Page 38 of There I Find Happiness

Still, in the back of his head he wondered about the gate. There had to be someone who had opened it after Miles closed it. Norma Jean might know. She was the only one who would have been around. She could tell if a car stopped in or anyone had gone into the office.

It wasn’t long after Miles left that Sally dried her hands off on a dish towel as she made her way over. “I heard that. You do know I was in the kitchen the whole time?”

“That’s pretty far away. Are you sure you heard as much as you thought you did?” Peter felt much better. Maybe just being still and letting the pain subside made his outlook more positive. Or maybe it was the smell coming from the kitchen. It certainly didn’t smell like a hospital, although hospital food wasn’t as bad as its rap.

“Are you going to try to get Norma Jean to work with Miles as well as the office?”

“I figured if I didn’t, Norma Jean would be in here pushing you out, and as great of a nurse as I’m sure Norma Jean is, I’d rather have you.”

Sally’s smile showed that she was pleased, but rather than walking back in the kitchen, she perched on the edge of a chair. “Did I hear you say that someone opened the gate on purpose?”

Chapter 13

“We seem to meet hereoften,” Miss Lana said as she walked up to Sally.

“Oh. Yeah, we do,” Sally said, sounding preoccupied.

Lost in her own world after coming back from visiting Pierre and the three children he’d started to foster, Lana had been doing a lot of thinking. Pierre might have bitten off more than he could chew, and it was all her fault. He still wanted the same thing he’d wanted at the Beach Ball and Lana still wasn’t sure what she should do.

But that wasn’t a problem that could be solved now.

“I almost didn’t recognize you there in the dark. But you’re sitting the same way you were sitting the other day.” Lana put her arms around herself. It was cold, and she didn’t really want to sit outside in the sand, but it seemed that Sally might need a listening ear. Her best friend, Norma Jean, wasn’t the kind of person who typically listened and gave good advice. While Lana knew there were reasons for that, Sally had been very tight-lipped about her and hadn’t done any complaining the last time they talked. Which Lana really admired.

Still, the fact remained that Sally could use a friend. So, she tipped up her chin, trying to tell herself that she wasn’t that cold, and her bones weren’t that old, and her muscles weren’t that sore, and she settled down in the sand beside Sally.

“Is it okay if I sit a while?” she asked after she was down. She didn’t want Sally to tell her no, so she sat down first. It was an old trick she learned from her mom. Of course, it wasn’t a trick she used much, just when she thought that someone might not want to bother her but needed a shoulder.

“Of course. I actually appreciate it when I get to talk to you. Whenever you come by, it just feels like having a mom.”

That made Lana’s heart warm, and her body wasn’t as cold. A warm heart was better than a warm body. She wanted to give off motherly feelings. She wanted to do what good she could in the world. She didn’t have a whole lot of time left. Sure, she was only in her fifties, but she had so many things she wanted to do, so many people who needed her help, she didn’t want to waste even one breath without using it to be a blessing if she could.

“Aww, that just made me smile,” Lana said, putting her arm around Sally just like she would have if she were one of her daughters.

To her surprise, Sally leaned into her and laid her head on her shoulder.

“Are you gonna tell me what you’re thinking about?” Lana said after a few moments of sitting in comfortable silence.

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