Chapter 4

Arrival

Friday Evening

When she pulled into the driveway, Lisa counted four cars already: her two aunts’ small hatchbacks and her brother John’s BMW. John was staying at the expensive Valley Inn, but he’d promised Lisa he’d be around as much as possible. Ari’s truck was nowhere to be seen.

The car clicked as it cooled down. Lisa opened the trunk.

The jars she’d brought to make the jam sat in a box. The drive had not damaged the glass. She felt happy to see the jars in their rows. They looked like soldiers, lined shoulder to shoulder and topped with tin caps.

Lizards slithered off the rocks as Lisa walked toward the porch. She headed around the back, toward the rusty screen of the kitchen door. No one used the formal front door, with its bell for strangers.

There they were, in the shade: four wooden boxes brimming with golden globes of apricots. Ari had warned her it was getting harder and harder to get good fruit from the old trees. But these looked beautiful to her.

Lisa picked up an apricot and held it against her nose. It smelled like her grandmother. It smelled like childhood. She bit into the fruit. It was sweet, with a tang of sour. Just right.

Lisa was reaching for another globe when her finger skimmed the edge of the box. A small splinter went under her skin.

She swore. Then she blamed her cousin. The boxes had been provided by Ari. So this was all his fault.