Free String of Lies by Mary Ellen Hughes Page B

“You have enough on your mind, dear. It’s really nothing.”

    “It’s more than nothing,” Ina Mae said, “if it’s causing your stomach to bother you again. You’ve been chewing on quite a few Tums lately, I’ve noticed.”

    Loralee flapped a hand. “That’s just because I’ve been eating too much takeout.”

    “Because you’re too distracted to cook your own good food. Tell Jo about it. She won’t mind.”

    Loralee looked at Jo, who nodded encouragingly, then took off her coat and sat down. “If you’re sure you have a minute.”

Chapter 8

    Jo watched as Loralee fiddled silently with the chain nose pliers on the workshop table and worried about what she would hear. Was Loralee ill? Did she have money problems? Jo didn’t have much experience with the first, thankfully, but she couldn’t offer much help with the second either.

    “It’s Dulcie, my daughter.”

    Ah. Jo thought of the pained look crossing Loralee’s face when Javonne casually brought up her daughter.

    “She wants my house.”

    “What?”

    “And I don’t blame her. It makes perfect sense, in a way.”

    “Perfect sense to her ,” Ina Mae put in. “She’s not thinking what this means to you.”

    “Why does Dulcie want your house, Loralee?” Jo imagined herself demanding the same from her own mother, who was comfortably settled, since Jo’s father’s death, in Florida, and knew exactly the response she would get: Why Jo, dear, what an interesting idea. Let me think on that a bit. And the “bit” would, of course, last for the rest of her life. As well it should.

    “Dulcie and Ken want to move back to Abbotsville, which I’d dearly love too! Having my grandchildren all the way across the country in Seattle and being able to see them only a few days a year is terrible! They’ve all missed living here too and want to come back, but Dulcie explained that the only way they could afford to settle here is if I sell them my house at a very reasonable price. Dulcie hasn’t been working since the new baby, and they’ve had quite a few unexpected expenses gobbling up their savings. Plus Ken wants to start his own tax service and accounting business, which would take time to get off the ground. My house has this nice basement room he could use as his office, saving him the expense of renting one.”

    “But where do they think you would live?”

    “Dulcie thinks I should take one of those new seniors’ condos. They both insist keeping up my house is too much for me at my age, and I have to admit it’s becoming harder and harder. And my knees are starting to give me trouble with the stairs. But, oh, Jo!” Loralee looked at Jo with an expression that tore at her heart. “I love my little house!”

    “Of course you do, Loralee.”

    “And I love working in my garden, sore knees or not. How could I live high up in a condo with no tomatoes to grow in the summer or crocuses to watch for in spring?”

    “Then don’t. Tell Dulcie you can’t sell them your house.”

    “But I really want them all to come here!”

    “It’s a dilemma,” Ina Mae said, nodding.

    Jo looked at Loralee’s sad face. There had to be some kind of solution. “Have you thought about building an addition? A mother-in-law suite?”

    Loralee nodded, her expression turning even more forlorn. “I looked into it, dear, but it can’t be done. My property isn’t big enough. An addition, where we’d have to put it, would come too close to my neighbor’s property and zoning won’t allow that. Alice and Walt, my wonderful neighbors, have said they’re fine with the idea. Their garage is on that side, so it wouldn’t be at all like we’d be overlooking each other’s windows. But the zoning board was firm. It can’t be done.”

    “I’m so sorry, Loralee,” Jo said. “I certainly see why you’re upset, and I wish I had a solution for you. How soon do you need to decide?”

    “They want to know by the end of the month. I promised