One Day in Apple Grove(23)
Joe swallowed, but the lump in his throat remained.
“But I guess the Lord had other plans for me,” she whispered.
Clearing his throat, Joe said, “I know he did. You’ve given me a reason to keep believing in love, Mary.”
She turned in his arms, braced her hands against his chest, and stared up at him. Humbled that everything he felt for her was reflected back at him, Joe kissed her.
When he came up for air, her eyes burned with desire for him. “Come inside, Joe.” Offering her hand, she waited for him to wrap his around it before leading him through the house and up the stairs.
Chapter 5
The warmth of the spring sun radiated through the diner’s front window as Cait slid onto the red vinyl stool.
Peggy set a mug of coffee in front of her friend. “How are things this morning?”
Cait smiled. “Good.”
“Your dad isn’t mad?”
“He was upset, going over the what-ifs.”
Peggy wiped the counter on both sides of where Cait was sitting before motioning for Cait to lift up her elbows and mug. When she did, Peggy cleaned the spot and motioned for her to set her coffee back down.
“So.” Peggy’s gaze locked with Cait’s. “Want to hear the latest?”
Cait nodded and her friend looked to the left and then the right, satisfied that the other two patrons were too far away to hear what she was about to share with Caitlin. Leaning close, she whispered, “Honey B. is expecting again!”
Caitlin shrugged. “I know.”
Peggy’s mouth fell open. “How? I just found out this morning.”
“I knew last night.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
When Cait remained silent, Peggy relented and said, “Well, I guess you didn’t really have time, what with being over at Doc’s and all.”
Caitlin’s mind returned to the night before when Jack had called and suddenly her world had been right again. Everything had been back in perspective and the things that she’d done wrong didn’t seem quite so bad.
“You OK?” Peggy asked when Cait remained silent.
“What? Yeah, just thinking.” She’d never felt quite like this before. It was scary, it was exhilarating…and she just wanted to hold the feeling close to her heart for a little while longer. She’d hate to jump the gun and have been wrong about how Jack felt about her.
When she looked back up, Peggy had a speculative look in her eyes. “Must be something if you’re not willing to tell me about it.”
Knowing that was just what her friend intended, Cait was smiling when she said, “We aren’t in high school anymore.”
“We used to tell each other everything,” Peggy said with a laugh. “I miss those days.”
“Hey, Miss Peggy,” one of the customers called. “Can I have a refill?”
“Absolutely,” she answered. “Be right there.” Turning back to Cait, she said, “We’ll catch up later.”
As Cait stood, Peggy added, “Keep me posted on that tall, good-looking doctor. OK?”
Cait smiled and her cell phone rang. “That’s probably Gracie. Talk to you later, Peg.”
“Bye.”
She was hitting talk as she waved and walked out the door. “Hey, Sis. What’s up?”
“We have a cancellation and two more jobs that just came in.”
“Grace, I’m only one—”
“Woman,” her sister finished for her. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Mrs. Winter canceled—she said something about waiting until Meg could come by.”
Caitlin laughed as she got into the car and found her earpiece. “Hold on…switching to hands-free.” There was a moment of silence and then Cait said, “OK, I’m back. Mrs. Winter loves chatting with Meg and probably woke up with the urge to bake another cherry pie.”
Her sister laughed softly. “You do know our customers.”
“Who else called this morning?” Putting the car in drive, she headed off to her first appointment while listening to the rhythmic tap as her sister brought up her spreadsheet for the day.
“Mr. Sweeney and Mrs. Doyle.”
“How is Mr. Sweeney feeling today?”
As she drove, her sister filled her in on the health of one of their oldest customers. “His arthritis is acting up again. It’s too bad his sons moved to opposite coasts, and neither one wants to move back to Apple Grove, but luckily his cousin still lives here—and his cousin’s wife works for Doc Gannon.”
Signaling to make the left onto Eden Church Road, Cait agreed. “I just don’t understand why anyone would want to leave a beautiful little town like this.”