Sedona: City of Refugees

But the hat afforded no privacy to the front of her. Jessica and Natalie Buckley turned and gave her a searing look of contempt. Scott’s brother never turned, his straight back almost worse than the look from Kathleen’s step-daughters.

In the pew in front of her, the chairman of the board of the Sedona-Oak Creek Bank sat down with his wife next to him. The Emersons, who owned a plush resort in Oak Creek Canyon, north of Sedona sat with them. They all saw her as they waited to be ushered into the pew, but despite years of friendship with Kathleen, none acknowledged her presence.

She pursed her lips to prevent herself from crying, not wanting these people to see she felt the sting of their deliberate snub. Kathleen’s simmering anger began to take hold of her, but she was able to push it down, out of sight, just as she had for many years.

Several friends from the Arizona Republic sat down in the pew behind her. Despite their hectic work schedule at the largest newspaper in Arizona, they drove up from Phoenix in a show of support for Kathleen who garnered a plum reporting job on the paper after she left Scott.

Next to Rose sat Kathleen’s best friend, Carrie Southern, a tall, blond woman, who spoke bluntly to Kathleen about everything in life. She never minced her words, and Kathleen loved her all the more for that quality.

Impeccably dressed in a brown linen suit, accented with a large brown straw hat, Carrie reached across Rose to pat Kathleen on the hand and gave her a loving look.

“Hey, kid. You can get through this.”

Kathleen nodded and gave Carrie a wan smile. Through the years, there was nothing they had not discussed, from the latest gossip enveloping Sedona to the loneliness and despair of difficult marriages.