16 Lighthouse Road - Debbie Macomber [59]
That was the last time she’d seen him.
Janet reached for her phone and called down to the kitchen for tea. Five minutes later, one of the staff carried a tray into the office.
“He was a special man,” Charlotte said, grateful for the hot, comforting tea. It helped ease the lump in her throat.
“Yes, he was,” Janet agreed.
“What should I do now?” Charlotte asked.
Janet stared at her blankly.
“With the key? Remember he gave me the key to that storage unit?”
Janet frowned. “I guess the state will want it. You’d better return it as soon as you can.”
Nine
Jack Griffin was strongly attracted to Olivia Lockhart, and that wasn’t a good sign. Oh, hell, maybe it was. Still, pursuing this attraction meant losing emotional independence, and he wasn’t sure he liked that. He couldn’t help it, though—he found himself making excuses to talk to her. To learn more about her.
After the fiasco of their first date, he hadn’t made a point of asking her out again. Mostly, he was afraid she’d turn him down flat and, frankly, he wouldn’t blame her. He didn’t want to give her any opportunity to reject him. Instead, he made excuses to be around her.
Jack Griffin spent many more hours at the courthouse than his job required. Plus, he made sure he was in the Safeway store every Saturday morning on the off-chance that he might run into her again. He had two or three times, and they’d ended up having coffee. Damn, but he liked her. Judge Lockhart was down-to-earth, smart and sexy. What got him, what really got him, was that she didn’t seem to know it.
Friday afternoon, on his way home, Jack stopped at the dry cleaner. He rushed from the parking lot through the pulsing rain, cursing the foul weather under his breath. The skies had been a depressing lead-gray all week, with intermittent showers. The only bright spot on the horizon—so to speak—was a story he was writing about the Annual Seagull Calling Contest, being held that night.
He raced into the dry cleaner and nearly collided with Olivia. The shock of seeing her destroyed any chance of being clever. Her name was all he could manage. “Olivia.”
Her smile was infectious. “Don’t look so surprised. I do get my clothes cleaned regularly, you know.” Her purse sat open on the counter.
“Me, too.” Now that was brilliant. He nearly rolled his eyes. With other women he was a witty conversationalist, but Olivia unnerved him.
Duck-Hwan Hyo, who’d come from Korea in the 1960s, owned the dry cleaning shop. Jack had written an article about Duck-Hwan soon after he’d started as editor, impressed by the hardworking immigrant family. As soon as Duck-Hwan saw Jack, he rushed to give him the fastest possible service, in the process ignoring Olivia.
Jack felt he should explain.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him, “I’m in no hurry.”
Friday night and in no hurry. Jack reached for his wallet and paid his bill, the whole time wondering if Olivia’s response was her way of telling him she didn’t have any plans for the evening. It almost seemed she was hinting that he should ask her out. Could that really be the case?
With the hanger for his dry cleaning hooked around his index finger, he waited for Olivia.
“You mean you’re not going to the high-school theater?” Jack had figured that a good portion of the town would be turning up for the event.
“The Seagull Calling Contest is tonight?”
Before he could stop himself, he asked, “Would you like to go? With me?” He clarified his question so she wouldn’t just assume he had an extra ticket he was willing to pass along.
“Sure,” she said, agreeing instantly.
Jack was tempted to ask if she was sure, especially after their last date, then decided not to sabotage his good luck. “Great,” he said. “That’s terrific.”
“I’ve waited a long time for you to ask me out again,” Olivia