Part 3 (1/2)
Carrie turned to Maddie. ”Dinner's ready, if you are, Grandma.”
Peter helped Maddie to rise and guided her into the kitchen with his hand firmly supporting her elbow.
”I hope you don't mind eating in the kitchen,” Carrie told him as they pa.s.sed her. ”There's a lovely view
of the backyard and it's much homier than the big table in the dining room.” Carrie glanced at Maddie and looked back at Peter. She had confidence that a man in his position knew the score. ”The housekeeper said sometimes there are accidents...” she added softly for his ears only. Peter nodded in understanding and took a seat at the small round table after the elderly ladies were settled next to each other. Carrie set the serving dishes on trivets in the center of the table and sat down beside him. She suddenly had second thoughts about eating in the kitchen. It might have been better in the dining room where they wouldn't have to sit so close together. Maddie was thinking clearly enough to ask Peter to say the grace. To create a prayer circle, he held his hands out to Maddie and Carrie. The others all clasped hands before Carrie slid hers into his.
Her hand felt cool against his despite the warmth of the summer day. Their gazes locked, and it was she who bowed her head and closed her eyes first. Help me not to feel this way when I'm near him, Carrie prayed, feeling the warmth of his hand far beyond where they touched. ”We thank you for bringing Carrie back to Sunville,” Peter prayed aloud. ”May her visit be a blessing for all of us.” He went on to thank the Lord for their dinner and the fellows.h.i.+p of those gathered there.
”Amen.” ”Amen,” the others chorused. After raising his head and holding Carrie's gaze for a few moments longer, he squeezed her hand before he released it. Carrie dropped her hands to her lap and looked at her fork. For a moment, she couldn't remember what she was supposed to do with it.
”I understand you live and work in Fargo,” Peter said over his shoulder to Carrie as he picked up a serving dish to hold for Maddie as she helped herself.
Carrie's head jerked up. What has he heard about me? Nothing, please, make it nothing. She drew in a deep breath and told him briefly about the company and the magazines they produced.
”I know a couple of those magazines. You sound like you like the publis.h.i.+ng business,” he said sounding genuinely interested.
She began to relax a little. ”Yes, my job keeps me very busy,” she offered. ”It's one of those jobs that if I don't finish at the office, I bring the work home with me.” In fact, she funneled all her energies into her work, but she didn't tell him that.
”What do you do exactly?”
Carrie felt uneasy again because she was talking so much about herself. ”Well, I'm an a.s.sistant to an editor. I do more proof reading than I like, but I do enjoy the copy editing. I also get to write some things once in a while. There was a period a while ago when I didn't write anything for several years, but now I'm getting back to it and I love that.”
”You'd like to write more?” She nodded. ”Must have been hard not to write anything for several years.”
”Yes.” Carrie felt the pain wash over her as if it was fresh from five years ago. ”I... I wrote something that was involved in a very painful experience. I've wished for years that I hadn't.” She drew in a deep breath. ”It was off-putting to say the least.”
”But if you love writing, it's good you're getting back into it.”
”It's my dream. I just finished several stories for young beginning readers.”
”That's wonderful, Carrie. When will they be published?” Bette asked.
”I don't know if they ever will,” she said with a self-conscious laugh. ”I sent them to a publisher of childrens' books just over a month ago. It will probably be months more before I hear from them. Then if they don't buy them, I'll keep trying and send them to another company,” Carrie explained. ”In the meantime I try to content myself with writing what my boss tells me to and keeping up with the copy editing and proofreading.”
”That takes a special eye. Proofreading is so hard to get right. We could use someone like you to proofread our church newsletter before we send it out each month. A mistake never fails to rear its annoying head in each issue,” Peter said, grinning as he did so often.
Carrie liked his grin. His whole face lit up. Made her feel like smiling, too, even when there wasn't much in her life to be happy about. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was?
”Anyone can look right at a mistake without seeing it. I'm not immune to doing that.”
”I'll bet you're very good at your job,” Peter suggested.
”Well, I work hard, but I have a long way to go. I may have to move to Minneapolis or Chicago or even New York next to get experience with a bigger publisher.”
Peter merely nodded, and Carrie was glad he let the subject of her job drop. She'd shared her dream of being an author some day. At least he hadn't made fun of her writing childrens' books as her boss had.
”Kids' books?” her boss had asked when she'd asked advice about what publisher to send them to. ”What do you want to write for little kids' for? Unless you've got a gimmick that will create a series, you'll never get rich.”
She didn't understand that Carrie wrote the stories because she loved doing it, not to get rich. Money was not that important to her. It was the thought of happy children enjoying reading her stories that made her happy.
As Carrie and the others finished their dinner, she watched Peter draw each one of them into the conversation with an ease born of having done it almost daily for years. In fact, he was so considerate of Maddie and Bette as well as herself, that Carrie decided he related to each of them equally in the same honest and friendly fas.h.i.+on. She could tell he must love his job because he was very good at it. He always seemed to be enjoying it, judging from the amount of time a smile appeared on his lips.
Carrie found her gaze returning to him again and again. She wanted to feel relieved that he didn't seem to be singling her out for any special attention as they chatted. While under different circ.u.mstances of time and place, she might be attracted to him, she didn't want his attentions on her here.
So then why did she feel somewhat disappointed?
Carrie jerked her gaze down to her calf-length skirt that draped to the floor beside her chair. She was astounded that she felt an interest in him. It had to stop.
This is Peter, Maddie's pastor, she repeated to herself. He lives in the little town you want to escape. Remember that!
”I've got to tell you that turkey with riced potatoes and gravy are high on my list of favorite foods,” Peter said after the last bite.
”I saw the turkey in the grocery store yesterday and couldn't resist because I don't get it very often.”
Carrie stood and began clearing the dinner plates. Peter jumped up and reached for the serving dishes to help.
”Thanks,” she said, thinking how modern it was of him to offer his a.s.sistance.
She didn't remember that the men at the Sunville church ever did anything to help at the dinners there. The men sat and talked while the women served dinner and while the women cleared the tables and washed the dishes, too.
Could it be that Peter believed that clearing tables and doing dishes weren't just women's work? Pressing the point, she said, ”If you want to clear the rest, I'll get dessert.”
”Happy to,” he responded easily, making more trips from the table to the counter beside the white double sink.
A man in Sunville who liked to help in the kitchen? Maybe she should begin to believe in miracles again.
Chapter Four.
Carrie had tried to make dessert a treat for Maddie. She could only hope the others wouldn't think it too childish because she hadn't figured on company when she'd made her selection. She lifted out the raspberry gelatin that Maddie loved from the side-by-side refrigerator and cut the shallow panful into small squares. She scooped the jiggling chunks into sherbet dishes to serve along with packaged cookies.
”I wish I'd had time to bake homemade cookies.”
Peter stepped up behind her and reached over her arm to pop one of the red cubes into his mouth.
”It's not very fancy,” she said, amazed at how much at ease she felt, working side-by-side with him.
”This is fun to eat and it tastes as good as ever.” Without waiting for her response, Peter picked up two desserts and placed them down in front of Maddie and Bette.
”Oh, look Bette. My favorite kind,” Maddie said with a smile. ”Thank you, dear.”
Carrie was delighted she'd remembered correctly. She set down her own dessert while Peter seated himself at his place. She moved to set his dessert on his placemat, but he took the stemmed dish from her with both hands. His hands covered hers and pressed gently as he took possession of the refres.h.i.+ng dessert.
”Thanks.” His remarkable smile appeared.