Chapter 17
Mother’s Day dawned a beautiful sunny day, with the highs predicted in the eighties. The valley and land were lush with new green leaves and grasses growing tall and full. The pine trees sparkled in the morning dew and the air smelled spicy, of fresh dirt and pines, a scent Erin never had quite grown used to. It felt so invigorating and pure, almost as if she were breathing an exotic perfume, and not simply the country air.
She dreaded today and knew it would be hard. She woke early as usual. Sundays and Mondays were her days off at the coffee stand, but her regular, three-thirty wake-up usually intruded onto her days off all the same. She watched the sunrise change the sky into pearly colors of peach and orange. It shadowed the mountains in dark, inky lines as the day slowly
