True believer - Nicholas Sparks [83]
“I enjoyed it.”
“Do you want some coffee or tea while you’re waiting?”
“No, thanks,” he answered.
She disappeared into the back, and a minute later, Doris emerged, wiping her hands on her apron. Her cheek was smudged with dough, but even from a distance, he could see the bags under her eyes, and she seemed to be moving more slowly than usual.
“Sorry about looking like this,” she said, gesturing at herself. “You caught me mixing dough. Last night set me back a little for the weekend, and it’s going to take a bit to catch up before the crowds tomorrow.”
Remembering what Lexie had told him, he asked, “How many people are you expecting this weekend?”
“Who knows?” she said. “Usually, a couple of hundred come in for the tour, sometimes a bit more. The mayor was hoping for close to a thousand for the tour this year, but it’s always a wild guess for me to figure out how many will come in for breakfast and lunch.”
“If the mayor’s right, that’s quite a jump this year.”
“Well, take his estimate for what it’s worth. Tom has a tendency to be overly optimistic, but he’s got to create a sense of urgency to get everything ready in time. And besides, even if people don’t do the tour, folks still like to come to the parade on Saturday. The Shriners will be here zooming around with their cars, you know, and kids love to see them. And there’ll be a petting zoo, too, this year, which is new.”
“Sounds great.”
“It would be better if it wasn’t in the middle of winter. The Pamlico Festival always draws the biggest crowds, but that’s in June, and we usually have one of those traveling carnivals set up shop that weekend. Now, those are weekends that can make or break a business. Talk about stress. It’s about ten times what I’m going through now.”
He smiled. “Life here never ceases to amaze me.”
“Don’t knock it till you try it. I have a funny feeling you’d love it here.”
She sounded almost as if she was testing him, and he wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Behind them, Rachel cleared a table while jawing with the cook, who was half a room away. Both were laughing at something one or the other had said.
“But, anyway,” Doris said, letting him off the hook, “I’m glad you came by. Lexie mentioned that she told you about my notebook. She warned me that you probably wouldn’t believe a word of it, but you’re welcome to look through it if you’d like. It’s in my office in the back.”
“I’d like that,” he said. “She told me you kept quite a record.”
“I did my best. It’s probably not up to your standards, but then again, I never thought anyone but me would read it.”
“I’m sure I’ll be amazed. But speaking of Lexie, that’s part of the reason I came by. Have you seen her around? She wasn’t at the library today.”
She nodded. “She came by the house this morning. That’s how I knew to bring my book. She told me you two saw the lights last night.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“They were amazing, but like you said, they weren’t ghosts.”
She looked at him, satisfied. “And I take it that you’ve already figured everything out, or you wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“I think so.”
“Good for you,” she said. She motioned over her shoulder. “I’m sorry I can’t chat more now, but I’m kind of busy, so let me get my notebook for you. Who knows, maybe you’ll want to do a story about my amazing powers next.”
“You never know,” he said. “I just might.”
As Jeremy watched her vanish into the kitchen, he wondered about their conversation. It had been perfectly pleasant but curiously impersonal. And he noticed that Doris hadn’t really responded to his question about Lexie’s whereabouts. Nor had she even ventured a guess, which seemed to suggest that—for whatever reason—she viewed the subject of Lexie as suddenly off-limits. Which wasn’t good. He looked up to see her approaching again. She wore the same pleasant smile as she had before, but this time it gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach.