Cate nodded. "I've heard that the desert is beautiful. Did you get to go through the painted part? I think that's where I'd go if I ever decided to wander around." The idea of getting stranded out in the middle of nowhere probably worried her less than it did some people. "Do you have it with you? The picture?" Most people hated looking at other's vacation photos, but she adored it. You could tell a lot about someone by looking at what they thought was important enough to try and keep a part of.
"He's just particular. Has all sorts of criteria. I'd never even think of buying a car without letting him pick it out for me. And, yeah, I bet. Moving short distances is expensive enough. I can't imagine that sort of a trek. Surely you had to have a U-Haul fixed to the back of the truck, right? No way all your belongings fit in there. Or did you do the Pod thing? I looked at those, but it felt so weird to just put your stuff in something and trust other people not to go through it. I couldn't do it in the end." What would have been rambling on someone else was just friendly chatter on her. Cate wasn't trying to fill empty spaces or pry things out of the man. She just hadn't had an adult other then Colin to really talk to in a while.
When he told her where she worked, she looked at him for a moment, quiet, considering. "I bet that's a hard job. Thank you for everything you do." Cate had always been appreciative of firefighters and doctors and paramedics and cops and all the rest. They kept society nice and orderly, didn't they? Risked their lives for everyone else. It was comforting.
The news about his ex-wife made her frown, and she would have apologized for the question itself if it hadn't been for what he said next. The color drained out of her face, and the fingers of her right hand immediately covered her left, touching the engagement ring she still wore. "I'm not married," she said quickly. "My brother and I own the shop." After glancing at her daughter, she took a step closer, eyes still heavy lidded and mouth tense, voice pitched lower. "That's Kayla's daddy." She gestured toward a plaque on the wall that had Ryan's picture, name and then dates on it: date of birth, date of death. She liked having him watch over them from that spot.
Gesturing quickly at the form, she tried to force a smile. "You done?"