LITMIR.BIZ

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call on any available phone. Only her foster family mattered to her, and she called them most evenings from her apartment, assuring herself they were fine, that little Lori was fine.

      That reminded her. She’d have to close her apartment. Could her foster father Mark do it for her? She owed him and Jessica so much already that she hated to ask him. Neither Mark nor Jessica were well these days, and they needed the money they got from caring for foster children. But she had no one else to ask and she couldn’t leave the resort to take care of the matter herself.

      She couldn’t go on paying the expense of an empty apartment for a whole year, either. She’d have to trust someone to close it, like Mark and Jessica.

      Grant used his phone while Sunny collected the paperwork on her rented car. It took all of five minutes.

      “All set?” he asked from the doorway.

      “You bet!”

      Sunny drove the twenty minutes into town, with Grant following, and then the five minutes down the side street to the car rental at the side of the new-car lot. Grant turned off his motor and waited while she turned in the car. When she came out of the car-rental office, practically skipping, it made him chuckle.

      “I never saw anyone so happy about a truck. Except your granddad, maybe, when he got it new.”

      “Well, a truck! I mean, I’ve never owned such a big vehicle before,” she explained. “It’ll take a lot of abuse, won’t it? And I suspect it’ll make it over these rougher roads just fine. A lot easier than that car did. And it will be big enough to haul washing if I have to take it into town. I’m not too sure about those machines.”

      He laughed. “I suspect old Nathan did that on more than one occasion. I’d see him sometimes, hauling his laundry around. Said he’d take it to town where he could drop it off at the Lite Laundromat, and he’d pay to have it done. Saved him some time and effort, I guess, especially if the housekeepers didn’t show up. These last years he’s been lonely without Shirley, and he…” he paused to run his tongue over his lips “…he sometimes liked the entertainment in town.”

      “Did he?” She grew quieter.

      “Yeah….”

      They were almost at the resort when he made a suggestion. “Sunny, I know you want to reopen the resort as soon as possible—”

      “Yep, I have some people coming in tomorrow. It seemed foolish not to open it.”

      “Yeah, well, that’s good. It’s only good business sense. With reservations to honor and all, it shouldn’t be too hard to fill it up.”

      He slowed his car, pulling into her drive, then stopped. “But why don’t you give yourself some time about what to think…I mean, about your granddad? Whatever you do, don’t make any quick judgments about your granddad, will you?”

      He turned to look at her, his eyes serious. “He was a fine man. People liked him a lot.”

      Feeling warmed suddenly, she was grateful for Grant’s friendship. She gazed at him, experiencing an emotion she couldn’t name…but it was a welcome one.

      “I…suppose they did. Thanks for that, Grant,” she said softly. “And I wouldn’t dream of making any quick judgments. Thanks for the ride into town, too. I owe you one.”

      His hand on the wheel, he spread it wide. “You don’t owe me a thing, Sunny. But I’d welcome another invitation to lunch anytime.”

      “Sure.” she said lightly, getting out of the car. “I’ll let you know.”

      Grant drove on down the road. Sunny let herself into the small cabin, thinking about how sweet Grant had been. Sweet men made her a little suspicious—she didn’t know what to think about Grant.

      She refused to give her feelings about him any room to blossom. That would interfere with business.

      She immediately turned on the air-conditioning unit. Old though it was, it was the only thing she had to cool off her room. She stood near it, raising her shirt slightly to get the cool air against her bare skin.

      Heavenly…

      The phone rang, and she dodged back into the office to answer it. It was a customer from Kansas City.

      “Yes, that weekend is open for cabin number four. Hmm…what color is the cabin? Um, I think it’s the, um, green one. In the middle. All right, from Friday night to Sunday. And the name?”

      She was feeling quite comfortable with this. Her nurse’s training had prepared her to deal with all kinds of people, and this was little different. She wondered what the nursing situation was down here, in this resort town. What was the small hospital like? Was it short of staff, as so many were?

      By the time she’d taken a couple of more calls, and answered the ones from her answering machine, the sun was low. She left the cabin and wandered down the concrete path to the covered wooden dock.

      She noted the remnants of her grandmother’s flower beds that Grant had mentioned. She imagined them in full splendor. She’d sometimes helped Jessica plant flowers. She should do something about them. They would make the place much more colorful, make the place stand out a bit, make it more attractive.

      Grant’s boat lolled in the water, using one slip. It was a small runabout. She looked at it, noticing its wear, then moved on to inspect the other, now-empty boat slips.

      She folded herself down on the dock’s end, leaned back on her hands, and stared out. The day was losing its heat, and she lifted her face. A few boaters were out on the main body of water, which she could see. But her cove was quiet and serene. What would it be like with every cabin taken? And every boat slip filled?

      The sun hovered above the water with its last blasting rays of the day. She watched it sink behind the hills, feeling peaceful. She sighed and strolled back to her cabin in the fading light.

      She wouldn’t admit to feeling lonely. Not even a tiny bit.

      Going inside, she settled down in the office chair to make a very important long-distance phone call.

      Dialing the Larsons, she leaned back and waited for an answer. They were as close to family as anyone she had. “Hi, Jessica, it’s me, Sunny.”

      “Hi, honey. I’m so glad you’ve called. I’ve been a little worried about you.” Her foster mother was a small woman with thin brown hair, but her heart was as big as all outdoors. “How’s the heiress? Everything as good as you hoped?”

      “Both better and worse…no, that isn’t right. It’s just different than I expected, that’s all. And more work than I’d thought, but that’s good. I mean, it’s keeping me busy. But I’ve learned I really have to remain on the property and run the resort for a full year. There’s no way to get around that.”

      “No kidding? So what are you going to do about your apartment? And your job?”

      “I can’t afford to keep them. I’ll have to give them up. Can you and Mark go over and close the apartment for me? I’ll write a letter to the manager, but I need someone to take care of what’s there. Will you send me some of my clothes and put everything else into storage?”

      “Sure, we’ll do it, Sunny. You can count on us. You don’t have all that much furniture anyway. Do you want me to ship you anything?”

      “Only a few things. I’ll send you a list. Tell me, how is Lori?” Lori was the five-year-old mixed-race child she’d taken a shine to, the Larsons only current foster child. The child was adorable, with deep dimples and a smile that charmed everyone.

      “Lori is just fine. She’s asked about you several times. Wondered why you haven’t been by lately.”

      Sunny chatted for twenty minutes, arranging the pack-up and storage of her things, then, mindful of the cost, she said goodbye and hung up. She sat a moment, praying for her foster family. Mark’s job loss a few months back

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