Chapter 3
Three
T revor Gillett finished pounding the nail in and looked around the small pasture he had just finished fencing for his dad. It wasn’t too bad, considering that he was not a professional fencer. Was there even such a thing?
“You did a good job, Trevor. It only took you three years.” His dad, with a smile on his face, stood beside him, looking at their handiwork.
“You look at the fence and can see that we gained experience each year.”
He didn’t take offense at his dad saying how long it took.
It did take longer than it should have. But he needed something to do.
Ever since his mother walked out on his dad, Trevor had taken it upon himself to make sure that he stopped in for regular visits.
In the summer, when the weather was decent, they’d work on the fence.
In the winter, and spring and fall too, they’d done other things.
His dad had never been a big health enthusiast, but they did some cross-country skiing, which was really good for their health, and even took their sea kayaks out onto the lake.
The kayaking had taken Trevor a little bit of time to work up to, considering what happened when he was a teenager. It was funny how some things got pushed under the rug .
Still, he and his dad spent a lot of hours out on the lake. Hours that they could have been working on fixing the fence.
“I think we could be professionals.” His dad huffed. “But I don’t want to.”
“Hey, it’s good for your health,” he said, doing what he had been doing for the last five years, and that was taking every opportunity he could to encourage his dad to be active.
He had read there was a direct correlation between how active a senior was and how healthy they were during their senior years.
He didn’t take every single thing that he ever read as gospel truth, but that seemed to make sense to him.
His older brother, an executive in Chicago, didn’t come out much, and his sister had moved to California with her husband. They were busy having babies and building a business, and that left Trevor to take care of his dad.
“Good thing we finished. It’s time for my afternoon nap,” his dad said.
Trevor thought about trying to talk him out of it. Maybe taking a walk instead, but for some reason, he felt drawn to the healing garden, and he nodded instead. “I wouldn’t want you to miss your nap. You’d be grumpy this evening.”
“You’re grumpy every evening, so I guess I’d just fit in with the crowd. Peer pressure or something like that.”
“Dad, you should find a wife. Then she could put up with your grumpy rear.”
“Why would I want a wife? If I got married, I wouldn’t see you this evening. It’s my inspiration to stay single.”
Was that really true? If his dad had a wife to look after him, Trevor wouldn’t have to anymore. Then he wouldn’t have to come back so much. Except…
“Didn’t I tell you I was going to move back?” he said, trying to say it casually, because he knew he hadn’t.
“Are you serious?” his dad said, excitement on his face. He clamped a hand down on Trevor’s shoulder. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all year. In fact, that’s the best news I’ve heard in five years.”
The worst news was probably when he found the note saying that his mom had left. She hadn’t even told him to his face. She’d just been bored, felt like there was more to life, and now that her kids were grown and gone, she wanted to spend time with someone who would actually do things with her.
It had gotten his dad away from the TV set, where he spent most of his retirement, up until that note. He’d lost weight and become reasonably healthy, but he hadn’t gone looking for anyone else.
Trevor figured if he moved back, maybe he could help with that.
“Did you quit your job?”
He looked his dad in the eye. His dad wasn’t going to be super happy with what he had to say. “I saved up enough money that I feel comfortable quitting my job, coming back here, and starting that furniture business I’ve always talked about.”
He hadn’t ever wanted to move back to Raspberry Ridge.
There were too many unpleasant memories associated with it.
But he hadn’t figured on his dad being alone, his mom walking out, and him being the only one around to take care of him.
Because of the way life went and the fact that he didn’t seem to be able to find anyone himself.
Really, who was he to talk to his dad about it?
He hadn’t put any effort into finding someone since his mom walked out, either.
A future spouse aside, he really had quit his job. He didn’t have enough to live on for the rest of his life, but he had to give the furniture-making business a go.
As expected, his dad’s lips turned down.
“It was a perfectly good job. Back when I was young, you didn’t walk out of perfectly good jobs.”
It was true, he did have a good job. And he liked it too. For the most part.
“I’m pretty sure when you were young, you didn’t live so far away from your parents you couldn’t help them if you needed to.”
“You don’t need to help me.” His dad sounded gruff, but they both knew it wasn’t true. Well, maybe it was technically true, but his dad didn’t want to move to a retirement community.
He slid his hammer into his tool belt on his waist. “We need to do more of this kind of stuff. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy the time we get to spend together.
Sometimes I almost feel like I need to thank Mom.
” It was true, he did feel that way, but he wasn’t sure they were far enough away from the pain his dad felt that he might be able to laugh a little.
His dad chuckled, and it actually sounded like he might have been amused. “That’s one way to look at it.”
His dad seemed to be the kind of guy who only loved once in a lifetime.
Trevor could understand that. There had only ever been one girl he had been interested in.
He was one of those sorry sops who couldn’t seem to get his life together after the one girl he wanted left him without an explanation, and the next thing he heard, she was hugely successful and extremely happy and making a brilliant life in some city far away.
He almost laughed out loud at that. He knew exactly where she lived. Indianapolis.
They gathered up the rest of their tools, setting them in the toolbox on the back of his truck, and then hopped in the cab.
He drove back to his dad’s house, which was just outside of Raspberry Ridge, not so far that he couldn’t walk to the beach anytime he wanted to, but far enough that the one parade a year they had didn’t make it to his house.
“I hate to see you leave your job, but I guess you know that it’d be nice to have you hang around here.” His dad didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about the fact that he was growing older very much, but he was the one who brought the subject up.
“I want to move back home. You’re right, it was a good job. I had nice benefits, and the work wasn’t hard, just hard enough to be challenging. My boss was great, and my coworkers weren’t terrible. But they don’t compare to you, Dad.” He grinned over at his dad.
His dad just rolled his eyes and looked back out the window.
He wasn’t much for talking about his feelings or anything like that.
That was probably part of the reason he got in trouble with his wife.
He figured their relationship was fine, and if there were any problems, he’d let her know.
She, on the other hand, had tried to talk to him, and he hadn’t listened.
He’d said that much over the years, and it sounded like he regretted it.
Trevor knew that a life lived with regrets could be pretty miserable.
He wanted to live such a life that he had few regrets .
He would always wonder whether or not he should have followed Grace to Indianapolis, when she’d been so gung ho about leaving. As far as he knew, she didn’t have a boyfriend that she was going to, just a job.
But Claire had been between them. Always had. And Trevor had hesitated. By the time he had things straightened out with Claire, Grace was gone.
They both got a drink when they went into the house, and Trevor washed his hands.
His clothes weren’t super dirty, and he decided that he’d just wear them.
He’d rather take his kayak out for a ride on the lake, but he didn’t want to have to unload all the boards on the back of the truck first. So a walk would have to do.
His dad went in and lay on the couch while he slipped outside, looked up at the beautiful spring day, and started down the street.
His dad hadn’t asked when he was planning on quitting, and Trevor hadn’t had to admit that he’d already given his two-week notice and worked it out.
He was back for good.
Part of him was excited about it, and part of him felt like he was moving backward in his life.
After all, a person wasn’t supposed to go back to their parents’ house, back to their hometown, back to everything they’d left when they were young and full of hopes and dreams and aspirations and excitement to get it all done.
But over the years, he realized that he took more pleasure in the simple things. Family close by, a slower pace, the small-town life. And doing the woodworking he’d grown up enjoying.
He didn’t know whether he could make a business out of it or not, but he should be able to spend the next ten years living with his dad, living off his savings, if he was wise, and if the woodworking business took off, he might never have to go back to work.
Who said he had to do something big with his life? He could continue to work in a suburb of Chicago, putting in eight-hour days, forty-hour weeks, and not being truly unhappy, but knowing that there was something better he could be doing.
Why would he not want to spend his dad’s last days with him?
Even if it did mean going back to Raspberry Ridge where the worst memories of his life had happened .
But he didn’t have to dwell on the negative. And he wasn’t going to. He was going to enjoy this time with his dad, consider it bonus time, and make the best of it.
The healing garden had all the spring blooms bursting out of it and smelled amazing. He took a deep breath as he opened the little gate and walked in.
The garden was laid out in such a way that he couldn’t really tell if there was anyone else there.
There were two cars in the lot, but those people could be in here or down on Pebble Beach.
He didn’t think much about it. The garden was big enough for lots of people to have private space, but most likely, they were down on the beach.
It didn’t take long before he realized at least one of the people was in the garden.
She was sitting on a bench near the waterfall which happened to be his favorite spot.
There was just something about hearing the water trickling by.
That, and seeing the crosses which represented the children who had died over the years from Raspberry Ridge.
Dominic and his wife, who designed the garden, made a little memorial for all the kids after they’d lost their own son.
He thought it was a great idea, even though he couldn’t really relate.
He never had a child, let alone lost one, and he really didn’t know what that was like.
Still, the place was calming and soothing and beautiful. But she was there first, so he nodded at the woman sitting on the bench, who looked vaguely familiar, and kept on walking.
That was one of the problems with coming back to his hometown.
Everyone either knew everyone, or they looked vaguely familiar.
He didn’t know whether he was making it up, or whether he actually knew them.
He was terrible at recognizing people, and typically other people figured out who he was first.
Chicago was a big town, and he never had that issue. But he obviously had the problem now, since the woman looked at him like she knew him. Then she looked quickly back down at the hands that were clutched together in her lap.
This was a place where people went to be soothed in their soul, not a place to remake acquaintance with people they went to high school with, so he kept on walking.
There were a couple of other spots he really enjoyed in the garden, and he ended up sitting by the tulips that were blooming profusely.
They were pink and purple, and while pink was not his favorite color, he loved the deep almost black purple and the way the pink seemed to emphasize the darkness while bringing out the light.
It was done in such a way that he never got tired of looking at it and made a point to come here every year when the tulips were blooming.
He sat down on the bench and thought about his dad, how many years he might have left, and whether or not he could encourage him to join a gym.
Now that both of them were here together, they could drive down to Strawberry Sands in the morning, which would be the closest gym.
Or he could see about buying some equipment to put in the basement of his dad’s house, which was unfinished but in good enough shape that it wouldn’t take much for him to turn it into a home gym.
Would that make it easier for his dad and him to stick to the workout schedule?
He hadn’t figured that out when movement caught his eye, and he looked up.
It was the woman who had been sitting on the bench.
He put a pleasant look on his face, although he dreaded the interaction. She’d be offended because he didn’t recognize her, he’d be embarrassed and surprised when she told him who she was.
Then, the wind caught her hair, and a microexpression blinked across her face, and suddenly everything clicked in his brain. He knew exactly who she was.