“You always were soft. You can’t find every lost puppy or engagement ring.”
He knew very well what he couldn’t do, but Nelson’s cynicism was getting on his nerves. “Little things matter,” he said when he pulled into his uncle’s driveway. “You need to go see Tanya.”
“Why?”
“Because she needs you. She needs her father.”
“She’s twenty-seven years old and she’s got nothing to show for the air she breathes. No degree. No badge. No real job. All she’s done with her life is waste every chance she’s ever been given, and she’s had too many chances. I don’t know what she needs, but it’s not a father.”
“Dad doesn’t agree with any of my choices,” Lucas said, “but I still talk to him.”
“You’re a man. You take responsibility, do a hard job not many people can do. All she has to do is quit using and get a job. That’s not too much to ask.”
Is that all it took to deserve the air he breathed? Because it didn’t feel like enough. “Nelson,” Lucas said.
“She’s an addict and a user. She’s the cancer that happens when the schools and the library fails. That’s why you have a job. Someone has to cut out the cancer.” Nelson shot him a glare. “You learned your lesson in Denver. We can’t afford for you to forget.”
Lucas felt his jaw tighten. “I haven’t forgotten,” he said.
“Good. Do your job. Forget about the things you can’t control.”
Back ramrod straight, Nelson slammed the door closed and stalked up to his front door. Lucas backed out of the driveway.
7
ALANA’S PHONE RANG while she and Mrs. Battle were merging onto I29, headed for the eye doctor in Brookings. She answered it with the hands-free button on the steering wheel.
“Hi, Freddie,” she said.
“Why do you sound like you’re at the bottom of a big tin can?”
So much for German engineering. “I’m in my car, with Mrs. Battle. We’re on our way to a doctor’s appointment.”
“I hope everything’s all right,” Freddie said, her voice shifting smoothly from imperious sister to solicitous spokeswoman for the Wentworth Foundation.
“I’m fine,” Mrs. Battle said. “Just getting old. Your sister’s driving me to the eye doctor.”
“I can call back another time,” Freddie said, which was thoughtful, but doubtful.
“Do you mind?” Alana asked Mrs. Battle.
“Not at all.”
“Is this wedding stuff or work stuff?” Alana asked.
“A little of both. I need you to dig around and get me everything you can about the situation in Andhra Pradesh. I’m getting a very pretty, whitewashed picture from the undersecretary to the junior minister, and you know how much I hate that.”
“Got it,” Alana said.
“Any word back from the wedding locations?”
“Nothing yet, but I only sent the e-mails six hours ago. Patience, Freddie.”
“I don’t have time to be patient,” her sister said rather nonsensically. “Toby’s planning tour dates for next summer.”
“I asked about April and early May,” Alana said.
“Oh. Good. All right. That’s all I needed. Drive safely. I hope you get good news, Mrs. Battle.”
“I’m going to have to get a shot in my eye every three months,” Mrs. Battle said. “That’s the good news.”
“Well, you’ve got a positive attitude,” Freddie replied.
“That I do.”
After she hung up, Mrs. Battle looked at Alana.
“I think sometimes she calls just to hear my voice,” Alana said apologetically.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Mrs. Battle replied. “I used to call my sister for exactly the same reason. What are you doing here?”
Funny, Lucas asked the same question every other time they talked. “The contract position came up at a time when I needed a break. I’m leaving at the end of the month, but before then, I want to get this proposal ready to go.”
Mrs. Battle lifted her eyebrows at her. “Nelson Ridgeway was a hard man. He saw approaches like libraries and schools and social programs as doomed to failure.”
“With all due respect to the former chief, he’s wrong,” Alana said. “Will you help me develop the proposal? What happens after that is outside my control. But I want to give Walkers Ford the best possible plan, so the new librarian has something to stand on when she tries to get the funding to go ahead.”
Over the next forty minutes, they developed a plan of attack—who to include in the discussions, how to approach them, and when. “I think we should include Cody, too,” Alana said.
“Are you sure about that?”
“He’s bright, he’s creative, and he’s the town’s future,” Alana said. “Outside of his art classes, the school hasn’t engaged him. We need to find something that does, and we have nothing to lose. It makes me think about the technology needs. Maybe we can get equipment that would support start-ups and seed entrepreneurial business.”