Description
All We Keep
Mallie Westin was coming home.
Ten years ago Mallie Grayson Westin packed up and with her children left the only home they had ever known . . . that she had ever known. Now she was coming back.
The neighborhood was still the same. Very little had changed. It was still a small cluster of only a few homes that were long ago built by her parents and a few of their friends who wanted something different than what the city in the distance offered. They had found this little corner of the canyon and made it their own.
Lizzie was still there. Mallie couldn’t imagine the canyon without the woman who was in all the ways that mattered like a mother to her. Lizzie Patterson had reached the pinnacle of her profession by stepping successfully into any acting role she played and making it her own.
Clay Tobin was the newcomer to the canyon. He was also a newcomer to the entertainment business that had surrounded Mallie all her life . . . with the exception of the last ten years.
And while she hadn’t been specific about her plans, Mallie knew it wouldn’t take long for her children to find their way back to the canyon. She knew each would question her reasons for returning. And while the answer to that was a simple one, Mallie knew that it wouldn’t be for them. She understood that too because she shared their memories of the canyon. Some memories never faded.
Everything We Are
Jake Westin is returning to the canyon where he grew up. It’s been ten years since the last time he was there. He can still remember the circumstances that led to his family’s departure all those years ago. It wasn’t something he thought of often. Who would want to?
Just as much as he wanted to see how his mother was doing since her return to the canyon he was also looking forward to seeing Lizzie. When he was a child the two of them had gone on all kinds of quests together for lizards and anything else that moved, searched for the buried treasure Lizzie swore was to be found somewhere in the canyon, and spent hours staring at the stars and picking out those that made up constellations of their own making.
He was also curious about his mother’s other neighbor in their small corner of the canyon. Unlike Lizzie who had walked away from the glitter and fame, Clay Tobin was just beginning to make his mark there according to both of his sisters.
And he needed to hear his mother’s reasons for coming back after all these years. More importantly . . . he wanted to understand.
Any One Moment
Leila Westin has held off coming back to the canyon where she grew up for as long as she could. If she was honest with herself she knew that time could be measured in years and not just the months since her mother had returned. It was easy enough for her to lay blame on her busy schedule, but she knew better. She suspected her mother did as well.
When she finally made the trip, she didn’t arrive alone. Leila knew too that her mother would give her a fair hearing. She wasn’t so certain about either of her mother’s two neighbors . . . one that she knew well and the other she only knew from all that she’d heard about him.
It didn’t take her long to realize that Lizzie Patterson, the worldwide known actress, hadn’t changed at all. She was still the woman who taught her that life wasn’t just a journey but an adventure.
Clay Tobin wasn’t as easy for her to read.