He was cheerful, meticulous, and far better with modern diagnostic equipment than Daniel liked admitting.
"Morning, boss."
Daniel accepted a cup.
"Morning."
Ethan looked at him.
"You're smiling."
Daniel frowned.
"Am I?"
"Terrifying development."
Daniel laughed.
They began discussing the day's repairs.
Then Ethan noticed a white envelope tucked beneath the office door.
He picked it up.
"Mail."
Daniel took it.
The return address belonged to the property management company that owned the garage building.
He opened it.
Read the letter.
Then became very still.
Ethan noticed.
"Everything all right?"
Daniel read the first paragraph again.
The landlord was reviewing the future use of the property and would not yet confirm renewal of the garage lease when its current term expired.
Daniel looked toward the building.
He had spent more than forty years of his life there.
Sweeping floors as a teenager.
Learning engines from Arthur Cole.
Working beside Elise after she moved back to town.
Raising Lucy while trying to keep the business operating.
The garage was not merely a workplace.
It was where he learned to become a different kind of man from his father.
Ethan watched him.
"Bad news?"
Daniel handed over the letter.
Ethan read it.
His expression changed.
"They're not renewing?"
"Not decided yet."
"But they might not."
Daniel nodded.
Ethan looked around.
"What happens to us?"
Daniel did not have an answer.
He thought about Lucy's school.
Ethan's two children.
The workers who relied on their wages.
The customers who had brought their vehicles to Cole Auto Repair for generations.
Then he folded the letter carefully.
"We keep working."
Ethan frowned.
"That's the plan?"
"For today."
Daniel placed the letter inside the office.
"Then we find out what they're proposing."
He returned to the truck.
But his hands moved more slowly than before.
He had spent much of his life believing that if he worked honestly and treated people fairly, he could build something stable.
Now a decision made by people he had never met might take that stability away.
And the woman who could have explained the situation better than anyone was preparing to tell him a very different secret.
Wednesday arrived with heavy clouds over Bellweather Lake.
Nora dressed carefully.
Not because she intended to impress Daniel.
But because she needed to feel steady.
She chose the black strapless dress, a short white skirt with soft draping, and the oversized white blazer that she sometimes wore to informal business events. Patterned pale lace tights and polished black shoes completed the outfit.
A wide white headband held her glossy black hair away from her face.
The clothes were unmistakably expensive.
But she had never learned to apologize for enjoying beautiful things.
What mattered was whether Daniel could look past them and hear the truth.
She placed the old photograph inside her black clutch.
Then the brass ring.
Then the letter.
She stood before the mirror.
For several seconds, she studied the woman looking back.
At sixty, she had lines beside her eyes.
The skin of her neck was softer than it had been in youth.
Her hands had changed.
Her hair required more care.
But she still recognized the girl who once sat barefoot on a wooden bridge.
Nora touched the white headband.