Page 11 (1/2)

"I’ somebody," she said With a subtle shift of her shirtsleeve, she checked the tiers for a living A wealthy retiree who’d buy her a sedan A silver fox She was in search of a classy boyfriend Not so for his age

Toet the hint "Seeh it was true, it was a presuht, white cook’s T-shirt, the Ar Not a silver fox at all, but vital and vigorous And when had she started thinking of him as Tom? She took a sip of that bubbly water

His tattoo put a thought into her head She was anxious to change the subject anyway "They say you went to war"

"So I did," he replied, his tone wary

The pain that flickered across his face told her to tread carefully "Would you talk to hly skeptical, and she continued quickly, "He wants to enlist right out of high school"

His eyes narrowed, pinned on her Goodness, but they were a dark and vivid blue, like indigo It put her on the defensive

"Don’t you get that look with randmother’s side who served--you should know that You were here e flew to Arlington to bury him, may he rest in peace, and if you don’t remember, you just need to listen to Ruby and Pearl for half a rew half concerned that the wine had made her too emotional, but pressed on, anxious to be understood "There’s nothing that’d et nervous that he doesn’t see that side of it The service side I’d love to see the boy shape up and put on a uniforht reasons He doesn’t understand how seriously it should be approached How hard he’ll need to work I worry he thinks it’s just a chance for hiaan to worry But finally he nodded "I understand Bring him by, Marlene I’ll be happy to talk to the boy"

She unclenched so she hadn’t realized she’d clenched "Thank you, Toust of wind blew in as the door opened Sully looked up and that stony look was back in his eyes

"It’s not right," he muttered His dark blue eyes locked with hers "This date of yours had better pay I see hiht need to come back over"

Marlene felt her cheeks blush And Good Lord, as the last time she’d blushed?

Ten

"Sorrow!" she heard her mom call from the hallway a moment before she appeared in the doorway of the laundry roo to be assigned another duty she didn’t want Whatever it was, it had to be better than ironing linens She hated ironing

"Did you hear rip on her purse, and that alone had her putting down the iron Her moain"

"Who? You ht he could make some calls Get it plowed"

"Wait, our road is closed?" The lodge was on Irish Ca road off Route 88 It wasn’t exactly a hfare, but it wasn’t a so Why would Caltrans close it?"

As far as Sorroas concerned, Caltrans--aka the California Depart heroes of their area, plowing through the night, clearing rockslides, and ht be experiencing the first real weather of the season, but it was nothing compared to what Caltrans could handle

"It’s not the snow," Edith said "There’s so the road"

What was she supposed to do about so fall on her shoulders? Why couldn’t her mother call Caltrans? Better yet, asn’t her sister around to enjoy this indentured servitude, having to deal with things like ironing the tavern’s tablecloths? Or how about her brother, for that ht BJ was deployed in Afghanistan…ironing was a walk in the park cohed "Fine I’ll call Caltrans"

"Maybe you should call Damien"

Sorrow hesitated, reluctant to ask for his help on this one, especially since she’d been having inappropriate thoughts about another s up in the kitchen--because the things she wanted to heat up had nothing to do with food "Caltrans will take care of it"