“Hi, Arnaud.”
“Olivia, you haven’t aged a day.”
“Several centuries, more like,” she replied. “Where it counts most.”
“You always were the honest one,” Claire said.
“Correction. You always brought it out in me.”
Her two former best friends, now married, did their best to smile. But they saw enough of Olivia’s inner state, and struggled as a result. Arnaud asked, “Hungry?”
“Famished. I’ve been trapped on the road since daybreak.”
“We’re serving just two dishes today. Stew and stew.”
“Don’t ask what’s inside,” Claire said. “Fricasseed gopher, most like.”
“Supplies are coming in days late, if at all,” Araud agreed. “But I’ll fish out the questionable bits.”
“Stew sounds great.”
Claire led her past the dishwasher’s station, back to where a whitewashed ledge jutted between the larder and the rear door. Claire patted a stool and said, “Make yourself comfortable.”
“Won’t your boss raise a stink, me being back here?”
Claire raised her voice. “Yo, boss? You mind?”
Arnaud called back, “Probably. What about?”
Olivia said, “You’re joking.”
“The former owner had a heart thing,” Claire explained. “We caught him when he fell.”
“A heart thing.”
“You want specifics, go talk to the doc out front. You know we always wanted our own place.”
“Since you two started dating.” Her oldest friend was narrower, and gray strands nearly dominated her formerly copper curls. Claire looked ten years older than her real age of thirty-one.
But she was happy. Arnaud too. Their glowing satisfaction, even in the midst of this glum company, gave Olivia a burn at heart level. She asked, “Do you have children?”
“A boy, he’s four.”
“First of many,” Arnaud agreed. “I’m thinking, eleven.”
“Not with me you’re not.” To Olivia, “Arnaud’s parents are playing surrogates and loving the duty almost too much.”
“They’re hoping for twins next go-round,” Arnaud offered.
“Different comment, same response,” Claire said, then noticed Olivia’s reaction. Her gaze softened as she asked, “Girl, what happened?”
But before she could respond, the kitchen’s rear door opened and the chief of police declared, “I’ll have a steak well done and four eggs fried so hard you can nail them to the wall.”
“Not here, you won’t,” Claire replied.
Arnaud stepped back from the stove far enough to grin at the newcomer. “We’ve got the tastiest gopher stew in six states.”
“Then stew it is.” He dropped his hat on the table, then realized who was seated across the table. “Stars above.”
