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Two-Part Harmony
Two-Part Harmony
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Two-Part Harmony

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“At least she’s with Grandpa and Dad now.” Kelly glanced around the kitchen and noticed the pans of cookies, pastries and several loaves of bread. She frowned at the bounty of sweet treats. “You’re not planning on opening the Sweetheart tomorrow, are you?”

Megs looked surprised to see all the baked goods there. “Huh. Guess I got carried away. This is all for the funeral home. I figured people might want a little something sweet.”

Kelly guessed with all the food her sister had baked, people could stuff themselves on dough and sugar for the next week and there would still be leftovers. She pointed toward the lump of kneaded dough on the table top. “More bread?”

Her sister patted the doughy mound. “This? It’s a new recipe I’m trying.” She nudged an old ledger book towards Kelly. “Grammy gave this to me about a week ago. She said they’re family recipes that were handed down to Pop Pop from his mother and generations before him. Grammy called them special. That I’d know when I was ready for them.” Her sister’s eyes were watery as she opened the ledger and located a recipe near the front. “See? Her handwriting says this bread is good to comfort those in their grief.” She shrugged. “I thought, why not? There’s going to be a lot of people who’ll need comforting the next few days.”

Grammy had been a cornerstone of the community for so long that Kelly couldn’t imagine the hole she was going to leave in everyone’s lives. She’d already left one in her own chest, so why not the entire town’s? Kelly paused. “Did you call everybody? Do you need me to do anything?”

“Everybody in town knew as soon as the ambulance arrived at the house. The small town grapevine still works.” Megs gave a deep sigh. “And I called Aunt Lillian’s daughters to let them know, too. Grammy didn’t have much family left. We’re what’s left of her blood.”

Kelly shuddered. Grammy’s sister Lillian had two daughters who had terrorized their dad when he’d been young, if you could believe the stories he’d shared. Being the only child of two bakers, Dad had struggled with a weight issue most of his life. And Lillian’s daughters had never let him forget it. Granted, they were forty years older now. And they had families of their own.

Megs rubbed the back of her neck. “Do you mind if we take a little break? I need to let the dough rise. I can go over with you what we still have to do for the funeral.”

The sisters settled at one of the tables in the front room with a legal-sized notepad and one of the pink pens that advertised the bakery and its phone number. Kelly drew a couple of scribbles then looked up at her sister. “What about Mom? Did you call her yet?”

“Thought I’d leave that up to you. I can’t deal with her right now. Besides, I don’t know where she is at the moment.”

Kelly checked the time. “Last I talked to her, Florida. So it’s probably too late to phone tonight. I’ll call her tomorrow. Think she’ll come up for the funeral?” Megs gave her a nasty look. “You’re probably right. They didn’t exactly see eye to eye on things.”

“Except about Daddy. They both thought he hung the moon.” Megs stared at her dough. “I keep picturing him and Pop Pop waiting for Grammy when she arrived at the pearly gates. Welcoming her home.”

Kelly cleared her throat as tears threatened to clog it, making it difficult to take breathe. “Yeah. Me, too.” She wrote funeral plans at the top of the notepad and underlined the words. “Did Grammy ever talk about what she wanted at her funeral?”

“You know she didn’t like talking about things like that.”

Grammy hadn’t liked talking about anything uncomfortable or unpleasant. Death and what to do for her funeral topped that list. “I thought that maybe in her later years that—”

“Don’t.” Megs claimed the notepad from Kelly. “You don’t get to pretend that you know what she’d been thinking or feeling these days. You weren’t here.”

Ouch, that hurt a little. But she swallowed the bitterness and nodded. “I know. But I’m here now.” She held out the pen to her sister.

“A bit too late, don’t you think?” Her sister snatched the pen and wrote down a few lines, but crossed them out. And then burst into tears.

Kelly rose from her chair and gently put one arm around her sister’s shoulders. “It’s okay, Megs. Shhh, it’s going to be all right.” With her free hand, she stroked her blond hair, so much like her own, if shorter. They were alike even if they didn’t always admit it. “We can do this together.”

Megs buried her face, crying into Kelly’s jacket sleeve. “I can’t believe she’s gone. I miss her so much already.”

Kelly knelt and pulled her sister into her arms. Maybe Megs wasn’t as strong as she’d thought. She put her cheek on her sister’s head and cooed softly to her. “I know. I miss her, too.”

They clung to each other until the sobs subsided. Megs got up and retrieved a box of tissues. She held out the box, and Kelly took one and wiped at her eyes, then Megs returned to her seat and clutched several tissues in case she should need one again.

“Since you knew her best, I’ll go along with whatever you want,” Kelly told her.

Megs smiled. “She’d want you to sing, you know? Her favorite song.”

“Of course.”

Her sister wrote that down on the notepad. “I know people we can ask to be her pallbearers. Rick, Sam, some of our other regulars.” She wrote their names then looked up at Kelly. “Are you hungry? I didn’t think to ask when you got here.”

“I guess.”

Megs left her alone for a minute and then came back with a mini chocolate cake as well as two forks. “Grammy always said food was medicine to cure a hurting heart. This is one of her favorite recipes from the ledger.”

With an endorsement like that, Kelly couldn’t refuse. The dessert looked fabulous. Dark chocolate enrobed the tiny cake, and when she took a forkful, it revealed four layers of chocolate cake divided by three layers of pink raspberry mousse. Kelly placed the fork in her mouth and closed her eyes at the taste. It was rich, smooth and enticing. She chewed and let the flavors play on her tongue. The sweet chocolate, the tangy raspberry. “Oh my. Now that’s a cake.”

Megs watched her, eyebrows raised. “That good?”

“It’s better than good. What do you call it?”

“Grammy called it True Love’s Torte.”

Kelly took another bite. “Always the romantic. Probably believed you’d meet your soul mate within a day of eating it, huh?”

Megs nodded, and they both smiled faintly. The idea of Kelly meeting her soul mate in Lake Mildred was as likely as meeting the person who would make her dreams of a singing contract come true. She shook her head and took another bite of the cake. But it would be just like Grammy to make both of those things happen even from the grave.

They silently ate the cake, remembering the woman they both loved.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_6fb68660-2f3c-53cf-af47-f593312422c3)

KELLY OPENED ONE eye then another and peered around the bedroom. Purple exploded from every corner, and it took her a moment to realize where she was.

She turned over and looked into the face of Mr. Wiggles, a worn teddy bear who had been her first friend when she was a child. Had she gone back in time? She sat up and fingered the crocheted afghan that lay over her, a gift from Grammy after her father had died. Yes, she’d been transported to being fifteen once again. She snuggled under the covers and brought the edge of the blanket to her nose and sniffed. It smelled faintly of, well, of Grammy.

She wiped her eyes with the afghan. She had to get through the day somehow. Had to be strong. Had to keep moving forward, not just for herself and Megs, but for Grammy. She could almost hear her grandmother whispering, “You can do it.”

If only Grammy really knew.

Her cell phone on the nightstand beside the bed started to buzz and sing a country song. She stopped the alarm, then sat up and swung her legs off the bed. She thought about finding her old bathrobe, to cover up the nightshirt she’d put on before climbing into bed, but figured there wasn’t anything she had that her sister hadn’t seen before. She opened her old bedroom door and sniffed appreciatively at the scent of coffee climbing up the stairs.

As Kelly stepped into the kitchen, the coffeemaker gurgled its last gasps. She took a deep breath and walked to it, but froze when a man beat her to it. She jumped back and grabbed the toaster to defend herself if she had to. He was taller than her, but then it didn’t take much to tower over her own five foot two. And he was built, as in construction-guy built. The back of his flannel shirt strained across his shoulders. He turned and gave her a nod, then poured himself a mug of coffee. “Good morning.”

“That’s all you have to say after breaking into my grandmother’s home?” She raised the toaster higher, ready to take whatever action would be necessary to defend herself and her sister. It might have helped if she’d unplugged it first, so she reached over to do so. She’d taken a self-defense class years ago, and the advice that had been drilled into her repeated in her mind now, just in case she needed it.

He raised one dark eyebrow over his gray green eyes. “I didn’t break in.”

“Are you saying you used a key?” The man was delusional. Hot, yes, but definitely certifiable.

“Yes. Mine.” He dug into his front jean pocket and brought out a silver key ring with a familiar gold key hanging from it.

Grammy was giving out keys to strange men? She’d obviously missed a lot being gone all this time. He leaned on the counter, watching her as she put the toaster down. But she kept her eye on him as she poured her own cup of coffee and added cream and sugar to it. He grimaced. She looked down at the creamy color. “Problem?”

“Good coffee doesn’t need all that stuff. And this is good.” He saluted her with his mug.

She rolled her eyes and sipped from her mug. Steps behind her alerted her that Megs had joined them. “Oh, good. You’ve met,” her sister said.

She glared at Megs. “Who is this guy? He let himself in with his own key.”

Megs put a tea bag into a mug and poured water into it before putting it in the microwave and pressing a few buttons. “Grammy told you she was having work done on the house. This is Sam.”

The way Grammy had spoken about him, she’d think he walked on water as he fixed things at the bakery and at home and had maybe even repaired her grieving heart. She’d mentioned that this Sam was good looking, but Kelly had expected older. Much older. Like Grammy’s age. And her grandmother hadn’t mentioned the muscles. Or those gray-green eyes that reminded her of a river with sun sparkling off the surface. Or the smile that sent shivers down her spine. “Sam the Saint? You don’t look like you’re in your seventies.”

He smiled at that. “Maybe because I’m not.”

“Grammy said she had a new man in her life. But I didn’t expect someone so...” Gorgeous. Mouth-watering. “Young.” She put her mug down. “You’re not what I expected.”

“I could say the same about you, Kelly.” He finished his coffee then placed his mug in the kitchen sink and ran water in the cup. “It’s been fun, but I’ve got to get to the job site early.” He nodded at Kelly, then pointed at Megs. “You’ll let me know about tomorrow?”

Megs agreed and retrieved her steaming mug from the microwave. “I’ll know more tonight. Dinner at Rick’s tonight, say seven?”

“You bet.” He winked at Kelly. “Nice to meet you.”

Of all the nerve. And if he didn’t make her stomach flop, she would swear she was coming down with the flu. She turned to her sister. “Does he come over every morning?” She narrowed her eyes. “Is there something going on with you two?”

Megs shook her head and walked to the refrigerator. She pulled out a carton of eggs and a tub of butter. “Sam is just a friend. And he lives in the apartment above the garage. When he runs out of coffee there, he comes over and uses Grammy’s. It’s no big deal.”

Kelly took a seat and watched her sister crack eggs into a bowl and whisk them together. Next, her sister got out a frying pan and melted butter in it over the stove before pouring the beaten eggs into it. She retrieved a loaf of homemade sourdough and cut thick slices, then dropped them in the toaster, which she plugged back in.

“Seems like a big deal if you and Grammy couldn’t tell me that he was living here,” Kelly said. Her mouth watered as the eggs cooked golden yellow. “By the way Grammy talked about him, I thought she was half in love with him.”

“Maybe she was. In a grandmotherly way.” Megs took down two plates and brought them to the stove. “Sam is a great guy. Not that you gave him much of a chance this morning.”

“He startled me.”

“Mm-hmm.” Megs placed a piece of toast on the plate then spooned the cooked eggs over it. She put another pat of butter on top, then handed it to Kelly. “Can we discuss this while we eat? I’m starving.”

Kelly normally didn’t eat breakfast but her stomach growled loudly at the sight of the eggs and toast. “Grammy made this for us the first night after Mom left.”

“I know.” Megs took a seat on a stool at the kitchen island. “Seemed appropriate.”

Kelly took a seat across from her. She picked up her fork then laid it back down next to her plate. “I don’t know what to do without her.”

“I don’t, either.”

* * *

SAM STEERED HIS pickup truck into the driveway and followed the curve until he had almost reached the lake. His potential client hadn’t arrived yet, so he got out of the vehicle and walked to the truck bed and got out his red tool box.

He took a deep breath, reveling in the scent of pine and water. When he’d first arrived in Lake Mildred, he hadn’t expected to find this sense of home. He assumed he’d take on a few well-paying jobs then move on to the next town, always searching for something.

Home.

And he thought he might be able to find it here in this sleepy lakeside town. A big part of that had been Adelaide Sweet, and he swallowed at the lump in his throat the reminder brought. Come on, Addy. What am I going to do?

Memories of Addy brought the image to mind of meeting her granddaughter that morning. Her worn nightshirt with a cat on it, plus the long blond hair in braids and huge blue eyes gave her an air of innocence. The way she threatened him with a toaster only added to his impression of her. Petite and cute, she was also strong, independent. Definitely a young woman raised by Addy. But something remained, which he couldn’t put his finger on, that made him want to get to know her a lot better.

The appearance of a silver pickup truck in the driveway broke Sam from his thoughts. The truck pulled up and parked behind his. He shielded his eyes then waved at Rick Allyn, the mayor and hopefully his next, future client. Rick hopped out of the pickup and approached him. “I got stuck in a budget meeting.” He made a face, and Sam squelched a grin.

The men shook hands then strolled down to the dock. Sam sighed and put his tool box down. He tugged the small notebook out of his back pocket and nub of a pencil. “I had a look at the supports, and they’re still good. It seems to be the boards on top here that are causing problems.”

Sam crouched and peered at the rotting boards of the dock. He could remove the old ones, replace them with solid planks and then treat them so that they’d last for years. He mentally calculated the cost of the materials. He stood and made some notes on his pad. “It’ll take me about a week to do the work, and I can get started on the job in a day or two.”

Rick nodded. “And the price?”

Sam gave him a figure to which the mayor whistled.

“More than I’d hoped, but still it’s half of what another company quoted me.”

So he had competition for the job? Not that he expected less from a man who ran the town with a fair, but frugal hand, despite his dislike of budget meetings. Sam shifted his weight on his feet. “I can guarantee my work. I’ll give you references if you need them.”

Rick held up one hand. “You forget that I’ve seen your work at the Stones’ house. I’m convinced. You’ve got the job.”

They shook hands to seal the deal. Sam made more notes. “I’ll get the contract and itemized materials list to you by the end of the day.” He looked up at Rick as they walked back to their trucks. “Megs mentioned that you and I are pallbearers tomorrow for the funeral.”

“It’s my honor.” Rick stopped at his truck and rested a foot on the back tire. “It’s a real blow to the town. Mrs. Sweet was the cornerstone to a lot of charities besides providing all the pastries and desserts for town celebrations. She’ll be missed.”

Sam nodded, but couldn’t say anything. He’d breezed into town over two years ago, looking for a job and a place to stay. Mrs. Sweet had opened up her home to him as well as introduced him to people who had brought work his way. She had encouraged him to find his dreams when he’d been ready to walk away.

She’d given him the kick in the behind when he’d needed it, too. Said the words he hadn’t wanted to hear, but ought to understand.

What was he going to do now? He cleared his throat. “An amazing woman. One of a kind.”

“Megs said they’re meeting with Gene this morning at the funeral home.”

He knew they would make the right decisions for Addy. She’d had a lot of love and pride in her granddaughters, but he’d seen little of Kelly to know if Addy’s belief in her granddaughter had been warranted. She’d spoken often of her amazing voice and how she was trying to pursue her singing career in Nashville. He knew firsthand what that could cost. He hoped she’d returned home before it had changed her.

The fear in her eyes this morning when she’d discovered him in the kitchen told him that it might be too late. He realized that was the difference between the sisters. Megs trusted everyone while it seemed her sister was wary of them.

Sam took a deep breath. “I need to get moving to the next job.” He held out a hand to Rick who shook it. “I look forward to restoring the dock.”

“Not as much as I do. Maybe my wife will finally scratch it off my honey do list.”

Although it sounded like a complaint, the twinkle in the mayor’s eye told Sam that he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, that he enjoyed it.

Sam took his leave. He wouldn’t mind having a woman in his life that put that kind of twinkle in his own eye. But he needed to focus on work instead of the absence of one woman and the appearance of another.

* * *

“JUST COME WITH US. It’s only dinner.”

Megs tried to hand Kelly her jean jacket, but she refused. “I’m not hungry. I’ll stay here.”

Megs folded her arms across her chest. “And mope and feel sorry for yourself? You’ve done enough of that already today.”

That wasn’t what Kelly had been feeling. She had missed her grandmother so much that the ache in her belly didn’t make food appealing. “I’ll be spending enough time with people over the next few days. I want to be left alone for a while. Is that too much to ask?”

Her sister opened her mouth, as if to say something, but shook her head. She tossed Kelly her jacket. “Fine. I’ll be back later. Call me if you want me to bring anything home for you.”