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Emma didn’t have the heart to tell her that The Exaional paper with a lier than Colville with its population of less than seven thousand, and compared to Colville’s weekly, The Exaht?" Barbara shooed a cat out of a chair and joined them

"Uneventful--just the way I like them" The discomfort of a full bladder was not a topic she wished to pursue

Barbara wasn’t the only visitor Sophie had By the end of the interview, Ehbor; Florence, her best friend; and Cathy, who cleaned her house once a week They all gathered around the table with tea and chocolate fruitcake and told story after story Their laughter echoed through the house It was a party unlike any Ee but she felt like one of them

By the time Sophie dropped her off at the airfield, it was almost two in the afternoon The Cessna was parked at the end of the strip near the hangar, and Emma assumed Oliver was inside

"I’ll wait just to be sure," Sophie insisted

Ereed She hurried over to the plane, seeking Oliver, disappointed not to find him immediately She felt excited--no, elated--after the interview and wanted to talk about the experience Share soained fro the intervieith Oliver, she et a slant for her story She had a thousand ideas and i around in her head and needed to sort through them It was important to her that she do Sophie and her friends justice

"Oliver!" she called out He ar for a nap "Oscar?"

No response

Emma let Boots out of the restrooiven her The dog would be too hungry to be finicky, Eobbled up the small can’s contents and looked for more

Emma found her cell phone and walked outside to ood connection She waved at Sophie, then punched in the nu three times before Oliver responded

"Hamilton"

"Where are you?" she asked

"You’re finished?"

"Where are you?" she repeated She couldn’t place the background noise, which sounded like some sort of circus

"The casino It’s a couple of miles out of town"

After the poker experience, she should’ve known he’d be gaer?"

"I’m in, I’m in," he shouted, obviously not to her "Listen, I’ame and I can’t quit Find a way out here, will you?"

"You want me to come to the casino?" She couldn’t believe the nerve of this man

He didn’t answer and the line was disconnected She called again, but this tis Like it or not--and she didn’t--E to the casino

Chapter Nine

On the short drive to the casino, Emma brooded about the unreliability of Oliver Hamilton She hoped Sophie didn’t notice how upset she ith her so-called pilot In case he’d forgotten, she needed to get back to the newspaper office sometime before the end of the Christmas season

"Colville’s a pleasant little town," Sophie was telling her "I wish you had more time to look around There’s a lumber mill on the other side of tohich helps keep the local econo it difficult to concentrate Boots was curled up next to her feet and had gone to sleep She still didn’t knohat she was going to do with the stray Maybe she could persuade Phoebe to take her until Emma moved into a new apartment that allowed pets

When Sophie pulled up in front of the casino, E so n on the roadway, there wasn’t a single indication that this was a casino Ehts, a fancy restaurant offering steak and lobster dinners at cut-rate prices, uniforravel lot

"I can’t thank you enough," Emma told the other woman as she climbed out of the vehicle Boots hopped out with her as Emma reached for her purse and briefcase

"It was lovely toacross the front seat "I hope you win today I’ll be out here on Sunday after church--for bingo I won eight hundred dollars a year ago" She grinned "Like I said, I’m just plain lucky"

The door to the casino opened and out sauntered the largest lumberjack Emma had ever seen Not that she’d seen many lumberjacks This man had to be close to seven feet tall and wore a red plaid shirt, dirt-slanced around, just tobehind

He took one look at Eer in her direction "You Be ot out of the driver’s seat "Grizzly, you leave this young lady alone"

Grizzly looked crestfallen and rubbed the side of his face "I shaved before I came into town"

"It takes ize"

Grizzly shuffled from one foot to the other "I didn’t mean no offense"