The proprietor looked at her for a moment, then smiled acceptingly.
“You got in yesterday afternoon. By sheer coincidence, we had a last-minute cancellation, and your old room was available.”
“Did I say why I came back?”
“You told Dean that you wanted to settle here. Personally, we’re delighted.”
“I did?”
“You did. You said when you got back to Columbus, you tried to pick up with your life there, but ultimately decided to quit your job, come back here, and see who you could talk to about taking over theSparkledove Wing.”
“I did?” she asked, smiling with moist eyes. “Brilliant! That’s great! Thanks, Maddie! I gotta go find Eli!”
She started to hurry across the lobby toward the front door.
“Goldie!” Maddie called.
The younger one stopped and turned. “Yeah?”
“Take a coat, dear,” she reminded.
Goldie looked down at herself and realized she needed one. “Oh, right,” she said, heading for the stairs again.
Within another five minutes, she was out on the street with her overcoat on and running down the middle of River Street toward the other end of town. As she ran, she was practically a female version of George Bailey inIt’s A Wonderful Life,calling out to stores:
“Hello Clara’s Gifts… Hello Miller’s General Store… Hello Summit Grocers… Hello you ol’ Historical Society…”
Finally arriving at the sheriff’s office, she was disappointed to find it closed and Eli’s police cruiser nowhere in sight. Turning to return to her hotel, she spotted Stu Frey’s truck at a stop sign on a cross street a block away. Giving a loud whistle like a foreman on a loading dock, she caught Stu’s attention, and he waited. So she ran down to where he was while he rolled down his window.
“Hey, Merry Christmas!” he called as she neared. “What’re you doing?”
“Looking for Eli,” she replied.
“He’s with his folks today in Brownsville. You want me to run you over there? It’s not that far.”
“Yeah. That’d be great. Thanks!” she replied, knowing their meeting wasn’t by chance.
She rounded the passenger side of the truck, climbed in, then Stu turned right onto River Street and followed it down, intending to turn right again in front of the Sparkledove Arms and head toward the highway.
“How come I’m here?” she asked, getting right to the point. “I thought you said I couldn’t come back.”
“What I said was: ‘Your decision is a one-way trip,’” he corrected. “That was true. You werealwaysgoing to come back. It just took you a little while to figure that out.”
She squinted her eyes. “That sounds like a trick.”
“No. That sounds like a God who believes in first, second, and third chances for those who aren’t afraid to go after them.”
“So, youknewI’d want to come back?”
“I didn’t, but He did.”
Stu’s truck turned onto Highway 70, and the vehicle began to pick up speed.
“I love my family, Stu. Y’know? I always will. But I can’t do anything for ‘em, they’ve got their own lives, and they can’t do anything for me, either.”
“God helps those who help themselves,” he observed.
“Now that I’m here, is the other Goldie—I mean—will her soul be?—”
