Lake Palestine, Texas

Being home again felt better than she had expected. With her mother living in a new house by the lake and her father gone, Beth Lowell had feared things might seem strange. But there in the pink armchair sat her mom reading a magazine. By the door stood the familiar brass coatrack. On the table sat a bouquet of fresh roses, as always. As much as she wished her mother would wake up and do something exciting with her life, Beth couldn't deny the pleasure in the familiar aroma of Jan Lowell's warm cherry cobbler. The taste of her famous chicken salad. The tang of fresh, homemade lemonade.

"Do you realize how many times your phone has tweedled, sweetie?" Jan lifted her head from the magazine. "I bet you've had fifteen calls since you got here this afternoon."

"Is that bothering you?" Beth asked as she set the phone beside her on the old beige sofa.

"It does make conversation difficult. I haven't seen you in almost a year, but we can hardly finish a sentence. Before this last call, you were telling me about your boss."

"I don't want to talk about Joe anymore." Beth crossed her legs and rubbed her toes, determined to avoid the subject of the man she had been dating for two months. "He's a good guy, but he doesn't understand my job. They bought us out because they knew they needed us, but Joe hasn't found time to learn what we do."

Her mom's eyebrows lifted. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Beth. Who's they, and who's us? And what do you really do?"

"My division of the company used to be an independent consulting firm. We assisted various corporations with international transitions. Last year, Global Relocation Services ac