Page 7 (2/2)

"Jack’s still at the office"

Olivia didn’t sound pleased, and Grace didn’t blame her "It’s almost eleven-thirty!"

"Tell me about it," Olivia muttered "But you didn’t call to hear o with Cliff?"

"Dreadful" Grace went on to fill in the details, ending with her suspicion that Cliff see her

Olivia was silent when she finished "So what are you going to do?"

"What can I do?" Grace asked, discouraged and baffled by Cliff’s behavior

"You’re not giving up, are you?" Olivia challenged

"No," but this wasn’t said with a lot of enthusiasuess not But if he doesn’t--"

"He’ll phone you in the ," Olivia broke in

Somehow Grace doubted that It was as if Cliff had put her out of his ry It was past nine on Tuesday and he still hadn’t left the office; Olivia would be annoyed He loved that woe of his job as editor of The Cedar Cove Chronicle, too Olivia claiured she was right--otherwise he’d resent all the hours he spent getting out five issues a week

When he’d been offered the position of editor four years earlier, the newspaper published a single issue each week and was planning to increase that to two Since he was in his fifties and ready to cut back on the grueling hours he put in for the Spokane daily paper, he’d willingly accepted fewer hours--and less pay The attraction offor The Chronicle The real draas being close to Bob Beldon and to Eric, Jack’s son, who lived in the Seattle area, too Ironically Eric and his fao

Bob Beldon was Jack’s AA sponsor and best friend Several years earlier, Bob and Peggy had returned to the area and purchased a run-down ho an all-around handye house into a successful bed-and-breakfast they called Thyy, who’d i with a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers Her blueberry le visit to Cedar Cove, Jack fell in love with the sot it He found a decent rental and settled into what he assu forward to it, looking forward to a change

Change had coht, but not in the way he’d expected Soon after his arrival in Cedar Cove, he’d met Olivia Lockhart, and the woman had turned his world upside down

In an effort to become acquainted with the community, Jack had visited her courtroo couple who’d lost their child ca a divorce While e between the tyers presenting the case, Jack had focused his attention on Olivia He found herAs she studied the couple, her eyes had filled with pain Only later did Jack learn that Olivia had lost a child, too Her thirteen-year-old son had drowned in 1986 Under the weight of grief and loss, her own e had dissolved When she denied the couple’s divorce on a technicality, in effect forcing husband and wife to reconsider, he knew he had to write about her in his column

Unfortunately Olivia had taken exception to what Jack had written They h she ht not have realized it at the tiun He fell hard for her and he hadn’t recovered yet The truth was, he didn’t plan to They’d been married for over a year and his life had never been

Every now and then Jack had to marvel that a woman as classy as Olivia would marry an ex-alcoholic newsman who didn’t even knohich fork to use if there were more than two But marry him she had, and he considered hi Olivia, she’d taken it upon herself to educate hi out They’d had a difficult fewwith each other Jack illing to adhly developed sense of order and his slovenly habits had driven his poor wife insane

He just didn’t understand why it was so iht when he intended to put the He made an effort because he knew it pleased her The sa to Olivia, he was spreading ger it open on the countertop with a knife stuck in it So now he took out the knife, put on the lid and shoved it in the fridge And these days, he actually hung the towel on the rack when he was done with it He could never arrange them precisely the way Olivia liked, but she didn’t coht and placed it inside the dishwasher, too Love apparently did that to a man

The one area that still ht, he’d admit it; he could afford to lose a few pounds Jack had a bit of a paunch, but it wasn’t that bad Every once in a while, a s He wasn’t opposed to a large order of fries with that, either They both ith a vanilla shake

Just thinking about his favorite ot into his car to drive home He couldn’t remember the last tiurt with soerer it He let her think he’d been fooled