this subject in front of him.

Neither did Patience, which was why she’d waited to bring up Glenda until her father had left the table.

“The man she’s divorcing is my father,” Ari replied. “And the divorce is new. It’s not like anyone really saw it coming. Well, I sort of did. But it’s happening much faster than I expected. When she invited me to go with her today, I thought it was nice considering…everything. But then all she could do was fall all over this guy named Kanon.”

Patience had been carrying some of the dirty dishes to the sink. But hearing that particular name made her stop and turn in her tracks. “You said Kanon?”

“Yeah. I can’t remember his last name, but he claims he knows you.”

“I know him, too—although not well. He left Hard Luck a long time ago. Just moved back to town.”

“He said he’s helping you with the festival? What’s he doing?”

“Designing some of the print stuff.” Forcing herself to continue to the counter, she deposited the dishes next to the sink. “Did he meet you guys there, or…”

Giving up on finishing her dinner, Ari finally set her fork aside. “He wasn’t with us. He was just working on his computer in the corner, minding his own business—until we walked in. Then, the minute Glenda saw him, she dragged us over there, all jittery and excited.” She made a disparaging sound. “I wanted to throw up.”

Patience started filling the sink. “How did he act?”

“He was polite but careful not to be too nice. He could tell she was really into him. We all could. That’s what made it so embarrassing. She gave him her number right in front of me!”

Patience added soap to the water. “Did he ask for it?”

“No! Didn’t even mention it. She said something like…if he needed a friend he should call her and wrote her number on a napkin she put down next to him when we left.” She slumped back in her seat. “But even I could tell she was interested in much more.”

The memories of how Glenda had behaved around Jack when Patience was married to him rose in Patience’s mind. At the time, she’d shrugged it off, refused to believe her best friend was really flirting with her husband. Glenda always said she loved Jack as a brother, which was why she teased him so much.

Then she’d started dating him as soon as Patience moved out.

Patience often wondered if Jack had given up on their marriage because he knew Glenda was waiting in the wings and would provide him with a soft place to land—something she certainly hadn’t had. Her alternative to staying married was to move back in with her unyielding father. “He was at the coffee shop when we were there on Sunday,” she said. “I saw it firsthand.”

“Even Mia noticed,” Ari complained. “She thought it was weird, too.”

Patience began to wash the big pots she didn’t want to put in the dishwasher. Although she did all the cooking, she and Ari took turns with the cleanup. Carl helped occasionally but not often. Even though he’d raised her as a single father, he seemed to think of household chores as women’s work. He did the bulk of the yardwork. There wasn’t much to do during the winter, but still. Patience figured that was fair enough. “So are you worried about your father? Are you afraid he’ll be hurt by the divorce?”

“I get the impression he’ll be glad to be rid of her,” Ari said. “That he wants the divorce more than she does. But the way she was acting with that dude Kanon, and the timing of it… I don’t know. It felt disloyal. It made me think she couldn’t love Dad very much if she’s already jumping onto the next guy.”

Patience didn’t want this to turn into a bashing session, but she’d been hurt badly enough by Glenda that she couldn’t help saying, “She’s never been one to let anything get in her way.”

Ari got up and brought her bowl over. “There’s something wrong with her.”

Patience knew she should probably chide Ari for going too far. She wasn’t teaching her daughter the right thing by letting her speak so negatively about her stepmother.

But tonight, she ignored it. For one, she agreed. For another, her mind was on what Ari had told her about Glenda and Kanon. She couldn’t help wondering what he’d thought of the encounter at Flip-n Burger. She was curious enough that once the dishes were done and Carl was immersed in yet another YouTube documentary—this one on the Holy Land—she went to her room while Ari showered, and sent him a message.