“I love mashed potatoes,” Charlie said.

“Then the next time Carrie has meat loaf and mashed, it’s yours,” Grace said. “I love mashed potatoes, too! What’s your favorite, Lin Su?”

“Oh, this is amazing,” she said, taking a bite.

“Mom doesn’t like dinner that much,” Charlie said. “She usually isn’t hungry and maybe has a bowl of cereal before bed.”

“You cook just for Charlie?” Grace asked.

“Sure. He is always hungry. I make all his favorites and I freeze meal-size portions. Sometimes I have what he’s having, but he’s right, sometimes I just want a snack.”

“Do mashed potatoes freeze?” Grace asked.

“They sure do. You’d be surprised the things you can freeze.”

“Mom will freeze one asparagus spear,” Charlie said, shoveling lasagna in his mouth.

“That’s not so,” Lin Su said with a laugh. “But I don’t waste. And when I’m cleaning up your kitchen, neither do you!” she said. Then she stood and started picking up plates. “Charlie, when you’re done there, will you help?”

“Sure,” he said, gobbling two last bites.

“I’ll help,” Troy said. “Charlie looks like he might need a second helping. Hiking up to the ridge is hard work.”

“And I think I’ll get ready for bed,” Winnie said. “Somehow I missed my nap.”

“Yes, I wonder how,” Lin Su said, letting Troy take on kitchen duties so she could take Winnie to her bedroom.

Once Winnie had washed up, changed and was settled in bed with the TV on, Lin Su made sure her few evening chores were done. There was a little laundry to fold but she would put it away the next day. She gave the bathroom a quick clean, checked to make sure the extra lasagna and bread were properly stowed and gave the kitchen floor a once-over. The rest of the family was out on the deck with Charlie, watching the sunset over the bay.

“I’m ready to leave, unless anyone needs anything,” Lin Su announced to the gathering.

“I’m taking walk on beach before bed,” Mikhail said, rising from his chair.

“No one needs anything more, Lin Su,” Grace said. “Thank you for everything and I’ll probably see you when I get home from the shop tomorrow.”

“Good. Let me know if you want me to come up with dinner.”

“I’ll text you in the morning after I check out Carrie’s specials. Have a good evening.”

Charlie dragged himself up from his chair and followed his mother out to the car. He slumped back in the seat, worn out from yet another busy day filled with fresh air, sun and exercise.

“I want to ask you something,” Lin Su said. “Would you like to go to Thunder Point High when school starts?”

He straightened instantly. “Could I?”

“Troy seems to think you could, based on my work location and schedule. But Charlie, I don’t know that it’ll be better. You could have issues there, as well.”

“I could, but I know people there. I wouldn’t be the nerdy strange kid who popped in from out of town. Troy and Spencer are friends. Iris and Seth are friends. Um, I mean Mr. Headly, Mr. Lawson, Mrs. Sileski and Deputy Sileski.” Then he grinned.

She laughed. He might not be big but he sure was good-looking. “So—you like that idea?”

“I love that idea. Can you do that? Does it cost anything?”

“It’s public school. And they have a chess club.”

“Cool. Yeah, I’d do that in a heartbeat. But what about...you know...Winnie?”

“She thinks she’s going to last a long time and I wouldn’t be surprised, but we know the reality—her disease doesn’t promise long-term survival. We could have to make another change.”

“I get that. But I’d do anything to live in Thunder Point!”

“I know it’s nice, Charlie. But there isn’t anything I can afford in that town.”

“But I could go to school there for a while.”

“You could, I guess. But you’d have to remember, it could be temporary.”

“Mom. Everything could be temporary.”

* * *

Grace was just about to close the doors to the deck when she noticed something. She went over to one of the chairs and lifted Charlie’s backpack. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Look what he forgot.”

“He might make his mother come back for it. I’m going to run over to Spencer’s. He’s hooking up the automatic garage door and I said I’d help,” Troy said.

“And you think you’re the man for that job?”

“Try not to damage my manhood. I do many manly things. I have my own tool belt.”

She laughed, but then she kissed him. “All right, then. I’m going to run this over to Lin Su’s. She said she lives about fifteen minutes away. I’ll get the address from Winnie and take the Jeep. By the time you’re done with Spencer I’ll be back.”

Grace put the address in her phone before leaving the garage and watched as the directions were calculated. It was calculated as farther than a fifteen-minute drive, but she dismissed that. She’d beat the GPS at its own game in the past with some clever shortcuts. In fact, she enjoyed that challenge. She wouldn’t try it tonight, however. She’d play it safe.

She drove through the south part of Bandon and then east toward Coquille. She passed a barbed-wire-encircled industrial lot where construction equipment seemed to be stored. Guard dogs patrolled inside the fence, an eerie sight. Nearby, there were storage lockers of the large, commercial capacity. A convenience store and bar were on the corner across the street from a run-down apartment complex. Customers were spilling out onto the street with their drinks in front of the bar. A bunch of teenagers were hanging out in the parking lot and a police car was parked nearby, an officer in the front seat. On the other side of the convenience store was a motel. The vacancy sign was flashing, missing the V. She passed through a sparse neighborhood comprised of old houses, crossed some railroad tracks, made a few turns and assumed she was leaving the populated area for the more rural area. Then the nice GPS lady informed her that her destination was on the right and she noticed the entrance to a trailer park. There was an outdoor lavatory attached to a small Laundromat. There were exactly two security lights shining down on maybe twenty trailers of various models. Among the mobile homes was an old Airstream, a few fifth wheels, a couple of abandoned trailers. The ground was dirt and a couple of trailers seemed to be well lit with outdoor lights for the purposes of beer-drinking gatherings or home auto and motorcycle mechanics. There was a police car at the far end of the one-street park. Two officers were cuffing a couple of men who wore jeans and leather jackets and looked dangerous to Grace.