A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) by Diane Greenwood Muir Page A

at them each in the eye once more to make sure they understood her. They all nodded.
    Andy combined the rest of the pizza onto one pan and took the others to a sink. Soon, the kitchen was empty as everyone went to work.
    Polly was putting plates into the dishwasher as Jeff walked in and said, "Is there breakfast this morning?"
    "You're just in time!" Andy exclaimed and pulled a plate back out of the cupboard. She set it down in front of him.
    "I swear, Polly. I've already gained 3 pounds since I started working here," he complained.
    "Not my fault!" she said. "And if you want to start running Obiwan around the property every day, I'm fine with that. Otherwise," she turned and waggled her index finger at him, "choices and consequences, bud, choices and consequences."
    "Whatever," he said and taking a cup of coffee with his plate, left for his office.
    Polly wiped down the counter and prep area, started the dishwasher and set some napkins beside the leftover pizza, checked the coffee pot and then said to Andy, "Thank you for your help. I didn't expect that this morning."
    "I suspect you didn't expect a catastrophe at the front steps either. Sometimes we have to go with the flow."
    "Well, thank you anyway. I kept you away from what you were planning to do, though."
    "I'll go in and get started. I can't wait to dig into that database."
    "Why don't I send Doug and Billy in to set up a table for you," Polly said.
    "That would make it easier," Andy said. "Thanks."
    Andy went into the auditorium and Polly walked over to the classrooms to ask the boys to handle the table setup for Andy. Without any hesitation, other than to look at Jerry for permission to leave their work, they trotted over to help out. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when they were no longer around. While Jerry had them out on other jobs, they'd spent quite a bit of time at Sycamore House and were beginning to feel like family. Polly felt a little sad at the thought of these projects closing down and having everyone gone. She walked into her office and woke her computer up.
    Before she could start feeling too sorry for herself, Jeff peeked around the corner. "Got a minute?" he asked.
    "Sure," she said. "Come on in."
    "What has you looking so sad," he asked. "Did something happen?"
    “I was thinking about how much I'm going to miss having all this activity around here. These people are like my family now and pretty soon, they'll finish all of this and be gone!"
    "Umm. Well. I don't know what to say about that. Nothing lasts forever?" He looked at her with his eyebrows raised.
    Polly picked up a piece of paper, wadded it and threw it at him. It landed well short of its target.
    "What did you want?" she asked.
    "Henry has the wood ordered for the barn . I’ve set a date. What do you think?"
    "As long as the weather holds out and Sylvie thinks she can pull it off, I think it is great!" Polly replied.
    "Then I'm going to start advertising and Henry is lining up workers. I'm talking to a couple of bands to see who is available that night for the dance."
    "Dance? Wait. What? There's going to be a dance?" Polly cried out.
    "What did you think we would do at a hoe-down?" Jeff asked.
    "I thought there would be a lot of food and maybe some entertainment or something, but a dance?"
    "Do you have a problem with dancing?"
    "It might be the same problem you have with riding horses. I fall down!" Polly said.
    "We're going to have a dance and you can either dance or hide, I don't care."
    "Surely I can say no," Polly said. "I still have some rights as the boss around here, don't I?"
    "Nope. You can't tell me no because you're scared of something. You can only tell me no because you think it is a bad idea."
    "Then I think it's a bad idea. The owner of Sycamore House should never be seen with her bottom on the floor and her feet straight up in the air. It's embarrassing!"
    Jeff didn't say another word, just rose up out of his chair and left the office.
    "Hey!" she called out.