other and back again before finally managing to catch it and set it down in one piece.
“Buck?” she gaped. “You left Buck? Well, holy mother of God, where’s the champagne when you need it?”
“Don’t start.” Gail reached around Ellie and pulled a second mug out of the cupboard as though Ellie were too inept to do it herself. “And please don’t call him that.”
“Why not? Everyone else does. I have a whole list of other names I could use if you like.”
“That’s enough.” After all these years, Gail’s clipped, sharp tone was still able to freeze Ellie’s tongue. “Why don’t you try calling him ‘Dad,’ like you used to?”
Oh, yeah, that wasn’t going to happen, not now. Ellie set the kettle on to boil, then pulled out the tea and the sugar.
“Where do you keep your honey?” Gail opened the cupboard and started pushing things around. “Ellie?”
“I don’t have any.”
“You don’t have honey?” Gail frowned, peering back over her shoulder. “What do you put in your tea?”
Ellie lifted the ceramic sugar bowl and waved it back and forth.
“Oh honestly, Ellie.” The way Gail clicked her tongue, you’d have thought Ellie had just confessed to mainlining the stuff. “Sugar is nothing but white death. Honey is a perfect food; it helps with acid reflux—”
“Which I don’t have.”
“It minimizes seasonal allergies.”
“Which, again, I don’t have.”
“It helps boost your immune system, and—” Gail stopped Ellie’s interruption with a raised hand. “Studies show it might help prevent cancer.”
It had been over four years since they’d been in the same room—was this really the first thing they needed to argue about?
“Fine.” Ellie nodded. “You’re right, yes, honey is awesome; I’ll pick some up tomorrow.”
“Don’t get that crap they sell in the grocery store. They homogenize and pasteurize all the goodness right out of it; get it fresh at the farmers’ market.” Gail stopped, looked up, and frowned. “Does this town even have a farmers’ market?”
“Yes, Mom,” Ellie sighed. “Of course we have a farmers’ market. Now can we please talk about you and Buck?”
Giving up on the honey, Gail moved to the fridge, pulled out the carton of 2 percent, and sniffed it. “How long have you had this?”
“Seriously?” Ellie jerked the milk out of her mom’s grasp, poured a bit into one of the prepared mugs, and closed the fridge. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Gail lifted her glasses, breathed hard on the right lens, then used her shirt to wipe it.
“Nothing?” When staring at her mother didn’t earn a response, Ellie shrugged. “Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think people generally walk away from thirty-five years of marriage because of nothing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I support you a hundred and fifty percent….”
“Ellie, please, don’t you think it’s about time you got over what happened between you and your father?”
“No, actually, I don’t.” Ellie waved Gail toward the armchair in the living room before taking the far end of the couch. “He left me sitting in jail on drug charges when he knew damn well I was innocent!”
Gail rolled her mug slowly between her palms. “You know why he couldn’t take your case. Even if he was a criminal defense attorney, being your father would have made him too emotionally attached to be able to present an objective case.”
“Bullshit.”
“Elleanor Grace!”
“I’m sorry, but that’s what it is. He’s a partner with Torbin, Stewart & Lye, for crying out loud, so even if he wouldn’t help me, surely he could have asked someone from the firm to represent me, but did he? No.”
“Honey, you were living with a drug dealer, and with all those charges against you, try to imagine how difficult it was for your father at work.”
“Difficult for him? It wasn’t about him! And for the ten billionth time, I didn’t know Kurt was a dealer!” Ellie dropped her head against the cushion and groaned long and loud before forcing herself to look back at her mother. “He ran that garage with his brother; they fixed cars, Mom. It wasn’t like they had a giant neon sign hanging outside flashing, ‘Heroin Sold Here.’ I mean, God, you knew him—did you ever suspect anything?”
“No,” Gail sighed. “No, I didn’t.”
Up until the day five years ago when the cops showed up at her door, Ellie hadn’t suspected a thing, either. Was it odd that Kurt left the room every time his cellphone rang? Sure, but he’d said it was because ambient noises made it difficult for him to hear on his phone. Was