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easy for either of you,” she said, her tone softening. “And you know I’m there for you, for both of you. If it ever gets to be too much for you and you just need to vent, know I’m there to listen.”
    I pulled into a space in our parking lot, put the car in park, and hugged her. “Thank you. What would we do without you?” God had taken Nan from us around the same time he brought Mrs. Ryan into our lives, and I knew that was no coincidence.
     

 

Chapter Three
    Seb
     
    I knew my production manager, Jim, was right. There was no way we could take on another job right now, and I sure as hell couldn’t ask my guys to work late nights and weekends on a charity case.
    “I’m sorry, boss,” Jim said, running a hand over his receding hairline. “I’d find a way to make it happen if I could, but there are only so many hours a day, and every one of ours is already spoken for.”
    I stared straight ahead, trying to figure out how the hell to break the news to Skylar. She would be crushed, and I’d walk away feeling like the bad guy even though she’d been the one to ask the impossible of me.
    “This is a friend of yours?” Jim asked.
    “Uh, no, I just met the girl. Why?” I asked, returning my attention to him.
    “Just seems kind of personal to you.”
    How could I not want to help someone with a story like hers? I’d watched my mother slip away when I was barely a teenager, and I would have done anything to make her smile one last time. Fortunately for us, our mother had been a born optimist who never stopped finding reasons to smile, even when life dealt her hands that would have broken a lesser woman.
    “Thanks, Jim, I know you’re busy. You can get back at it.”
    “The guys are gonna head out for some grub. You want anything?”
    I should have eaten, but I couldn’t until I’d broken the news to Skylar. After that, I had a feeling I’d need to step out for some fresh air. “No, I’ll just get something later. Thanks.”
    After Jim left my office, I slid my cell phone across the desk, staring at the screen and rehearsing the best way to let her down gently. In the end, I decided to just come straight out with it. She would understand, wouldn’t she? She’d have to. I was running a business, not a goddamn nonprofit.
    As I connected the call, I heard my mother’s voice reminding me to do something nice for someone else whenever I could. Karma, she always said, would repay us in the most unexpected ways. Damn, now not only did I feel as if I was letting Skylar down but my late mother too. Could this day get any worse?
    I should have been mad at Skylar for putting me in this situation, but the sound of her sweet voice, filled with so much hope and expectation as she said, “Hi, Seb,” softened all my frustration.
    “Hi, Skylar.”
    “You can call me Sky if you want. All my friends do.”
    I didn’t want to. Skylar was a beautiful name, and she sure as hell wouldn’t count me among her friends when I broke the news. “So, um, I talked to my production manager and—”
    She sighed, sounding so dejected I could barely stand it. “You can’t do it, can you? It’s okay. I knew it was a longshot.”
    She sounded so different from the determined young woman who’d marched into my office refusing to take no for an answer.
    “Did, uh, something happen with your uncle? You seem kind of down.” Of course she’s down, asshole. You just crushed her dream of doing this one last thing for her uncle.
    “It wasn’t my uncle, actually. I came home to find my landlady being carted off to the hospital on a stretcher. I guess when you see someone you care about in trouble, it hits you how few people you can really count on.”
    I’d never forget the day I came home from school and saw them taking my mom’s body away. Except she had been covered with a sheet, and I knew she wouldn’t be coming home. “I’m sorry to hear that. How is she?”
    “Oh, she’s doing fine. Mrs. Ryan’s a real trouper. I