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"Jack!" She straightened and glared at hi," he said, chuckling

"No, you weren’t" The thing was, she probably could afford to lose five pounds Except that at her age, it wasn’t as easy as it had once been Despite all her hard work, those few stubborn pounds refused to budge It would be easier to melt them off with a blowtorch, as she’d recently told Grace

Grace and Olivia were back toevery Wednesday for their aerobics class Afterward they went for pie and coffee at the Pancake Palace However, Olivia had forsaken dessert in the last feeeks But she ht for all the good it’d done her to go without

"I was thinking we should take a nice, hot shoe get holed his eyebrows suggestively

"Jack Griffin, you’re outrageous"

"Yeah, but you love it"

He was right; she loved everything about this le for nearly twenty years, she’d had to make a real adjustment to return to , and he’d had to make his own compromises

It had taken Jack’s heart attack to show her--ree She loved her husband That fact was iotiable

She only hoped that her daughter’sa crisis

They started the three-mile walk back to the house, their pace more leisurely than before

"Oh, oh," Jack said after a ot that look Better tell hed and supposed she should get straight to the point "Justineby the bank a lot"

"Doesn’t surprise me," Jack muttered He shared her distaste for the other hter’s relationship with Warren had always made Olivia uncoe between thee, old enough to be Justine’s father In fact, Olivia had worried that her daughter was seeking a father figure in hiood husband and father until their son’s death Afterward, it was as if her ex had abdicated those roles In retrospect, Olivia believed this was how Stan had dealt with Jordan’s loss Stan had remarried almost immediately after the divorce, and while he’d continued with child support payments, he’d had practically no emotional involvement with either Justine or her brother, Jaet wants?" Jack asked, frowning

"Not really She just said he’sa lot of unnecessary visits to the bank I don’t think she’s told Seth about it"

"Maybe she should--to avoid any reed with him, but it wasn’t her decision

"Warren knows Justine isn’t interested in hiht?" Jack asked

Justine had assured Olivia she’d made that abundantly clear "She loves her husband and faet," Jack said, walking faster now Olivia picked up her pace, too "Justine would be well advised to stay away froree"

"Do you figure he’s trying to get on her good side? Because he wants the contract to rebuild the restaurant?"

"Perhaps," Olivia said, but she doubted it Warren’s company was successful, despite a nuh the years Olivia had never understood how he stayed in business and yet he did Warren had lost some of those lawsuits, and won others, and still he thrived

What bothered Olivia hter’s life, like the proverbial bad penny Olivia knew it’d been hard on Warren’s ego when Justine left him and married Seth Five years had passed Surely he was over her daughter by now

"Did you hear about Sandy Davis?" Jack asked suddenly

Olivia shook her head Sandy was the sheriff’s wife; she and Troy Davis had been nosed withadult She’d spent the last two years in a nursing home

"She died yesterday"

"I’m so sorry," Olivia murmured She’d always admired Troy and the way he loved and cared for his wife He rarely talked about Sandy or her condition, seldooing to be low-key," Jack said "That’s what Troy and his daughter toldthe service"

"Poor Troy," she said, wishing she could think of soo to the funeral"

"I let your mother know," Jack told her "Charlotte and the ladies at the Senior Center are organizing the wake Most of them knew Sandy"

An involuntary smile came to Olivia "My mother’s so funny about these wakes She claims that’s where she finds her best recipes The whole event becoe"

Olivia expected Jack to be as alanced over at hi

"That’s the way she handles losing her friends," her husband said "If she can concentrate on so other than the fact that she’s lost another friend, then she doesn’t feel as bereft"

Jack’s insight didn’t surprise her He was skilled at recognizing the et so smart?" she teased