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Olivia didn’t respond, concentrating on every rinned sheepishly "I guess Sugarplum isn’t so evil, after all"
"Told you," Grace teased as she led the way at a slow, steady pace She started toward the evergreen-lined path Towering pines stretched up into the blue sky
After a few hundred yards, Grace twisted around to look behind her again "How’re you doing, Calaood Doesn’t the sun feel nice? Especially on your head" Olivia wore a bandanna, tied gypsy-style at the nape
"It feels great"
"Oh, look!" Olivia called a le No, two of theles were soaring high above theed in an elaborateritual One of the birds fell several hundred feet, and the second eagle swooped after it
Eagles often landed on the beach off Lighthouse Road, so she knew Olivia saw them frequently But this was different More intireen it smells in the woods," Olivia said after a short silence "In fact, I didn’t realize green was actually a smell"
"It reminds you of Christ, taking in the sights, sounds and s and the beach lay before them, scattered with driftwood They could see Blake Island in the distance like an e blue
"It’s so peaceful," Olivia said quietly
That had struck Grace on her first ride with Cliff She re with her husband on the pebbled beach, their backs against a piece of driftwood She’d closed her eyes, and the sun had warmed her face as the sounds of nature hu of the water against the shore, birds chirping and the crunch of pebbles as the horses shifted their weight The experience never failed to move her It hat she wanted for her friend--this peace, this solace The discovery of what it et down and walk for a while," Grace suggested "If you feel up to it"
"I do," Olivia assured her She slid down off Sugarplu in pebbles "Now all I have to do is figure out how to get back up there"
Holding thetiether After fifty years--a half century!--of friendship, they were attuned to each other’s ranted in my life," Olivia said after a while
"Don’t we all?" Grace didn’t think her friend should be hard on herself She was just as guilty as Olivia of racing fro tiift life really was
This second chance at happiness with Cliff had changed her Her ood in its way; after all those years together, the two of theh Dan’s troubles, the pain of war, had never left him As much as possible, they’d adjusted and she’d done her best to deal with his s In the end, it’d all been too ht his own problee They’d been patient with each other, though, and had survived s and mistakes Now she was happier than she’d ever expected to be
"I’," Olivia announced out of the blue
Grace had half suspected this was co "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"No," Olivia adinning I dreaded it I was so certain I’d be bored"
"But you haven’t been, have you?"
"Not at all I didn’t knoMo domestic thatCharlotte atte projects--was of the highest quality
"Haven’t you thought about retiring?" Olivia asked, looking steadily at Grace
Grace had given it fleeting consideration "I suppose I have," she said, "and yet I love what I do"
"I feel the same," Olivia murmured "That’s what makes this decision so difficult"
Slowly Grace shook her head "I don’t think I can yet I have a lot I still want to accoram at the library that excitesliteracy by having kids read to dogs?"
"Yes," Grace said "We’ve invited a trainer from Seattle to come in and ith us" She smiled "I already have my first volunteers Tanni Bliss is one of them"
"Tanni Bliss," Olivia repeated "Why is that name familiar?"
"Tanni and her boyfriend discovered those rehtly "What an unusual case I’lad it’s been resolved"
"The press sure had a field day with that one, didn’t they? That Seattle reporter h Cedar Cove was a hotbed of criuessed our sheriff was so good at spin? That press release said very little but soic story That poor boy, frightened and all alone I don’t think we’ll ever knohat really happened" Grace had been touched that Cedar Cove’s ed for a proper burial There’d been talk around town about his DUI, but that was over now Jack had written an excellent article about it, with the ossip Thankfully the sensationalisotten bones had worn off, too