92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber [71]
They took turns washing up. By the time they were all finished, Charlotte invited them into the dining room to eat. Grace smiled at her yellow apron with its sunflowershaped bib.
“We’re serving buffet style,” she announced, waving her arms expansively.
“I can’t believe you’d do this,” Olivia said, standing next to her mother. “All of you.”
“We wanted you to know how much we care,” Peggy said, plate in hand as she circled the table. “Wow, look at this fabulous food.” There were three different kinds of salads, deviled eggs and freshly baked bread with ham, turkey and cheese slices for sandwiches. Charlotte had also included canned goods from her garden—sweet pickles, dill pickles, pickled beets, plus jams, jellies, peaches and pears.
“Oh, my goodness, I nearly forgot,” Grace said. She hurried to the door. “I left something in the car. Be right back.”
Grace returned two minutes later, carrying a pie box. “Goldie sent this over from the Pancake Palace.”
Olivia’s face broke into a delighted smile. “Coconut cream?”
“What else?”
They served themselves and sat in a circle around the room, balancing their plates on their laps.
“I feel like the luckiest woman alive,” Olivia said, once more sounding close to tears.
“We love you and want to see you well again,” Corrie told her.
“And back in the courthouse where you belong,” Sheriff Davis added.
He’d taken the chair beside Faith’s.
Grace was startled by a sudden knock at the door; before Jack could get up to open it, in walked Cliff, Bob Beldon and Roy McAfee.
“I hoped we’d timed it so we’d be here for lunch,” Cliff said.
“Help yourselves, boys,” Charlotte said. She stood and got them each a plate and a napkin, while Jack and Ben brought out three chairs from the kitchen. The new arrivals filled their plates and joined the circle.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank everyone,” Olivia said.
“We don’t need any thanks,” Grace told her. “We wanted to do this. In fact, it’s been in the planning stages for weeks—I actually had to turn people down. So many of your friends wanted to contribute. You are loved, Olivia, and this is just our attempt to let you know that.”
“Well, I’d say you’ve done a more than adequate job…”
Olivia looked around the room, her gaze resting on each one in turn. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and smiled tremulously at Grace. “I’ll have a piece of that coconut cream pie now.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“I got a job!” Mary Jo’s excited voice burst over Mack’s cell phone.
He turned away from the other men in the break room at the fire station and concentrated on his phone. He hadn’t expected a call from Mary Jo and it jolted him, since they almost always communicated by texting. “That’s great.” He mentally reviewed their past messages and he couldn’t recall her mentioning another job interview.
“I probably shouldn’t have phoned you at work, but I’m so thrilled I can hardly sit still. A job changes everything.“
He assumed the job was in Seattle, and his heart sank. The interview with Will Jefferson hadn’t led to employment; the owner of the Harbor Street Art Gallery had only been able to offer a part-time position. Will couldn’t tell her when the job would become full-time—“eventually” was the most he could promise—so Mary Jo felt she had to pass. Mack didn’t blame her, although he’d been disappointed.
Meeting Will Jefferson had given her confidence, and she’d decided to start applying elsewhere, presumably in Seattle; she hadn’t referred to any particular places.
“Tell me about your job,” he said, trying to hide his own lack of enthusiasm. Ever since he’d talked to Mary Jo about moving, he’d created the ideal scenario in his mind. He pictured Mary Jo and Noelle living next door to him and imagined the three of them spending time together. A lot of time…
“I’ll be working in an attorney’s office,” Mary Jo was saying, “which I thought would be perfect, because, well…you know?”
This seemed to indicate that she’d have a built-in resource should David Rhodes try to interfere with her and Noelle.
“The money isn’t as