Page 61 of Eye on the Ball
“Babies. Having kids.”
Wow!
“I—” My phone rang before I figured out how I was going to answer that question.
“Hey, Eleanor. Jack’s here.” I put her on speaker.
“Tina is here now, so I’m going over the paperwork with her. If you still want to take her out to Beau’s for lunch, should I just have her meet you there? Or are you going to be a while?”
“We’re about fifteen minutes out. If it’s okay with her—and you—please ask her to meet us at Beau’s. Jack hasn’t had any food in at least half an hour, so he’s probably starving.”
He grinned at me. “Yep. Hi, Eleanor.”
“Should I bring you lunch back?”
“No, thanks. Unless it’s a problem, I’m still out of here when you get back from lunch. So much to do.”
“Of course.” I hadn’t been able to bring myself to ask whether she’d still work for me after the wedding. I was afraid of what she’d say, and I didn’t know how I’d run the shop without her. Tina would be great, I hoped, but she had an awful lot to learn.
When we reached Beau’s, it was almost one o’clock, so the usual lunch crowd had thinned out. Lorraine, wearing her uniform of pink starched dress and pink orthopedic shoes, gave us a big smile and led us to our favorite table by the front window.
Several people started clapping as we walked by, and I was surprised to see that they were all looking at me.
“Good job, Tess!”
“Way to go!”
“Tess Callahan, Baby Whisperer!”
I blushed and waved.
“How are mom and babies?” Lorraine asked. “I’m guessing dad is over the moon.”
“Definitely,” Jack told her. “Rose and the babies are fine. Tess, tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
I felt an ear-to-ear smile spread across my face. “They named their new daughter—the baby I helped deliver—Jasmine Tess Cardinal Vasquez.”
“That’s wonderful! Lunch is on the house!” She didn’t bother to hand us menus. “The special is fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cornbread, and apple pie for dessert.”
“One for me. But we have a guest coming,” I said. “I’m not sure if she even eats chicken or has food allergies or what, so I guess we’ll wait for her, if that’s okay.”
Jack raised a hand. “I’ll take three specials.”
“Only three?” Lorraine raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t want to scare Tina off.”
Lorraine turned to me and put her hands on her hips. “You hired the shoplifter?”
“She wasn’t a shoplifter. She was … an almost-shoplifter,” I protested. “And please don’t say anything about it to her. She’s making a new start, okay?”
“Everybody deserves one of those,” she said. “I’ll send her over when she gets here.”
The door opened, but it wasn’t Tina. It was Andy, in full deputy gear. He waved and strolled across the room toward us, chatting briefly with folks on the way. His carrot-red hair and freckles made him look about twelve, but he was tough as nails.
When he reached us, he grinned at me. “Hey, it’s the Hero of Dead End. Are you thinking of changing careers?”