Sweet Carolina Morning by Susan Schild

Author:Susan Schild [Schild, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-06-13T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Just Like Positano

Saturday at 11:00, Linny swung by Earth and Sky to pick up their food, her stomach in knots. She was all nerves about the lunch. The other meetings with Jack’s parents had been so off kilter. She really, really wanted them to like her, and she needed to get on better footing with Ceecee. Rush was an old sweetie, but under her sweet smile and good manners, Ceecee was prickly, unpredictable. Linny gave a determined nod as she locked her car. She’d make Ceecee like her.

Wheeling her cart along the wooden floors of the market, she waved at Lil, who held up a hand and grinned as she did her usual sprint/walk around the store, checking on food and employees. After she picked up her takeout, Linny got in a line to check out and braced herself for the usual bored expression and condescending attitude that was de rigueur for clerks at Earth and Sky. But the girl with the half-shaved head actually made eye contact with her, smiled, and thanked her politely as she handed Linny the receipt. Her step was light as she walked to the car. Maybe her student, Tina, was on board and preaching the gospel of customer service to her frontline people. If the cashiers were pleasant, it would sure make shopping at this wonderful store an even better experience.

In the car she double-checked the bags to make sure they’d gotten the order right. They had. Per Jack’s instructions, she’d ordered roast beef on a Kaiser roll for Rush and white meat chicken salad on wheat for Ceecee. For the extras she’d skipped right over the black cherry–infused iced tea and Chinese radicchio slaw, instead choosing plain sweet tea and Lay’s potato chips. Jack had cautioned her, Don’t get too exotic on anything, now. Mama and Daddy aren’t big on exotic.

As she tooled down the road to Jack’s farm, she tried to remember if she’d let Roy out to go to the bathroom after breakfast. Dang. She hadn’t. Glancing at the clock on the dash, she sped up. She could swing back by the house, let Roy out, and still be at Jack’s farm for their luncheon with time to spare.

As soon as she opened the door to the trailer, Roy burst out of the house like a bullet train and raced into the yard. Poor guy had to go. After a few minutes she rounded him up, locked up, and slid back into the car. But when she turned the key, nothing happened. She tried two more times with no luck. She raked her fingers through her hair. Dang. Jack’s parents already had to sit with the fact that she was twice widowed and not Vera. If she didn’t make it to this get-to-know-you-better lunch, they’d add unreliable and flaky to their list of reasons she wouldn’t fit into the family. Grabbing her purse, she found her phone. “Jack,” she breathed when he picked up, “my car won’t start! I turn the key and nothing happens.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.