Author Description

Jennifer is lingering in Paris, avoiding the distress of her father’s deterioration with ALS and hoping for a commitment from her boyfriend Guillaume when she receives a curt email informing her of her father’s death. She catches the first direct flight to DFW, where she’s met by her father’s caretaker, Jase, an attractive but reticent young man she later learns is limited by Asperger’s syndrome. Home in Preston Hollow, an affluent suburb of Dallas, she’s met by the tearful cook/housekeeper Juanita, her surrogate mother. Inside, she finds Ross, her father’s longtime friend, lawyer and money manager, and Tom, the groundskeeper, who was at a rehearsal when her father died ostensibly by a self-inflicted pistol shot through his brain. Ross and his charming wife Monica accompany Jen to the visitation at an upscale funeral parlor, where she meets Harlan, the handsome, charming, spiffily-dressed neighbor in the new “palazzo” across the alley, sees a demonstration of Jase’s devotion to her father and Tom’s support of his younger friend, topped by the visit of two of Dad’s dishonest political adversaries, both drunk and boisterous. The interment at a modest cemetery in nearby Collin County where Dad grew up, is less eventful, but Tom is one of the pallbearers, an indication Ross recognizes his importance to her father. Harlan attends and she finds his consolation a bit effusive and over-rehearsed. When Harlan takes a seat at the family table during the post-funeral buffet Jen is a bit miffed. She is even more annoyed when her Uncle Ockie (Great Uncle Oscar), the only other survivor of her family recognizes Tom, who is quietly serving guests by replenishing their beverages, as a trusted friend. She is dismayed when Harlan produces a will leaving most of Dad’s estate to his Center for Religious Understanding. Jase, a gifted pianist, is also proficient with a computer keyboard, finds evidence that Harlan is nearly bankrupt. He persuades Je