8

Kelli drove past mile after mile of central California vineyards on her way to Opal’s house. The house itself was on an acre of land completely surrounded by hillside wineries. The owners on each side had, on several occasions, offered her twice what her house was worth if she would sell, but she had refused. “She likes the appearance of being a major landowner,” her father had said. “Somehow she just knows that people who drive by here believe she owns every bit of those grapes up on the hill. Your grandmother has always been more concerned about appearances than common sense.”

The fact that she did not allow any kind of grandmotherly nickname, but preferred for Kelli to call her by her first name—because “Mam-maw is a name for old people”—leant some credibility to what Daddy had said. Fact was, Opal wasn’t much like a grandmother at all. She was more like Mimi’s slightly older best friend—something that had driven Daddy crazy.

Opal flung open the door as soon as Kelli pulled up in front of the house. Today’s outfit included a white turban, a white vest made of some sort of shaggy material, white shirt, and white jeans. Opal never did anything halfway. She rushed forward and met Kelli at the side of her car. “Oh, my darling, how are you doing? I’m just so glad to see you. We’ve got to stick together at a time like this, yes we do.” She wrapped her thin arms around Kelli and hugged tight.

“How are you, Opal?”

“I honestly don’t know how much longer I will be able to go on. No woman should have to bury her own daughter. It’s just too much for me to bear.”

What about Daddy’s parents? Had he left them behind to believe he was dead? Had they spent their lives grieving their son? Or did they know what he’d done and never come to visit because it would be too risky? What do you know, Opal?

“How about you, dear? Are you holding up okay?” She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue she had produced from a pocket in her vest.

“I’m doing all—”

“You’ve always been strong. You can surely thank your lucky stars that you were raised by such a wonderful woman, because I guarantee that’s where you learned it. What a blessing it has been for you to have such a terrific role model to guide you through your growing-up years. I know all your friends wish they’d had such a good mother, and I was so fortunate to have her for a daughter. We were both lucky, that’s what we were.”

Kelli wondered how lucky Opal would feel if she knew what apparently was the truth about her daughter. Or did she know already? Kelli had no intention of being the one to tell her, but if Opal did know something . . . “Yes, we were both lucky.”

Mimi, whose real name was Suze, had been the light of Opal’s existence. She had loved and adored her with every fiber of her being. Somehow, though, this love had often manifested itself in tiny little digs against Kelli’s dad, and sometimes all-out criticism. Because of this, Kelli had never been that close to her grandmother.

“Oh, darling, there are some days I just don’t think I’ll be able to make it through.”

“I miss them both so much.”

“Of course you do.” Opal took her by the elbow and led her toward the front door. “Come inside and let’s have a drink and chat for a while before we head down to the restaurant. Now, you come right on in the kitchen and I’ll pour us both a glass of something. What would you like, dear?”

“Diet Coke would be great.”

“Little rum for good measure?” She quirked a penciled-on eyebrow.

“No thanks. I’m driving, you know.”

“I don’t think one shot of rum would hurt anything, but whatever you say, I won’t argue.” Opal pulled out two highball glasses and put ice in each. In one, she poured Diet Coke, in the other, a generous helping of scotch. While Opal busied herself pouring the drinks, Kelli took a seat at the table and once again thought through the best way to present her questions in order to get the most honest answers.

“Opal, how did you meet my dad?”

She brought the glass over and set it in front of Kelli, took a sip of her own drink, then wiped her palm across her forehead. “I’m sure you’ve heard this all before, but let’s see. It wasn’t long after he moved here. Suze herself had just returned to the area after living for a few years in Tennessee.” She shook her head. “I was proud of her for making it through like she did.”

“Making it through?”

“Broken heart.” She rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. “Not long after Suze graduated from high school, she went down to visit some friends at Cal Poly, and she met Jonas. He was playing at a club there and supposedly moving up the country-music food chain pretty rapidly. He was something else, I’ll tell you that. He drove a big fancy truck, always had his shirts pressed just so, his jeans, too. And good-looking—woo-wee.” She fanned herself and took another drink. “They were a beautiful couple, just stunning. Next thing I knew, they were packing up and moving to Nashville.”

“Funny, I’ve never heard of him.”

“I guess I’m not surprised.” Opal looked out the window and sighed. “Suze was such a pretty girl. All the men were just gaga over her, and she always had a long trail of admirers. If it hadn’t been for Jonas, she’d . . .”

“So what happened?”

“Apparently, once they got to Nashville, some girl set her sights on him and would not give up—her father was a big shot in the music industry, that’s the only way she could have taken him away from Suze, we all knew that—and she connived and contrived and finally convinced Jonas to leave Suze and move in with her.” Opal wiped a tear at this point. “Somehow, he managed to take every bit of Suze’s money before he broke things off, though. Left her alone and broke, he did. The only satisfaction I got out of the matter is that he never did amount to anything. We heard a few years ago he was working in a bar on the seedy side of Nashville. That’s better than he deserves, if you ask me.”

“So that’s when Mimi moved back to California? After they broke up?” At least Kelli was getting more detail than she’d ever gotten about her parents’ former life. She suspected that if she could keep Opal talking about Mimi long enough, there might be some true answers.

“Heavens, no. My Suze would never want to be a burden to anyone, or for us to worry, so she didn’t even tell us it had happened. She went and got herself a job as a waitress, worked long hours and saved every penny until she was back on her feet. You know what a hard worker she was.”

To Kelli’s knowledge, no one had ever referred to her stepmother as a hard worker—fun to be around and energetic, yes, but hard worker, no. And money saver? Definitely not.

“Good for her.”

“Yes. By the time we knew things had gone wrong, she was already on the road to recovery. She moved to Santa Barbara and bought that house, got her job at the gym. A couple months later, you and your father came to town looking for a room to rent.”

She took another sip and then another before continuing. “She was a smart businesswoman, so renting out a room made sense. It’s a good idea to get some extra income when you’re first starting out. Your father was so much older than she was, and she’d never wanted kids, so of course it never entered anyone’s mind that he would convince her to marry him.” She glanced toward Kelli then, and the mist seemed to clear from her eyes.

Opal seemed perfectly sincere in her answers, but somewhere deep inside she had to know that with the high prices of Santa Barbara real estate, there was no way a single woman who worked as a gym assistant manager could possibly have afforded to buy that house. Not without help. A lot of it.

“So, she didn’t know my dad until he moved here?”

Opal paused for a moment, seeming to consider her answer. Was she trying to remember the official storyline they’d all agreed upon? “That’s right.” She tugged at the fringe on her vest. “One day, she called me and told me they’d just gone to the courthouse and got married. I was . . . stunned.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t exactly the way I had thought her life would go.” She glanced up at Kelli. “Well, let me just give you some advice. When it comes to love, you’ve got to use your heart and your brain.”

By now, they were in familiar territory, and Kelli had no patience to listen to it today. “Opal, I just wanted you to know I’m leaving town in a few days. I don’t plan to be gone for more than a couple of weeks. I should be back by the end of the month at the latest.”

“Leaving? Where are you going?”

“Tennessee. There’s a little town south of Nashville called Shoal Creek.”

“Shoal Creek?” Opal’s voice came out deep, scratchy. She looked at Kelli hard, her eyes squinted. The grandfather clock behind her chimed the quarter hour, breaking the long silence. Opal slammed back the rest of her drink. “Don’t believe I’ve ever heard of it.”

“Really? Because I thought maybe Mimi—”

“Time to head out. We don’t want to be late for our reservation.” She stood up and grabbed her purse. “Let’s get this show on the road.”