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turned around and around in the great big kitchen while the guys talked. In addition to a lot of cupboard space and countertop, there was room for a doublesubzero fridge and an industrial-size stove top, two double ovens, a couple of dishwashers….
    “And I love this,” Paul said, pulling open a couple of bottom drawers in the work island. “My idea. Extra refrigeration, probably useful for fresh produce or marinating meat. On the other side—warming trays.”
    At the nonworking end of the kitchen was a very large dining area, large enough for a long table that would seat twelve. Over by the back door was a large brick hearth. The entire back wall was all windows that looked out onto the porch and the yard beyond. Below the windows were built-in drawers and cupboards. On one side of the dining area was a beautiful built-in desktop.
    Continuing the tour, Paul said, “We’ve got one small bedroom here and we added a small bath, which was easy to do since we had access to the kitchen plumbing. I think this was set up to be the maid’s quarters. But near as we could tell, Hope lived in this small area of the kitchen for at least the last several years. It’s where she kept a big recliner, her filing cabinets, her TV and computer. Furnace works just fine, but I think she kept warm in front of the fire and, as we know, she chopped her own wood. If I owned the house, I’d trade that wood fireplace in for a gas—”
    “Not me,” Jack said. “I like the smell of the wood. I like to chop wood.”
    “Wood fires are hard on the chimney and interior walls, and sparks aren’t healthy in dry forests,” Paul argued.
    Jillian barely heard them. She was looking out the window into the backyard. For about three hours yesterday she had been transported. She might’ve cried as she dug in the garden, but it had been the first time since leaving San Jose that she’d truly felt like herself. She was at home in that dirt! She could imagine living in the kitchen!It seemed like a great place to live with all those windows looking out onto the garden. She’d be happy sleeping in a recliner.
    Her nana had spent many a night sleeping upright. She’d fall asleep with a book in her lap and sometimes she wouldn’t even bother going up to bed. Then of course there was Jillian’s mom—there were times Nana stayed downstairs all night because she needed tending.
    I should remember my early years as traumatic, difficult, Jill thought. Why don’t I? Why doesn’t Kelly?
    “Jillian, look,” Paul said. He put a hand on her shoulder and pointed out the window. Right at the tree line, a doe and fawn picked their way cautiously into the yard. “Whoa, that guy’s brand-new—he can hardly stand up!”
    Then a second fawn appeared, a twin, and the doe nudged him in the rear with her nose, moving him along. They stayed close to the trees.
    Jillian’s chin could have hit the floor. “God,” she said in a breath. “God.”
    “Probably looking for Hope’s lettuce crop,” Jack said with a laugh. “The deer used to drive her nuts.”
    “She used to come in to Jack’s for her drink every night, covered in garden mud, and say she was going to start shooting ’em,” Paul added. “Jack? You think there are deer skeletons all over that back patch?”
    “You know what? Now that you mention it, we never found a gun when we cleaned out Hope’s house! That old biddy was all talk!” Jack exclaimed.
    Jillian whirled around and faced Jack. “Rent it to me!” she said.
    “Huh?” both men replied.
    “Rent it to me! The house. And yard of course.”
    “Wait a minute,” Jack said. “I hadn’t even considered that…”
    “Well, consider it. I mean, even if the house is paid for, there’s taxes, right? And bills—water, electric, etc. You probably don’t want to try to sell it in this bad real estate market, being all the way out here in the country and all. Until you can figure out what you want to do, rent it to me.”
    “For how