“Oh yes, I’m fine. The doctor suggested I get a little sleep, that’s all. But that’s not why I’m calling. I need a favor.” I agree without thinking. I’d do anything for Pearl. She’d raised me after mom and dad died. She was my saint.
“It’s nothing big,” she assures me, “I’d ordered a few things from Janet’s. I’m making a gift basket for David, and I’d forgotten to pick it up while I was in town earlier, and Melodie tells me you’re headed that way anyway, would you mind?”
“Not at all. I’ll head in now,” I say and hang up. I don't mind. Pearl had earned a lifetime of favors.
When I walk into the kitchen to find Falon, she is grabbing her purse and heading out the back door.
“Oh, I was just coming to find you. I need to run into town; I have to pick up a few things and stop by the inn to drop off that quilt I’d mended for Janet.”
“Oh, cool. I need to pick up an order for Pearl. Mind if I join you?”
Her smile lights up her face. I take her hand in mine, and the two of us go to town. I hold her hand over the middle console as we make our way through town, and when we leave the Inn with Pearl’s order.
Twenty minutes later, and a cab full of this and that, we walk by Will’s Steakhouse, and Sherry meets us both at the door.
“Finally, I thought I was late.” She smooths out her shirt.
"Right this way," she says, holding the door open for us.
I look at Falon, and Falon looks at me.
"Did you—" she starts.
"No," I say. "Did you?"
"No."
Sherry is already halfway across the restaurant, menus in hand.
This was beginning to feel like a setup.
Will's Steakhouse looks the way it always has. Mounted longhorn over the bar, the mismatched chairs, the string lights, and the old wood floors that told more stories than the mayor. Cluck Norris, the chicken mascot, stares down from his banner above the kitchen pass-through. This was always my favorite place.
Sherry stops at a table near the window. Two placesettings. A candle that had already been lit. She sets down the menus and beams at us.
"Your server will be right with you," she says. And leaves.
Falon and I stand there for a moment.
"Janet," we say at the same time.
I pull out Falon's chair.
She sits down, shaking her head, and picks up the menu even though we both know what we are getting. "She called Pearl, didn't she?" She grins.
"Most certainly."
"And my errand?" Most likely her idea.
"I'm going to guess the quilt was ruined on purpose."
Falon looks up at me over the top of the menu. "I mended that quilt."
"I know."
"It took me four hours."
"I know."
