The View From Here by Cindy Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

“I’m too wiped to talk anymore. Where am I sleeping?”
    Lucas emerged from the bathroom, wiping his hands on his jeans. “You want me to bring in the suitcase, Mom?” he asked.
    â€œIn the morning. Lucille is going to show us to our rooms.”
    Lucille winced at the sound of her name. Whatever happened to Grandma? “Lucas, you’re all the way up at the top of the house. There’s another stairway at the end of the upstairs hall that leads to your room. There’s no bathroom up there, so you’ll have to share with your mother.” As she talked, Lucille made her way up the stairs. She showed Olivia the pink and white guest bedroom and bath, and pointed out the stairs to Lucas. “Do you want me to go up with you?” she asked.
    â€œNo, I’m okay,” he said. And without another word he climbed the narrow flight of steps and disappeared.
    Lucille heard the door open, then shut with a click. “He seems to be a very independent boy,” she said.
    â€œDoes he?” Olivia scraped her too-long bangs out of her eyes. “I guess that’s a good thing. I never could have stood a clingy child.” She moved into the bedroom, one hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
    â€œWait.” Lucille hated for the evening to end on such an abrupt note. “Do you want something to eat? Or I could make tea.”
    â€œI’m dead. I just want to go to bed.”
    She did look exhausted. Lucille wanted to fold her in her arms, to comfort Olivia as she had when she was a very little girl. But Olivia hadn’t allowed that kind of closeness in many years.
    â€œI’m glad you’re here,” Lucille said, the verbal equivalent of the hug she wanted to give.
    Olivia’s eyes met hers for the briefest instant, before flickering away again. In that moment, Lucille saw another emotion between the weariness, something almost like . . . gratitude. “I’m glad, too,” she said. “It’ll be good to stop for a while. To think.”
    Then she shut the door, leaving Lucille to stand in the hall and wonder. Olivia hadn’t said she was glad to see her mother, or glad to have another chance for the two of them to bond. But she was glad to be here, in this house, whatever her motives. It was a start.

Chapter 4
    M aggie had Lorna Doones and coffee for breakfast, and found a pad of paper and made a list. She needed food besides ham and cookies. Cash, if she could get it. Did Eureka even have a bank? She should get a map of the area. Maybe Reggie could tell her where to pick one up. She’d have to ask him where the mine was. Even if it was empty, she wanted to see it.
    As the list grew, she began to feel a little more confident. Making a list—having a plan—gave her the illusion of control. In the days following Carter’s announcement that he was leaving her, she’d filled notebooks with lists: things she needed to do at work, items she needed to pack, questions to ask her lawyer—and one very long list of every bad name she could think of to call Carter. She’d started with A, “addlepated asshole,” and worked her way all the way to P, “pinheaded prick,” before she’d abandoned the task.
    Her new list tucked into her purse, she stepped onto the front porch. Now that the sun was up, the chill wasn’t so pronounced, though the air still held a freshness unlike anything offered by the humidity of Houston. Reggie had said the cabin was at 10,000 feet. She supposed that far above sea level it never really got warm.
    She dug out the key ring Reggie had given her and locked the cabin behind her, then walked around the side of the house to the Jeep. It was an older model, with fading red paint and worn leather upholstery. The dash was littered with old gas receipts, a half pack of spearmint gum, and what might have been a speeding ticket, but the ink was so faded