Chapter Fourteen

They sat down at the kitchen table with fresh cups of coffee and Beth glanced at her with an amused expression. “You must admit it was interesting.”

“What?”

“Watching you and Sam Matheson, you looked like two porcupines getting acquainted.”

“Oh Beth, don’t make something out of this. He came, he fixed the problem, he left. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Sure. I wonder if he’ll be coming to the services on Saturday?”

“Why would he come?”

“Well, didn’t he say he knew your aunt, from Sunday school?”

“Yes, years ago.”

Beth had that supercilious look that drove Laura crazy. “Bet you ten bucks he’s at the church Saturday.”

“I don’t take bets.” Laura began to straighten pillows on the couch. “Honestly, Beth, I’m not interested.”

“He is.”

Laura whirled around and put her fists on her hips. “Beth, you’re a hopeless romantic. He is not. Besides, have you forgotten I’m engaged to be married?”

Beth fluffed up a pillow. “Oh yes, you and the ambitious Alan.”

Laura almost ground her teeth. Beth could be so irritating sometimes. She needed to change the subject.

“How about going into the Village with me? There are some really cute shops. There’s a wonderful bistro where we can have lunch.”

Beth brightened. “Shopping? Now you are talking my language.”

The girls grabbed their coats and hurried out the door. As she locked the front door, Laura wondered if she should have turned on the alarm system. Oh well, with her car out front it would appear as though someone was home.. They climbed in Beth’s SUV and Laura directed her to the Village.

As Beth drove, Laura shared what the girl in the deli had said about Sam.

“Well, maybe he and his latest girlfriend had a fight. That would make him edgy.”

Laura deliberately looked out the window. Why did Beth’s words bother her?

Laura didn’t answer. She tried to bring up Alan’s face in her mind and concentrate on their relationship. It didn’t work. Realizing this, she sent a silent prayer heavenward for strength. Lord, I release Alan to you. You know the best course for both our lives. Help me to trust You for the future.

She felt some of the heaviness she carried, lift. Oh Lord, You are my Rock and my strong tower, help me see clearly what to do.

As they walked around, she enjoyed showing Beth the little Village of Big Bear Lake and they had fun finding a few small treasures. Beth loved the bistro and after lunch, they poked around town some more, took in an early movie, found a beauty shop and made appointments for a manicure and pedicure on Friday. Dodging more rain, they ran laughing to the car.

Some of the kitchenware needed to be replaced, so they went through each of the cupboards, examining the contents to see what should be kept or given away.

Laura held up a Teflon pan with deep scratches in it. “I think this one should go. It’s in bad shape.” She put out on the table.

Beth pulled some utensils out of the drawer. “Ugh. These aren’t even collectables. I think you should toss them.”

Laura looked them over. “You’re right. I need to make a list of what needs to be replaced.”

There were a couple of boxes left over from packing her aunt’s things and they began to fill them with the unwanted kitchen pans, odd glasses and mis-matched silverware.

They noted new items that were needed and put the box of unwanted kitchenware in the back of Beth’s car. They could drop the items off at the thrift shop on their way to K-Mart.

Later, the boxes delivered, they pushed a cart up and down the aisles and Laura felt again the awesome awareness of how much money she had in her account. It made shopping tempting, but she knew she needed to be wise in her spending and silently resolved to use restraint. They would only purchase the things she needed.

“Look at these cookie sheets, Laura. Great buy.” Beth put a couple in the cart.

Laura put one back. “I don’t think I’ll spend a lot of time baking cookies.”

They bought new hand towels, spatulas, a set of stainless steel pots and pans, a new microwave, and a set of stainless silverware, service for twelve.

“What am I going to do with all that silverware?” It seemed a waste.

“Hey, friend, aren’t you going to invite people up? What about barbeques in the summer? You’ll need this.”

“I could just use plastic.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “This silverware will last a long time and you won’t have to keep buying the plastic.”

Laura put her hands up in surrender. They wandered through the small appliance section and she fingered a new white coffeemaker. “You know, Aunt Estelle’s is really old and stained. She must have made a lot of coffee.”

Beth gave her an innocent look. “And of course you wouldn’t want it to go out on you on a crucial morning.”

“Right.” Laura added it to the basket.

With paper towels, tissues, toilet paper and some cleaning products, they finished their shopping.

Later, as they sat back on the sofa in front of a cracking fire and sipped hot chocolate with marshmallows, Laura gazed pensively at the flames.

“I wonder whatever happened to my Uncle Ray.”

Beth shook her head slowly. “You’ll probably never know. It’s a shame about little Tommy’s death. It must have devastated your aunt. Your aunt had a sad life.”

“Oh, I don’t know. She seemed like an up person most of the time. She smiled a lot and I guess, considering what she went through, kept her troubles to herself.”

“Don’t forget Richard.”

“Richard?”

“The guy in the letters you found.”

“You’re right. She did have another chance at love.”

Beth sighed. “That is so romantic, those letters. It makes me teary-eyed to think of their unrequited love affair.”

“You’ve watched too many romantic movies.”

Beth snorted. “And you haven’t? Come on now, tell me you read those letters and didn’t cry.”

Laura grinned. “Okay, you got me. Yes, I cried.”

They stared at the fire in silence, each occupied with their own thoughts.

Leaning back against the cushions, Laura mused out loud. “I wonder how many people will show up on Saturday.”

“From what you’ve told me, a lot of people knew your aunt. She touched a lot of lives,” Beth gave Laura a mischievous glance, “including your friend, Sam.”

“Let’s not go through that again. He’s not my friend. I hardly know him.”

Beth frowned, thinking. “You know who he reminds me of?”

“I have no idea.”

“That movie star—what’s his name? The guy in Parent Trap. A really cute movie they made a few years ago, the second version, not the one with Haley Mills. He owned the winery.”

Laura thought a moment. “You mean Dennis Quaid?”

Beth grinned. “Yes! He’s the one!”

Laura frowned, contemplating the two men. Beth was right, a definite resemblance, including the dimples around his mouth. Laura found the thought pleasant, but a little unsettling.

The phone rang and Laura reached over and picked it up.

A male voice. “We have a plant to deliver. May we have the address to deliver it? We can’t deliver to a post office box.”

“My aunt wanted flowers to go to the church and then the hospital.”

The man hesitated. “Well, this is a plant, something to put in the yard. They don’t want it to go to the church. Can we update our records?”

“Oh, well, I guess that okay.” She gave him the address and he promptly hung up. “Hello? Hello? Well!”

“What’s the matter?”

“A very rude employee from some flower shop that wants to deliver a plant to the house. He just got the address and hung up. Didn’t even say thank you.”

Beth glanced up. “Why didn’t you give him the address of the church?”

“He said they had a plant that was supposed to be planted here. I didn’t think fast enough. He also said they just had a post office box number for my aunt.”

“Some salespeople can be pretty abrupt.”

Laura frowned. “I’d prefer people send flowers to the church. I don’t know what I’ll do with them here.”

Beth wrinkled her brow. “How would the local florist get your aunt’s post office box number? I thought the post office didn’t give that out.”

“Oh, I don’t know. She lived up here a long time. People knew where she lived. Maybe the clerk was new.”

“Well, the notice is in the paper.”

Laura’s thoughts tumbled about in her head. Alan, the trip up here, the many people she’d met that were involved in her aunt’s life, the will and her inheritance. It seemed a lot to contemplate. With everything taken care of so neatly, why did she have this unsettled feeling?

“Beth, I think we should pray. For the services, for traveling mercies for people who are going to attend the service, and, I think we need to pray over this house. So much has happened here, so many emotions.”

Beth set her mug down and reached over for Laura’s hand. “You’re right, my friend, we need to cover all of this with His love. Tomorrow you have the burial and Saturday will be a difficult day for you and for a lot of people.”

As they bowed their heads, Laura brushed aside the sense of foreboding and turned her heart to prayer.