Perfect Partners

time to pay off Mom’s medical bills. Copeland Marine didn’t provide its workers with much in the way of medical insurance back in those days. Still doesn’t for that matter.”
    “What did your mother die of, Joel?”
    “Breast cancer. I was eighteen at the time.”
    Letty closed her eyes briefly. “How terrible for all of you.”
    “Her death changed everything. That house isn’t much to look at, but when Mom was alive, it seemed different somehow. It was a good place to grow up.”
    “Your mother made it a home.”
    “Yeah. Dad was different in those days, too. He used to laugh a lot. We did things together. Talked about the future. He always had plans.” Joel paused. “He never talked about the future again after Mom died.”
    “Oh, Joel, how awful.”
    Joel shrugged. “Dad and I combined our paychecks for three years and managed to get the hospital off our backs. I had plans to move out the summer Dad was killed. I was free at last and ready to take on the world. I was heading for the bright lights of the big city.”
    “With Diana.” Letty’s voice was very soft.
    Joel smiled wryly. “Yeah, I thought Diana was going with me. I should have known better.” He put his foot back down on the accelerator. “No way was she going to disobey her daddy. And she sure as hell was not going to walk away from everything she had here. Not for some working-class nobody like me.”
    “You’ve come a long way, haven’t you?” Letty asked dryly. “If it’s any consolation, Diana apparently regrets her decision fifteen years ago.”
    “I don’t give a damn whether she regrets it or not. I’m just grateful she made the choice she did.”
    “Are you certain of that, Joel?”
    “Damn certain. I’ll say this one last time, Letty: I am not carrying a torch for Diana Copeland Escott. Got that?”
    “If you say so.”
    Joel frowned. She did not sound convinced. He drove in silence for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts, trying to decide where to begin. He thought he was driving aimlessly with no particular destination in mind, until he realized he had taken the turnoff that led to the old gray barn. He eased his foot off the gas.
    “Why are we stopping this time?” Letty asked quietly.
    “I don’t know. I used to come here sometimes.” Joel halted the Jeep at the side of the road, switched off the engine, and rested his arms on the steering wheel. He stared at the ramshackle barn through the rain. “I could be alone here. Nobody else ever bothered to come out this far. No reason to. The place was abandoned years ago. I’m surprised it’s still standing.”
    “This was where you headed when you wanted privacy?”
    “Yeah.”
    Letty smiled softly. “I had a special place, too. Not a great old barn like this, just a little potting shed in my mother’s garden. I’m sure Mom and Dad knew where I was when I disappeared into it, but they never said anything or bothered me when I was there.”
    “So maybe you and I have a few things in common,” Joel suggested.
    “Could be.” Letty unbuckled her seat belt. “Come on. Let’s go see what’s happened to your barn in the past few years.”
    Memories seared through Joel’s head. Diana’s screams. Copeland’s enraged face. The heavy length of teak crashing down hard enough to break bones.
    “Letty, wait.” Joel stretched out a hand to catch hold of her, but it was too late. She was already out of the Jeep, raising her umbrella.
    Joel reluctantly got out and stood in the rain. Letty hurried around the front of the Jeep to hold the umbrella over his head.
    “Don’t you have a hat, Joel?”
    “I’m all right.”
    He started walking toward the dilapidated structure. Letty followed. The place did not look all that much different than it had fifteen years ago, Joel realized. Same barnyard overgrown with weeds. Same broken windows in the loft. Same sagging door.
    But the weathered roof was still doing an amazingly effective job of keeping out the rain, Joel discovered as he led the way into the gloom. He halted and stood searching the shadows. They were still filled with bits and pieces of rusted-out farm machinery and empty feed troughs.
    Compelled by grim curiosity, Joel walked over to the horse stall on the right. Metal hinges squawked in protest as he opened the door. It was the same sound they had made that night fifteen years ago, a sound that had probably saved his life. It had given him the split-second warning he needed to roll to