“But with potential?” asked Thomasina, as they neared her car.
“Something like that.” He waited while she unlocked the door.
“Just throw the boxes in the back seat,” she said, and thanked him.
The Penn children raced across the yard as he ambled back to the porch. Trace was about to duck out of sight when he realized Thomasina was the attraction. Thinking they were too late, Winny and Pauly stopped short, disappointment lining their faces.
If it’d been him, he would have pulled away without a second look. But Thomasina rolled down the window and beckoned to them. Trace took his paper inside, poured a cup of coffee, drank half of it and wandered to the front of the house just as Thomasina was pulling away. The children stood on the curb, waving to her. She tooted her horn and returned the gesture.
A regular glutton for punishment. Trace wagged his head, and went back for a refill.
Thomasina admired the composure with which Mary conducted herself throughout a morning of nest hunting which took them to more houses and apartment buildings than she cared to count. They took a break for brunch at a teahouse, then visited retirement complexes until midafternoon. Seeing Mary’s strength waning, Thomasina suggested pie and coffee before starting home.
While they were waiting for their order, Will Chambers strolled past their table. A square-jawed fellow with neatly clipped red-gold hair and his mother’s blue eyes and Nordic good looks, he gave Thomasina a passing glance and would have walked on by except that Mary reached out and caught his hand.
“Hello there, William. Aren’t you speaking today?”
“Mom!” A smile leapt to Will Chamber’s eyes. “I was just on my way out to the farm. What’re you doing here?”
“We’ve been out and about all day. We’re yielding to temptation before we start home,” said Mary. “You remember Thomasina, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course.”
Thomasina traded smiles and pleasantries. Mary beamed at him with a mother’s pride. “Have you eaten, Will? Then have a piece of pie with us, won’t you?”
Will accepted, and took a seat beside his mother. To Thomasina’s relief, the conversation was general with no mention of the decisions Mary and Milt were in the throes of making. When they had finished their dessert, Will offered to drive his mother home.
“That would be nice,” said Mary, with no outward indication of concern over the bombshell awaiting Will at the farm.
Thomasina parted company with them on the street, and returned home to change her clothes and pack some more boxes. It was close to four o’clock when she trudged down the stifling staircase for the last time that day, carrying the roof to her dollhouse.
Sixteen-year-old Ricky Spignalo was bouncing a handball against the brick wall out front as Thomasina came out the lobby door. Six-two in his purple sneakers, baggy shorts and T-shirt with its cut-out sleeves, he leapt to catch a ricocheting rebound angling toward her car.
“Phone’s ringing, Miz Rose.”
“Answer it, would you?” asked Thomasina, keys dangling from her little finger.
Ricky unlocked her car door and reached in. “Yes, ma’am. No, she ain’t busy. She’s right here.” His glance darted to Thomasina. “Ricky. I’m her neighbor. Yes, ma’am. Nice talkin’ to you, too.” He held out the phone. “Miz Baxter. Says if you’re not too busy…”
Thomasina gave Ricky the dollhouse roof. “Back seat, would you please?”
“Shore, Miz Rose. It’s going to be a pushin’ match, gettin’ it in.”
“Careful, it’s my prize possession!” warned Thomasina as she took the phone. “Flo! What a nice surprise.”
“I’ve been trying for three days to get you, sweetheart,” said Flo. “I was worried.”
“I’m sorry, Flo. I’m in the process of moving. I should have called.”
“Moving?”
“Yes, to a beautiful old house in Liberty Flats.”
“Oh, Thomasina! How exciting. Nathan will be thrilled. Ever the financier, you know. He thinks paying rent when you’ve got the resources to buy is money down a rat hole.”
Thomasina was about to correct Flo’s assumption she was buying the house when she looked up in the rearview mirror to see a car pull up behind her. The hard-bitten expressions of the driver and passenger made her uneasy. Seeing them motion to Ricky, she said, “Hold on a sec, would you Flo?” Thomasina reached out the yawning car door and caught Ricky’s arm.
“Ricky? I could use some help moving. Think it’d be all right with your mom if I borrowed you for a few hours?”
“She ain’t here,” said Ricky, turning away from his tough-looking peers. “She’s workin’ over at the dry cleaner’s.”
“Climb in and we’ll buzz by.” Thomasina took the passenger’s seat while Ricky slid behind the wheel. “Buckle up, okay?” she said, and grabbed the phone again. “Flo? You still there?”
“Trouble?” asked Flo, as astute as ever.
“You know what they say about three-day fish.” Thomasina put it in code.
“Stinks like bad company?” Flo picked up on it immediately, for it was she who had recoined the phrase while guiding Thomasina away from a fast crowd in her teen years. “Young Ricky keeping rough company, is he?”
“Not yet At least I don’t think so,” said Thomasina, breathing a little easier as the two young men sped away in their car.
“You can’t save the whole world,” said Flo gently. “You know that, don’t you, baby?”
“That never kept you from trying,” countered Thomasina with a smile in her voice.
“God sent you to us,” said Flo. “He knew I had more mothering in me.”
“You certainly did, and am I ever grateful! I love you, Flo.”
“I know, honey, and we love you. Listen, about this house you’re buying—you’re not taking out a loan, surely? You know all you have to do is say the word and Nathan will liquidate some of your stocks. The timing couldn’t be better. Nathan was saying just this morning…”
“I’m not buying, Flo,” she inserted quickly. “I’m just renting.”
“Oh! Well. Nevertheless.” Flo dropped single-word sentences the way she always did when shifting mental gears. “You need to study up on your…”
“Not the stocks and bonds thing again?” Thomasina forestalled her, crowding out the familiar guilt rush that always came at the mention of the investments Nathan had made on her behalf over the years. “You know I haven’t a clue about that stuff.”
“Nonsense! You have a good mind,” said Flo.
“Flo…”
“No, let me finish,” Flo said gently. “Nathan misses the number crunching now that he’s retired. You know how unassuming he is. He isn’t going to bore you with knowledge you don’t want. But your interest would buoy him up tremendously, Thomasina. Truly.”
“All right, then,” said Thomasina, wheels turning. “Ask him about a farm.”
“A farm?”
“Yes.