Home Free - Fern Michaels [19]
Nikki laughed as she rang for her secretary and handed her Maggie’s file. “See if you can set up the closing for December fifteenth. I’m leaving for lunch now, and if you need me, call me on my cell. On your way out, tell Alexis to meet us at the door. We’re going to lunch. Sit at the front desk till we get back, okay?”
The secretary nodded in agreement.
“Where would you like to go, Nikki? My treat. I want to celebrate. God, I don’t believe I am buying a house!”
Nikki laughed. “It is a bit overwhelming at first, but you settle in real quick. You got a really good interest rate, which is super. Will save you a lot of money in the long run. You’re already living there, so that’s a big plus. I look at it as winwin.”
“I guess. I still feel intimidated for some reason. Now I have to buy my own furniture. The owner said I should donate all his stuff to Goodwill, which I will do, or I could keep it—but I don’t want it. The fact that the house came furnished was the reason I moved there in the first place. Plus I love Georgetown.”
Nikki reached for her coat, a long white cashmere with a belt. Maggie thought she looked like a movie star at that moment. She watched as Nikki pulled her wallet out of her purse and stuck it in her pocket.
“Let’s rumble, girlfriend. I’m sensing you have stuff you want to talk about. I’ll drive.”
“I made a reservation at Snuffy’s,” Alexis said as she followed Nikki and Maggie out of the office. “They’re sure to have some really good soup on a day like this. Soup, salad, and sandwich is my kind of lunch. Oh, and they have really good desserts,” she added for Maggie’s benefit. “I also asked for your favorite booth in the back, Nikki. We’re good to go. That’s if this wind lets us get there.”
Fifteen minutes later, the threesome blew into Snuffy’s like a tornado. Alexis couldn’t stop laughing at Maggie’s hair. “You look like a raspberry bush. Here, tie my scarf around your head, or people are going to laugh at you.”
Maggie grimaced as she did her best to flatten her hair down with the scarf. Nikki gave it a few artful tugs, and Alexis pronounced Maggie ready to go.
It was a cozy little restaurant teeming with patrons who loved to eat and visit in the Georgetown area, especially on a day like today.
The chalkboard hanging behind the salad station said the special for the day was hot roast beef sandwiches on sourdough bread, and Southwestern vegetable soup. Homemade strawberry-mango pie was the dessert of the day.
“That’s a no-brainer,” Alexis said. “I’m going to order it and get an order to go for this evening. Right now, though, I want a cup of hot coffee.” No sooner were the words out of her mouth when a pot was set in the middle of the table, along with three cups. Coffee was free, compliments of the owners.
“This place is a gold mine,” Maggie said as she poured out coffee.
“Depends. The owners are here at four in the morning to get everything ready for six, when they open. They close around ten, spend another hour cleaning up, and get home by eleven. They’re probably too tired to do more than go to bed and get up and do the same thing the next day. But it’s their life, and they seem to love it,” Nikki said.
“Aren’t we all in the same boat?” Maggie asked. “I’m at the paper by six, sometimes five thirty. I can’t tell you how often I sleep there. We make choices in life is the only explanation I can come up with. Hey, if it works, then work it is my motto.”
“Okay, let’s talk, girls,” Nikki said. “How did Espinosa take the gold shield when you gave it to him?” she asked Alexis.
“Actually, it was pretty funny. He was afraid to touch it. He said he hid it in five different places before he found one that he feels comfortable with.” Alexis’s gaze shifted to Maggie when she said, “Joseph said Ted was so overwhelmed, he had tears in his eyes. He doesn’t know what he did with his.”
Maggie didn’t bat an eye at the mention of her ex, Ted’s name. “What did Jack say?” Maggie asked.
“He was beside himself. At first he had this really awful look on his face