“Good, Mom. Later.”
When she got home, Roxie changed clothes and dug out the vacuum. When her entire office was vacuumed and dusted, she rolled the chair out in the hall. “Well, Sir Charles, once we put the rug down, I will need an office mat to roll the chair around on. One more thing. What do you think?”
Sir Charles lay down in the doorway, chin on his paws.
“I know, you want me to come throw the ball.” The pooch raised his head and pricked his ears. “Go find your ball.”
He took off down the stairs and was back before she could turn around, grungy yellow tennis ball in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet. She tossed it down the stairs and followed him down. At least she got Ginny to drink and eat some. If only she would let Amalia come back and stay with her. She called Amalia, rather than waiting for her to return the last call.
“I know, I was about to call you. I’m ready to go whenever you want to take me out there. When I show up and set my suitcase on the bed, what can she do?”
“You think there is a reason she has not moved up to her own bedroom?”
“Can’t stand the thought of Fred not there.”
Roxie suspected as much. “So, how can we help with that?”
“We can’t but no big deal.”
Roxie checked her watch. “I need to be back here by five. Can we do that?”
“Sure, just give me long enough to get out of the car.”
“No, I was going to throw you out at the end of the driveway. Thanks, Amalia. I think we will all be relieved that you’re there.”
“All but Ginny.”
“Right.” She whistled for Sir Charles and lifted the hatch on her SUV. “Come on for the ride, big guy.” He jumped in, panting in delight. He loved to ride in the car. He also loved to run the farm with Spook, but not today. On the way to pick up Amalia, she had two phone calls, one looking for a house and one with another possible one to list. She agreed to show the buyer around in the morning and made an appointment with the seller late that same afternoon. She drove back in her driveway right at five o’clock, and went in to make sure there was plenty of iced tea. If coffee was the drink of choice, the Keurig would take care of that, even letting Nate have his choice of flavors. She took a plastic container from the freezer to let the cookies thaw before she stuck them in the oven just long enough for the cookie fragrance to perfume the house.
Then she picked up the phone and called MJ. “I have a favor. Call me back when your phone rings once.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“All right but you have to tell me afterward what is going on.”
“I will.”
Sir Charles put his nose to the door into the garage, his feathery tail whipping back and forth. When Loren opened the door, he went into his usual yip and bounce and whirl and cry of delight. Loren was home.
“What a welcome, Sir Charles boy. Let me put my pack down.” Loren swung her backpack to the chair and gave their dog the rib-thumping, ear-fluffing, nose-kissing greeting he expected, all the while talking to him in their special language. When he calmed down, she took a puppy treat from the canister and tossed it to him. Sir Charles never missed a catch. “So what time is the rug coming?”
“Nate said six,” her mom replied.
“Good.” Loren reached in the fridge and pulled out the iced tea pitcher. “What flavor do we have here?”
“Peach.”
“Oh, good. Someone brought mango-flavored to work today. That was really good.”
“Did you ask what brand it was or where they got it?”
“I will. You want some?” Loren gestured with the pitcher.
“Sure. Then let’s go out on the deck. I want to kick back and put my feet up a bit.”
“I’ll take yours out. Want to bring some of those cookies? What are we having for supper?” Loren talked over her shoulder as she pushed open the left side of the French doors.
Roxie held the door for the cat and stepped out on the deck. Several birds were eating at the feeder on one corner, and two house finches splashed in the birdbath that took up the opposite corner. “It is so peaceful out here.” She settled down on the chaise lounge and sipped her tea. “Are you hungry?”
“Well, yes.”
“I thought we’d order pizza in after the rug comes.”
“Have you called it in?”
“Nope. After the rug.”
Sir Charles leaped off the deck and tore around the house, barking up a storm.
Roxie stood up. “Shoot, I should have told him to come down the alley. You go show him in, please.”
Loren gave her a one-eyebrow-raised look, but did as asked. Roxie followed Loren through the house. As she walked out the front door, Loren had a firm grip on Sir Charles’s collar. “Come on, Sir Charles. Don’t worry, Nate, he’s all bark. Sir Charles, come with me. Now!”
Nate leaned over and patted the red head. “Sir Charles, are you? What a good boy.”
Sir Charles waltzed in a happy little circle.
“Okay, now you see the real Sir Charles. You need some help?”
“No, thanks, just making sure this is the right place.” Nate went around to the back of his paneled truck, the name of their furniture company emblazoned on the side. He pulled the paper-covered roll from the back and slung it over his shoulder.
Loren held the door open. “Come on, Sir Charles, let the man get in without tripping over you.”
“Where shall I take it?” Nate paused in the doorway.
Roxie’s phone chirped and sang.
“Upstairs. Mom, you coming?”
“I’ll be there in a minute, just got a phone call.”
Loren half shrugged. “You want me to put another shoulder under that going up the stairs?”
“I got it. Something sure smells good, chocolate chip cookies?”
“Mom was hoping you’d stay for coffee or iced tea and cookies—if you can take the time, that is.” Loren started up the stairs. “This way.”
“I’d like that. I’m done for the day at the store.”
Roxie, her phone to her ear, watched as they reached the top of the stairs and Loren went ahead, motioning the door to the left. They disappeared into the office.
“Thanks, MJ.” Roxie pocketed her phone and took her time walking upstairs. She waited. She heard the roll thud to the floor. When she finally arrived at the office doorway, Nate had cut the plastic bands and rolled up the paper cover. He tossed the paper out into the hall as Roxie reached the office door.
Loren asked, “Can we lay it out and move it around to see what looks best?”
“Sure. Nice hardwood floor.” Nate gave the carpet roll a push with his foot.
“Oh, my, that is even more perfect than I thought.” Roxie stood in the doorway. “It certainly brightens up the room.”
“Now how do you want it positioned, Mrs. Gilburn? Centered exactly? Diagonal?”
“First of all, please call me Roxie, and secondly, what do you suggest? I thought laid square in the middle but now I’m not sure. Come on, Loren, you’re the one with the design sense.”
“Let’s try it both ways so you can see. Centered.” He picked up a corner of the rug and pulled it diagonal. Then stepped back.
“I like it either way or both ways, whatever.” Roxie looked to Loren.
Loren waved a hand around. “Me too, but this seems more appealing. I like the floor showing this way.”
Roxie nodded. “So do I. But we need to lift up the file cabinets to slide the end under.”
“They won’t be as solid as they were, if that is important,” Nate warned.
“It shouldn’t matter.”
So Nate leaned against first one file cabinet and then the other as Loren and Roxie straightened the ends out.
Nate smiled and nodded. “Shall I lay the chair mat down?”
“Was this part of the contract?” she teased him.
“Nope. Just want to see happy custom
ers.”
When it was all put back, including the accessories, the three stood by the door.
Roxie wrapped her arms around herself. “I have always liked my office, but now this room is perfect. So inviting.”
“Looks like you are a real reader.” Nate motioned to the bookshelves covering one wall.
“We both are. Thank you for helping lay this. Can we reward you with coffee or iced tea, and the cookies must be cool enough now to eat.” Roxie stepped backward into the hall. Nate and Loren followed, so she led the way downstairs.
“I haven’t had homemade chocolate chip cookies for I don’t know how long,” Nate commented.
“Loren baked them.”
“You like to bake?” He looked at Loren. She nodded. “My sister does too. But now that she has kids, she doesn’t share with the rest of us as much.”
Roxie waved a hand. “You two go sit out on the deck and I’ll bring the tray. Do you want coffee or sweetened peach iced tea?”
“Iced tea, please. I drink coffee only in the morning.”
“Wise man.” She watched the two of them sit down at the table. He held her chair for her. Oh my gosh, real manners. What is this world coming to? Glasses, pitcher, and plate of cookies. Oh, napkins. She bumped the screen with her foot to make it slide back and stepped out on the deck. She could hear someone’s lawnmower in the distance, but other than Sir Charles’s toenails clicking on the deck and the birds twittering, heavenly peace. Setting the tray down, she paused for a moment. Thank you, Lord, for such a place and time as this. “Help yourselves.”
Nate rose and pulled out a chair for her. “Thank you for the invite. How it can be so peaceful here right in the middle of a busy neighborhood…amazing.”
“I know. We should have a grand sunset tonight too. Just enough clouds.” She pushed the plate of cookies his way. “Please, don’t be shy.”
“Please don’t tell me you took time to bake these this afternoon.”
Loren laughed. “She would be lying. They were in the freezer.”
“An old Realtor trick. Put cookies back in the oven just long enough to release the flavor and the fragrance. I tell my clients to do this or bake a loaf of bread before the showing. I even give them a package of frozen bread to bake the day of their open house. It helps visitors think of the place as a home and just might be one of those things that encourages a buyer. I’ve learned that small things count big.”
“My mom is one of the top Realtors in Fond du Lac.” Loren pushed the cookie plate closer to him.
“I’m not surprised.” He leaned back in his chair, glass in one hand, a cookie in the other.
“So, did you go directly out of college into your father’s firm?”
“I really started working at the store in Racine when I was in junior high. I broke my leg playing baseball one summer and went to work dusting, polishing, general cleanup to keep from being bored. I’d read about every book in the library, and for some reason, I’ve never been much interested in video games. Dad had always encouraged us to want to be part of the company, but you know, every boy dreams of playing professional ball.”
Roxie asked, “You said each of you kids now manages one of the stores?”
“Three of us, four stores, Dad has the fourth but one of our cousins is just finishing college and has been working each summer at a different store. They all have their own personalities, the stores, I mean. Dad tailors the store to the needs of the community.”
“Unusual, isn’t it?” Loren asked.
Nate nodded. “It is. But none of us were coerced into the family business.”
“And you all are the third generation?”
“Right.”
Roxie smiled. “Fascinating. I’ve always been interested in family businesses that go down through the generations. If I were ever to write a book, that would be the topic.”
Loren gave her a surprised look.
“I know, not much chance I would sit down long enough to do that, but it is a good topic.”
“We sell furniture, you sell houses, and you once said something about staging a house. Does that mean arranging temporary furniture in it?”
“Exactly.”
“There is probably some way we could work together.” He flashed her a guilty grin as he reached for the last cookie. “Mom always said never take the last of something when you’re a guest.”
“There’s more in the cookie jar,” Loren said. “And I can always bake more on Saturday.”
He looked at Loren. “You work on displays at the library?”
“I do. And bulletin boards. I love to display people’s collections, especially those of historical value.”
“My aunt collects thimbles. Her mother, no, her grandmother, started the collection over a hundred years ago. Thimbles. When you think of collections, you think of stamps or coins, but thimbles?” He grinned and shrugged.
“Really? Would she mind showing them to me? Has she ever put them on display anywhere?”
Here was the real Loren, Roxie thought happily, not the one who hid behind her shy mask.
“I will ask her and get back to you, or have her contact you.”
And Loren actually smiled a little. “So many kinds of antique collections get shown at the Register House historic landmark, and that’s great, but more people use the library. We’ve had collectors get together after a display with us.”
Roxie ignored the rumbling in her belly, then before she realized what she was doing, she asked, “Nate, have you had supper?”
“Ah, no, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure I had lunch.”
“We were planning on ordering pizza in, you want to join us?” She didn’t look at Loren, just in case she was sending her that Oh, Mother look.
He thought no longer than a moment. “Yes, I would like that, if you really mean it.”
Loren sniffed. “Mom never says something she doesn’t mean. What kind of pizza do you like? I’ll go call it in.”
Nate replied, “My favorite is everything and anything.”
“Good, we agree. Thick or thin crust and we like extra cheese.”
“Whatever, I like them both.”
Loren pushed back her chair. “One giant enough?” She looked at him, then Roxie. “Salad?”
“Not for me, thanks,” Nate answered. “Hate to mess up a good pizza with too much green.”
Roxie rolled her eyes and Loren gave her mother one of her looks.
“I get it. No salad tonight.” Roxie raised her hands in surrender.
“That’s very nice of you to ask me,” Nate said to Roxie as Loren went back in the house.
“This way it’s more of a party; we can celebrate the new rug. Not that we need a cause to celebrate but…” She drained her glass and held it up. “More?”
“Please. But I can get it.”
“No, tonight you are a guest.” She brought the pitcher back and refilled all their glasses, then sat down again. “My, but this feels good. About time our weather lets us use the deck again. Three weeks ago there was six inches of white out here. I was beginning to think winter was going to hang around forever.”
Loren returned. “Twenty minutes.”
“Who is delivering tonight?” Roxie asked.
“MJ’s grandson, Brian. He’s a good kid.” Loren sipped from her glass.
“He can drive already?”
“Mother, he’s a senior this year.”
“Oh. How time flies.”
“So when you’re not working at the library,” Nate asked Loren, “what do you like to do?”
She shrugged. “Take Sir Charles for bike rides or walking, especially out to the lighthouse and around the lake. When we’re at the park, the trick is keeping him out of the water.”
“He’s a beautiful dog.”
“And he can get real smelly. He acts like you are abusing him when you hose him down or give him a bath. Do you have a dog?”
Nate nodded. “I did but he’s livin
g with my dad since I moved into an apartment here in town. No pets.”
“Big dog? Little?” Loren asked.
Roxie winced. Please don’t say a yapper. Loren really does not like yappers.
“Guess he would be considered a big dog. Part Lab and a mixture of some kind. Got him from a rescue.”
A bit later, Sir Charles scrambled to his feet and leaped off the deck, announcing a visitor.
Roxie dug the cash out of her pocket and handed it to Loren. “Tell him no change. I’ll get the plates and forks.”
Loren hastened inside.
Nate frowned. “Isn’t it a rule that you eat pizza right out of the box?”
“Thank you, a man after my own heart. Do you like extra spices on yours?”
“Nope, just the way it comes. The pepperoni takes care of that.”
Loren returned, set the box on the table, and opened the lid. “Ahh.”
“That first smell is divine.” Roxie passed the stack of napkins. As soon as Loren sat down, her mother said, “Grace?” On the amen, she smiled at their guest. “Help yourself, company first.”
When no one could eat the last piece of pizza in the box, Roxie invited, “Cookies and ice cream for dessert?”
“Please, don’t be offended,” Nate said, “but I have no room for one bite of anything more.”
“Me too.” Loren closed the box. “Sir Charles would love to have this, but sorry, fellah. Pizza is not on your diet.”
“How can you ignore that look?” Nate ruffled the dog’s ears.
“Hard willed.”
Nate pushed back his chair. “Thank you so very much for this unplanned evening. All I did was deliver a rug. I hope I can see you again, and perhaps next time, I can be the host.”
“That would be lovely.” Roxie gave Loren the look that said, See the man out.
The nod said she got it.
“Again, thank you.” Nate extended his hand. Roxie shook it with a wide smile.
Loren told Nate, but she was looking at her mother, “I’ll let you know when we’re baking cookies.”
“Great.”
“Let’s go around the house.” Loren led the way.
Lord, I sure do have a good feeling about this. Roxie picked up the pizza box, stuffed it in the trash, and took the tray, including the last piece, into the house, humming as she went. She wrapped the pizza in aluminum foil, the glasses went in the dishwasher, and she was just refilling the pitcher when Loren and Sir Charles wandered back in the kitchen.
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