Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“I am? How?”
“Mark was a friend of my older brother’s in high school. I always had a secret crush on him, but he was three years older and my brother saw me as a little girl, so it was never going to happen. He went away to college and got engaged, and so did I. Over the years, he and my brother fell out of touch, but I always kept tabs on him on Facebook. Last year, my fiancé and I split, and then around Thanksgiving, I noticed Mark had changed his status from in a relationship to single. A few days later, your annual Christmas card showed up. I don’t know why, but it got me thinking. Cards made you happy, so you took the bull by the horns and sent them out, hoping you’d get what you give. That afternoon, I decided to mail Mark a card. I wrote him a note and mentioned that I was single and wondered if he might be interested in meeting up sometime. He sent me back a card, and one thing led to another—we’ve been together since a little after New Year’s when we met for dinner.”
“I love that! Good for you, Lily. I’ve never thought of my cards as inspiring in any way, but I’m happy to have been a little part of you taking the chance.”
Lily and I stood talking for another fifteen minutes, and by the time I left, it felt like I’d caught up with an old friend. I almost forgot to buy the ACE bandage I’d come for. Her story was exactly what I needed today, especially after I’d gone out back to look at the deck in daylight and realized not only was it rotted, but so was the dock at the edge of the water.
Opal was already seated at the café when I walked in. She waved animatedly, as if it were possible to miss a woman wearing a neon green top. It was the second time we’d met and the second bright outfit I’d seen her dressed in. Somehow the bold colors went with her personality.
She stood as I approached and wrapped me in a warm hug with a matching smile. “There she is…”
“Hi. Sorry if I’m a minute or two late. I stopped in at the pharmacy and met someone I’ve exchanged cards with. We started talking, and I lost track of time.”
“Lily Dunn?”
“Yes, she was so nice.”
Opal nodded. “Sweet girl. She’s Frannie’s niece. Glad she finally hooked that Mark Butler. Girl had been crazy about him since she was a kid.”
I smiled thinking how Lily had just told me she’d had a secret crush on her brother’s friend. Seemed there weren’t actually too many secrets in Laurel Lake.
I shook out the cloth napkin on the table and draped it across my lap. Opal lifted a small bag from the floor and held it out. “For you.”
I was curious, so I dug right into the tissue paper. “Oh my gosh. Is this what I think it is?” The phone book was a little thicker than the tattered one I had, but still less than fifty pages in total. I fanned through it with a smile.
“It’s hot off the presses. No one even has it yet. The town used to be the one to put it out, but they stopped doing it seven or eight years back when they got hit with some budget cuts and lost the girl who updated it. My friend Margene started doing one instead, every other year as a fundraiser. She sells a bit of ad space inside and charges people ten dollars for the book. Last time she donated over two-thousand dollars to the animal shelter. I figured the one you had was your daddy’s, so it had to be outdated by now.”
“It definitely is. Mine is over twenty years old.”
She pointed at the booklet. “That one has home addresses, home phone numbers, and the cell phones of just about every resident of Laurel Lake. Figured it would keep some of your cards from getting returned and wasting postage.”
“Thank you, Opal. This means a lot to me.”
“My number is in there, too. Anything you need, don’t be afraid to use it.”
As I slipped it back into the bag, the back cover caught my eye. There was a half-page ad for Cassidy Construction, most of which was Fox’s face.
Opal noticed my staring. “He’s not going to be happy when he sees that. The grump refuses to include his information in the book. Says anyone he wants to have his phone number already has it. A couple of months back, I told him I wanted to run a cheap ad and the money went to charity. I didn’t mention where. He grumbled fine, so I took the liberty of putting his mug on the ad, along with his cell phone number. Figured it would attract more attention than a logo.”