at the ranch that summer. She had her kids to take care of, and a life to live alone, to try it on for size. It wasn’t entirely a bad thing, it was different, and some things would still be the same. But it would be a life without Peter. She needed to clear out some of the past. After she got back to the house after dropping Billy off at soccer, she made the first call. Another mother would be driving him home. She called a secondhand furniture store and arranged to have them pick up all the furniture in their bedroom. They had spent a fortune on it, but she didn’t care. It was part of the ugliness he had left her with, and she didn’t want it anymore. She was getting rid of all of it. She was going to fill the room with beautiful new things. It was her bedroom now, not theirs. Maybe after she did, she would feel new too.
* * *
—
When Juliette got home on Labor Day weekend, she looked alive and well, and her eyes were bright again. She’d cut her hair just a bit shorter and it didn’t look quite so wild. She was smoking French cigarettes again, and Kate noticed that her English had suffered a little, but she looked peaceful, had gained a few pounds, and said she had seen a lot of old friends all over France. She had mostly spent time in Provence, and visited the Camargue, where she grew up.
She looked both sad and nervous when she told Kate about the decision she’d made, but she knew she had to tell her. Kate looked shocked when she did. Juliette had decided to move back to France. She realized that she belonged there. It was her culture, her language, her home. It was too hard for her to be at the ranch without Jimmy. He was really her only reason to be there, and now he was gone, and she felt it was time for her to leave too. She said it had been a hard decision, but she thought it was the right one. She would come back to visit, but now she wanted to live in France again. She had come to California for a summer and stayed for twenty-four years, because of him.
“You and Thad should move into my house, your father’s house,” she corrected herself, “when I go.” Kate had told her about them as soon as she got back, so she heard it from her first, and Juliette approved.
“Your father thought about that sometimes too. He said he was the only right man for you, but it would never work because he was the foreman, and a man needs to be the boss.”
“We both will be, we work well together.” Kate smiled at her, surprised by her father’s comment. “He’s going to build a house on the land he bought from Gemma. They’re starting to lay the foundation in a few weeks.”
“Your house is too small for the two of you, and it will take time to build his house.” Kate liked the idea of moving into Juliette’s, but she didn’t want to rush her, and was sad that she was going back to France. She wanted to settle in Provence, and could afford to buy a nice house with the money Kate’s father had left her. And he had left her enough so she wouldn’t have to work.
“When are you thinking of leaving?” Kate asked sadly.
“Not too quickly. I will need time to say goodbye to the Valley.” She looked at Kate with her big green eyes. She was such a good woman. Kate was going to miss her. “I’m thinking by the end of the year. Maybe in December. I’m going skiing with my brother for Christmas. I’ll go before that.” Kate nodded and hugged her and told Thad about it that night.
“I’m not surprised,” he said softly. She told him about Juliette’s suggestion that they move into her father’s house, and he liked the idea. Juliette was right, Kate’s house was a tight fit for the two of them. And now that everyone knew about them, they had nothing to hide.
There was no question about it. Four months after her father’s death, change was everywhere and had touched them all. It was comforting for Kate to know that her father would have approved of her relationship with Thad. It was like a final tender goodbye from wherever