I released her hands and touched the tear on my sister's cheek. "Maddy, even if he leaves tonight, I don't regret spending time with him. I'm not exactly sure how he's done it, but I honestly believe that he's helping me to finally heal my heart. Something you keep saying to me is actually beginning to hit home," I said with a smile. "Joe wouldn't want me to live the way I have been since he died. He believed life was for the living, and I haven't exactly been respecting that belief, have I? I'm not saying that I'm ready to fall in love again, but I do know that I can't keep shutting the possibility of it ever happening again out of my life. If I get a little bruised and battered finding my way back, it's a price I'm willing to pay."
She hugged me, and I could swear that I actually felt the love my sister had radiate toward me. "I just want you to be happy."
"The same goes for me," I said. I was surprised to find that both of us were crying.
When we pulled away, we wiped each other's tears, and then we grinned at each other.
"Wow, that felt good," I said.
"I've been needing a good cry for weeks, but I never had a reason." She looked at the conveyor and saw my pizza come out. "I'll do that for you." As Maddy slid the pizza into a box and cut it, I turned off the oven.
"Don't do that yet," she said.
"Are you planning on making a snack, after all?"
She handed me the pizza and said, "Something better than that. Go on, Sis, I can finish closing up here."
"Are you sure?" Most of the dishes were done, so I knew there wasn't that much work left to do.
"I've got it," she said as she pushed me toward the kitchen door. "Have a good evening, and give David a hug for me."
"How about if I just tell him you said hi?" I said.
She laughed. "Do whatever you want to, as long as you just go."
I let myself out, and then locked the door behind me. It meant so much to have my sister care about me with the depth that she did. A lot of people I knew had never experienced that kind of devotion and loyalty, and I knew that no matter what happened with the rest of my life, I'd always be able to count on her.
David was waiting on the porch for me as I parked and walked up the steps. He'd set up a card table near the rockers, and the top of it was laid with paper and plastic dishware from the grocery store.
"You just couldn't wait to see me, could you?" I asked him.
"Sure, that's it," he said grinning as he took the box out of my hands. "I never got my snack, so I'm starving."
He took a slice from the box and put it on a paper plate.
"I love the table layout," I said as I grabbed a slice for myself.
"I decided to provide the plates and cutlery, not to mention glasses and refreshments." He showed me the plastic champagne glasses, and filled them each with Coke.
"I hope you approve," he said as he handed one to me.
I pretended to smell the soda as though it were fine wine, and then I took a sip. "This is an excellent year, with a light bouncy taste followed up with the slightest hint of caffeine."
"I'm glad you approve," he said as he took his first bite of pizza. "That was worth waiting for," he said as he finished eating it.
"The company, or the food?"
"Why can't it be both?" he asked. "Oh, wait. I almost forgot." He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a small luminary candle. "I thought we could dine by candlelight tonight."
"Then you're going to need more candles than that," I said smiling as I took another bite.
He reached into more pockets as he said, "Funny you should say that."
As he pulled out candle after candle, I started laughing. "What happened? Did you find a sale in town?"
"What can I say? I'm just a romantic at heart." After the candles were all lit and spaced out on the porch railing and the table, we settled into our rocking chairs and enjoyed the pizza and soda.
When we were finished, I was surprised to see that the box was empty. "We were hungry."
"I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one starving. Sorry for those wolflike feeding sounds I made."
"Are you kidding? I consider them the highest compliment." It was easy sharing these moments with him, and I found myself amazed at how relaxed I felt.
"Then I shouldn't have held back."
As David collected the plates, empty plastic glasses, and spent box, I said, "I'll get those later."
"No, ma'am. You've been waiting on folks all day. I even brought my own trash bag. How's that for being prepared?"
"It's just about perfect."
After he'd collected everything, he tied the trash bag shut and tossed it toward his car. After he folded the card table up and put it in his trunk, David asked me, "Can you spend a little time out here, or do you need to go in?"
I glanced at my watch. On a normal night, I would have been fast asleep in bed by now, but I wasn't even tired at the moment. "I'll stay out here as long as you will."
"I think it feels wonderful," David said, "but if you get chilly, I've got blankets in the trunk."
"Wow, you really did come prepared," I said with a laugh.
"I just didn't want there to be any reason for you to go in," he admitted. As we rocked in an odd kind of unison, he asked, "Can you believe that Halloween is just two days away?"
"I know. Usually Maddy and I are excited about it, but we barely remembered to put our decorations up the other day."
"Murder must have taken some of the joy out of it," David said.
"True, and before that, we found out that Judson was going to open Italia's, so we haven't been in a very festive mood lately."
"I wonder what's going to happen to the place now?" he asked idly.
"Who knows? Someone will probably lease the building and turn it into a store of one kind or another."
"Buggy whips and bow ties, maybe?" David asked, the laughter full in his voice.
"How about a clothing store for pets?"
"Don't laugh. There's one of those in Raleigh."
"You're joking."
"Not a chance. They've even got an Internet website where they sell their wares. I'll give you the link if you want to see it."
I rocked a little more, and then said, "There are a lot more opportunities in Raleigh than there are in Timber Ridge, aren't there?"
"I suppose that all depends on what you're looking for," he said so softly I barely caught it.
"What are you looking for, David?" I asked.
He took so long to answer me that I wasn't sure he'd heard my question, but finally, David said, "Once upon a time I thought I knew, but lately that seems to keep changing on me."
"Don't worry, you'll figure it out," I said, happy and yet a little disappointed that he hadn't said me.
"I suppose you're right," he said. After a few minutes, he stretched in his chair, and then stood. "I hate to break this up, but I've got a dozen interviews scheduled for tomorrow to find a new manager."
"Is there any chance you'll have time for dinner again tomorrow night?" I asked hopefully, amazed by how quickly I'd grown to look forward to our meals together.
"I'd love to, but two of the candidates can't make it until late, so I've got interviews scheduled a great deal later than I wanted."
As I stood, he added, "Tell you what I'll do. If one of them cancels on me at the last minute, I'll give you a call, if you'd like."
"I'd like that very much."
He looked at me for a few lingering seconds, kissed my cheek lightly, and then said, "Good night, Eleanor."
"Good night," I said.
The mood was special and heartfelt, a moment to remember, until he tripped over the garbage bag on the sidewalk.
Instead of being upset, he just laughed it off. "And that's why they call me Mr. Smooth."
"Clearly they haven't seen your act up close," I said.
"See ya," he said as he collected the bag and stowed it in the trunk.
"Right back at you."
After David was gone, I went inside. It felt cold in there, cooler than it should have been, but when I checked the thermostat, it was exactly where I'd left it that morning. I wasn't sure if it was a sign that I missed David, or if I was just chilly, but I cranked it up a few degrees before I went to bed and dreamed of picnics on the porch, surprising dimples, and, most important of all, a heart that was finally beginning to thaw.
The next morning, Maddy was at the pizzeria before I made it in, though I was twenty minutes early myself.
I found her in the kitchen working at the prep table.
"Good morning," I said as I grabbed my apron. "You're here early."
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get a jump on things."
"What happened to you and your crafts and your mystery novels? They used to fill your time."
She shrugged. "It's not what it used to be. My favorite mystery writer quit writing craft-based cozies awhile back, and I've kind of lost the desire to do anything more at the moment."
"I wonder why he stopped. Did he just get tired of writing them?"
She shook her head as she waved her knife around in the air. "Trust me, I wanted to know the exact same thing, so I wrote him an email."
"I'm sure he doesn't have anything better to do with his time than to correspond with you, Maddy."
"That shows you how much you know. Actually, he answered me right away. It appears that he was happy to keep writing them, but his publisher decided not to do any more, so he's kind of out in the cold at the moment."
"I hate when that happens," I said as I started measuring out flour, water, yeast, olive oil, and salt for my basic crust recipe. "He should write some of those food-oriented mysteries. I hear they do really well."
"He's a real wizard with crafts, but I don't know if he can cook or bake, so that might be a disadvantage for him," she said, laughing.
"Come on, it's all fiction, right?"
"You'd think so. At least I hope so. That's a lot of murder we're talking about."
I paused before I turned on the mixer. "Can you imagine how many bodies Agatha Christie alone was responsible for?"
"I don't have a clue, but I'm willing to bet there's a website on the Internet that's got every last one of them listed."
"Somebody's got too much time on their hands." I flipped the mixer on to stir the dry ingredients while I waited on the yeast to proof.
"Ask a question, get an answer."
"Hey, I was just curious. I didn't expect a full-blown lecture," I said with a smile.
She just chuckled as she shook her head. "I figured you'd learn someday, but it hasn't happened yet."
"Give me time," I said. "I'll get there sooner or later."
I thought I heard something out front, so I flipped the mixer off. That action was followed by a sudden silence.
"Did you hear that?" I asked Maddy.
"Hear what?"
I listened more, shook my head, and then turned the mixer back on. Just as I did, the pounding started again.
As soon as I turned it off, the pounding stopped.
"Are you saying you didn't hear that, either?"
"Maybe the mixer's going bad," she said. "If there's something wrong with the motor, it might cause the whole thing to thump."
At that moment, the pounding resumed.
"Thank goodness it's not the mixer," I said as I wiped my hands on my apron.
"Don't answer it," Maddy said. "We're not opening for another few hours, so they can wait like everyone else."