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Honey felt slightly defensive, as well as uncertain. She'd welcome help but knew Jewel could be a handful at times. And while the farmhouse had enough bedrooms, the shared spaces would be a challenge. How would it feel to share her kitchen with a stubborn young woman with strong opinions on almost everything? Who knew where that might lead? Add to that mix a teenage girl recently uprooted from her friends—it sounded like a recipe for disaster.

"Oh, I don't know, sweetheart." Honey tried to think of a tactful rejection. "That's a big change for you and Cooper. It's too much to ask of—"

"It's not too much. In fact, it's settled. My friend Jess has been begging to buy my gallery since Christmas, and I'd almost made up my mind to sell to him. It was a fun project, but I'm done now."

"Really?" Honey wasn't so sure. "You love that gallery."

"That was then. This is now. Honestly, Mom, I think we've come up with the perfect plan. Cooper and I will help you with Dad. And I'll have more time for my art, something I've missed lately. Plus, it'll get Coop away from her new friends. It's decided. I'm going to call Jess right now and—"

"You need to give this careful consideration, Jewel," Honey interrupted. "That's a huge life decision. Don't be too hasty and—"

"I'm not being hasty. It's been silently percolating in me for a while now. I just didn't have time to really wrap my head around it. But we're coming, Mom. You can count on us. I gotta go. I need to work out a deal with Jess and a dozen other things. Talk to you later. Love you." And before Honey could protest, Jewel hung up. Honey just shook her head as she went to finish cleaning up her eggs.

Frowning at the messy skillet, she pulled out a Brillo pad and began to scrub. Jewel was too impulsive. Dropping out of college just one semester before graduating. Then her hasty marriage to wealthy Rodney Benedict, a man with four failed marriages behind him. What a mismatch that turned out to be. Then her ill-timed pregnancy, hoping it would save her unraveling marriage. Even if marrying Rodney had been a mistake, Cooper was a treasure.

Then without thinking it through carefully, Jewel had invested her entire divorce settlement into that poorly located art gallery—just a few months before the COVID pandemic hit. Although, in Jewel's defense, Honey thought that had turned out all right. So why did she want to abandon it now?

Honey ground the steel wool into the cast iron with a vengeance. Sure, not all Jewel's impulsive choices had foreseeable results, but leave it to that girl to jump out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Honey just hoped her impetuously headstrong daughter would come to her senses before letting history repeat itself...again.

As Jewel walked through her downtown gallery, the thought of being free from this place and the responsibilities that came with it, not to mention being completely debt free with money in the bank, was surprisingly exhilarating. As she closed the front door to block out a siren blaring nearby, her idea to move back to the farm felt like a dream about to come true.

For everyone. It would be a creative reboot for her. A time to do what she loved most, focus on her art. And it would allow her to be a better mother to Cooper. She was tired of being pulled in too many directions. Like she often said to herself, "I'm only one woman." But she'd been a divided woman. Part-time artist, part-time business owner, part-time mother. With consequently very little time for a personal life.

And what about her parents? They were such good people. In their mid-sixties and about to enjoy the "good life" when her dad was diagnosed with this insidious disease. She knew she'd been a neglectful daughter. But her parents had always had their own lives to live. And they had each other. Sometimes she envied them that.

But their lives were changing. And this was her opportunity to rebuild relationships with them. Perhaps for only a small window of time with her dad. She bit her lip as she straightened an abstract landscape on the wall. It should be easy being around Mom. They'd always gotten along fairly well. Sure, there was room for improvement in their relationship. And sometimes she felt she didn't really know her mother. But she knew she was basically an understanding person. Mom's work in the middle school had exposed her to all kinds of people, and she was gracious and accepting by nature. But Jewel was no fool when it came to Dad.

She and her father had a rich and colorful history of family feuds. Power struggles that began when she was about Cooper's age and had decided to dress like a goth. She couldn't help but chuckle to remember that relatively short period of rebellion as she thought of her own daughter. Maybe the apple really hadn't fallen far from the tree. But, unlike herself, Jewel's hyper-traditional farmer dad had thrown a fit over her black-outlined eyes and dark clothing. He didn't understand her need to express herself.