“Isn’t it thrilling?” Delilah said. “I’ve got an elderly couple coming to live with me, and, Hazel, you and Jacob have beenassigned a family as well. As soon as we got the word, the team there sent me here to let you all know the good news.”
Hazel’s spirits lifted immediately. Here was something for her to do that really did feel as though she was making a big difference. “Amazing,” she said, a little breathless in her excitement. “Do you know any details about the family we’ll be hosting?”
Delilah nodded. “Not too much, but I know a little. You’ll be hosting a new family in town, the Fishers. Shannon and Weston Fisher. They moved into Rosewood Beach only a month ago, and I’m sure it’s been hard for them to have to vacate their home just as they were finally getting settled into it. They also have a five-year-old daughter named Camille.”
“They do?” Hazel couldn’t have been more excited. “That’s perfect—she’s not so little that Samantha wouldn’t know how to help take care of her. This way she can look out for her and play games with her, things like that.” All at once her mind was filled with tasks that she needed to accomplish before the Fishers arrived at their house. She turned to Julia and Cooper. “Do you two think you’d be all right manning the fort alone for now? I think I’d better run home and prepare the guest bedroom.”
Julia chuckled. “I can see how excited you are. You should! We’re doing fine here.”
“Definitely.” Cooper smiled. “You’ve got an important job. Do you want to bring some food with you for the Fishers?”
Hazel hesitated and then shook her head. “No, we’ve still got enough food at home. They’re going to get a new shipment into Harvest Market soon, right?”
“They are.” Delilah nodded. “Sounds like they’re going to sell certain products like nonperishables from the basement of the church so that Jacob and his team have a clear area to repair the roof. Veronica said that way they can keep giving things away for free to the people who are struggling.”
Hazel shook her head. “I love this town,” she said.
“Me too,” Delilah said warmly. “I’m still awestruck by how kind everyone is being. You’ve really pulled together marvelously. And speaking of doing things as a team—we were wrapping up at Harvest Market, so I can stay here and help with handing out the meals.”
“Perfect,” Hazel said, giving her a hug. “I’ll see you all later.”
She hugged Cooper and Julia next and then hurried out the front door into the crisp spring air. She found that there was a spring in her step as she made her way to her car. She couldn’t wait to prepare her home for their new guests, and her mind whirred with ideas for all the ways she could help make them more comfortable.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Delilah carefully set a brown paper bag filled with to-go boxes of food into the back seat of Cooper’s car. “Should we bring more?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “The Turners live close by, and so far, we don’t know of anyone else whose cars got damaged. If we find out there are other people who can’t get to us, then we’ll drive out to them too.”
Delilah nodded. “Makes sense.” She wasn’t all that experienced with food herself and had only recently started cooking a little when she’d begun dating Tom, but her chef boyfriend had explained food safety rules to her one day when he was showing her around the kitchen at The Lighthouse Grill. So far, all of the free meals they’d made and brought over to the other restaurants had either been taken home within a two-hour safety window, or they had been tucked inside a refrigerator. She and Cooper couldn’t drive around for hours with a stack of to-go boxes, hoping to run into people who hadn’t gotten a chance to make it to The Lighthouse Grill, the McCormick Brewery, or Ocean Breeze Café.
Delilah and Cooper got into the car and started toward the home of Cedric Turner and his wife. Delilah had met the friendlyhardware store owner, who owned Turners’ Hardware, on numerous occasions, but she’d never seen his property before, which was rumored to be particularly beautiful.
“They say he has a lot of land and a gorgeous old farmhouse,” Delilah said. “Hazel showed me pictures once of how beautiful it is on the inside. I really hope it hasn’t been too damaged. Have you ever been to the Turners’ house before?”
“I have,” Cooper said. “I’ve come out here with Greener Pastures to do the landscaping quite a few times. It’s a wonderful property.” Cooper worked for Greener Pastures, a local landscaping business, and he’d had a hand in improving the lawns of many places around town. “I also really hope it’s not too damaged. I know that a tree fell on their cars, but I have a feeling the Turners don’t mind that too much as long as their house is okay.”
They arrived at the Turners’ old mansion a few minutes later. Cedric was waiting for them on the front lawn, looking a little fatigued and pale but with a big smile on his face.
“What’s this?” he said jovially. “Free food delivery? My goodness, I can hardly believe it.”
“How are you doing?” Cooper asked him, shaking his hand warmly before handing him the brown paper bag. “We heard about your cars and your power being out and wanted to make sure you got something hot to eat.”
“I’m grateful,” Cedric said. “Not that it would have been the end of the world, but I was starting to consider eating beans out of a can.” He winked at Delilah conspiratorially, and she grinned.
Does he even know I’m a movie star?she wondered.He treats me the way he treats everyone else. I think that’s my favorite thing about this town. Some people are a little star-struck around me, but they soon get over it and start treating me like a normal person.
She’d soon learned that fame came with many costs, one of which had been always feeling like an outsider unless she was spending time with other rich and famous people, many of whom were absolutely lovely but many of whom were quite the opposite. Living in Rosewood Beach and getting to feel like just an ordinary woman again had been a sweet blessing that she hadn’t expected to get out of her later years in life.
“How bad is the damage?” Delilah asked, glancing up at the beautiful house, which looked intact to her layman’s eyes. “Is your house all right?”
“Some of our shingles blew off the roof and we had a little flooding in our basement, but it wasn’t too bad. The real tragedy was that tree falling on our cars.” Cedric shook his head. “I’ve still got one more—my prized Ford truck. It’s from the eighties, and I love it even more than my house, although my wife feels differently.” He chuckled. “That truck is unscathed, thank God, but it’s tucked inside the garage, and we can’t get it out because there are two smashed cars and a tree in front of the garage door.” He gestured to the driveway with the flamboyance of a comedian.
Delilah laughed, marveling at how easily Cedric made light of his situation. She’d known many people who would have made a mountain of grief over losing less than this—and they were all people who owned even more.
“We also lost some of that beautiful landscaping you did, Cooper,” Cedric said. “Those apple trees you just planted for us got uprooted. They look like they’re trying to grow horizontally now.”
“Why don’t you show me?” Cooper said. “I bet my team and I can swing by tomorrow and put them to rights.”
