and receiving a promise of a date for tonight Anticipation had been singing inside her, ever since she'd woken up.
Or maybe it had just been the shock of finding Rebecca's beagle at the end of the bed, licking her toes like rawhide bones.
"So, tell us, dear," Cordelia said, peering over her shoulder and making no secret of her curiosity. "Who's Caleb?"
Disappointment plummeted to the bottom of Meredith's stomach. She took a step forward and read the card attached to the plastic holder. "My one and true love," she read aloud, "though miles may separate us, even death can't keep my heart from beating for you. Forever, Caleb."
"That's uh, sort of poetic," Maria said. "Almost Shakespearean, if you leave out the reference to being dead."
"That's Caleb's specialty," Meredith said. "Working a reference to the hereafter into all his correspondence."
"How ... er ... romantic."
"He's a mortician," she explained.
"As in, he sees dead people?"
"As many as there are in Heavendale, considering we have a population of three thousand. We don't exactly have a high turnover rate."
Maria choked back a laugh. "Rebecca said you and she came from a small town, but she didn't say it was that small."
"Everything about my life was small... until I got to Boston."
Cordelia peered past them, out the plate glass of the front of the shop. A nattily dressed couple in their mid-forties waited under the brightly striped green awning of Remembered Pasts Antiques. "Oh, dear. Time to open," she sighed. "I suppose I'd best get next door."
"You sound down this morning," Candace said. "Everything all right?"
Cordelia brightened, straightened her pillbox hat and adjusted the little purse on the crook of her arm. "Perfectly fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Then she was gone, off to her little shop.
Maria draped an arm over Meredith's shoulders. "Well, it's a damned good thing you came along. Things around here were getting pretty boring now that Candace and I are both engaged and Rebecca is working on baby number two. With you, we have a new mission."
"A mission?"
"Yep. We're going to show you the town and help you get out of that small-town life."
Meredith hadn't expected Maria and Candace to accept her so readily, or for their immediate friendship to leave her feeling choked up.
In Heavendale, she and all the other kids had been stuck with each other from grade school on up. Friendship wasn't so much a necessity as a requirement, following math and before recess. With the nearest town dozens of miles away, there wasn't much worry about anyone running to a better party or finding a new cow-tipping gang.
But here, Meredith was sure Maria and Candace had a thousand other people to choose from besides herself. And yet, they wanted to be friends with her— and not because they shared the same smell on their shoes.
"I'd love that," Meredith said. "Do you think we could start with my clothes?"
It was, of course, the most obvious place where she didn't fit in. It had taken her about five seconds after landing at Logan to realize she wasn't quite city-girl material in her homespun Country Woman attire. What was fine for the county fair wasn't good for the city of Boston.
"What's wrong with your clothes?" Maria glanced down at Meredith's outfit. "You look nice."
"That's the problem." She lifted the long paisley skirt that hung past her knees. "I look like a quilt."
"You've come to the right women to fix that," Maria said. "If there's anything we love to do, it's shop."
Candace nodded. "Shopping is the city girl's therapy. Probably a lot more expensive than a session with Dr. Phil, but it sure looks better than some bald guy in a suit."
Larry Herman was holding court in the conference room again. He stood at the head of the faux cherry table, palms down on either side, and stared down his two-member team, assembled on either side of the oval table.
Travis had no idea why Larry bothered to hold these theatrical meetings every morning. No one in
Or maybe it had just been the shock of finding Rebecca's beagle at the end of the bed, licking her toes like rawhide bones.
"So, tell us, dear," Cordelia said, peering over her shoulder and making no secret of her curiosity. "Who's Caleb?"
Disappointment plummeted to the bottom of Meredith's stomach. She took a step forward and read the card attached to the plastic holder. "My one and true love," she read aloud, "though miles may separate us, even death can't keep my heart from beating for you. Forever, Caleb."
"That's uh, sort of poetic," Maria said. "Almost Shakespearean, if you leave out the reference to being dead."
"That's Caleb's specialty," Meredith said. "Working a reference to the hereafter into all his correspondence."
"How ... er ... romantic."
"He's a mortician," she explained.
"As in, he sees dead people?"
"As many as there are in Heavendale, considering we have a population of three thousand. We don't exactly have a high turnover rate."
Maria choked back a laugh. "Rebecca said you and she came from a small town, but she didn't say it was that small."
"Everything about my life was small... until I got to Boston."
Cordelia peered past them, out the plate glass of the front of the shop. A nattily dressed couple in their mid-forties waited under the brightly striped green awning of Remembered Pasts Antiques. "Oh, dear. Time to open," she sighed. "I suppose I'd best get next door."
"You sound down this morning," Candace said. "Everything all right?"
Cordelia brightened, straightened her pillbox hat and adjusted the little purse on the crook of her arm. "Perfectly fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Then she was gone, off to her little shop.
Maria draped an arm over Meredith's shoulders. "Well, it's a damned good thing you came along. Things around here were getting pretty boring now that Candace and I are both engaged and Rebecca is working on baby number two. With you, we have a new mission."
"A mission?"
"Yep. We're going to show you the town and help you get out of that small-town life."
Meredith hadn't expected Maria and Candace to accept her so readily, or for their immediate friendship to leave her feeling choked up.
In Heavendale, she and all the other kids had been stuck with each other from grade school on up. Friendship wasn't so much a necessity as a requirement, following math and before recess. With the nearest town dozens of miles away, there wasn't much worry about anyone running to a better party or finding a new cow-tipping gang.
But here, Meredith was sure Maria and Candace had a thousand other people to choose from besides herself. And yet, they wanted to be friends with her— and not because they shared the same smell on their shoes.
"I'd love that," Meredith said. "Do you think we could start with my clothes?"
It was, of course, the most obvious place where she didn't fit in. It had taken her about five seconds after landing at Logan to realize she wasn't quite city-girl material in her homespun Country Woman attire. What was fine for the county fair wasn't good for the city of Boston.
"What's wrong with your clothes?" Maria glanced down at Meredith's outfit. "You look nice."
"That's the problem." She lifted the long paisley skirt that hung past her knees. "I look like a quilt."
"You've come to the right women to fix that," Maria said. "If there's anything we love to do, it's shop."
Candace nodded. "Shopping is the city girl's therapy. Probably a lot more expensive than a session with Dr. Phil, but it sure looks better than some bald guy in a suit."
Larry Herman was holding court in the conference room again. He stood at the head of the faux cherry table, palms down on either side, and stared down his two-member team, assembled on either side of the oval table.
Travis had no idea why Larry bothered to hold these theatrical meetings every morning. No one in
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