The look on Dad’s face said it all. He’d been silent when I told him I would move down there and live in Grandma’s estate for a while. It wasn’t until he walked me to my terminal that he voiced any of it.

“Jessica,” he said, placing his big palms on my shoulders. “I love and trust you, but you’re giving up Denver for…Slade Springs?”

I listened to the chatter and foot traffic of the airport while reading his face. His thick salt-n-pepper eyebrows were pulled ...