Indigo Bird - Paperback

Rainey Morgan, widowed mom of twelve-year old Shiloh, commercial artist, was getting along well enough. Just fine, thanks. True that her adult-ed painting class was a struggle, that Shiloh was having difficulties in a middle-school class, that her relationship with Pete was problematic, but there was simply nothing she couldn't handle.

Then her sister Leah phoned one night to ask a favor. Could Rainey keep Caleb, Leah's seven-year old, for a few weeks while Leah took her PhD in marine biology off to Germany for several weeks of work regarding the effect of global warming on the seals of the North Sea?

Sure. Caleb was bright, squirrely, and Rainey had enjoyed the boy the few times the family had been together at their parents' farm down in the valley. It might be fun to shake things up.

After seeing Leah off at the airport, Rainey was making peanut butter sandwiches in the kitchen when she noticed how Caleb was sitting on a bar stool, his hands hanging down, head resting on the island.

"My mother's not coming back," he said.