The Wedding Gift by Sandra Steffen

give you a good deal this early in the season. Here’s his cell number. Here’s mine, too.” He tore the top sheet off and handed it to her. “Call me when you’re settled in.”
    She backed up three steps and managed to leave the room without walking into the wall. She found her way to the kitchen with its marred table and the faint scent of burnt eggs and the quiet echo of shared laughter. She retrieved her shoulder bag from the back of the chair and made a beeline for the door and some much-needed brisk April air.
    Â 
    Ruby was just getting back from her last service call of the morning when Madeline pulled into the parking lot in front of Red’s Garage.
    â€œI thought you’d be halfway back to Orchard Hill by now,” Ruby said, jumping down from the truck’s cab.
    â€œI changed my mind.” Madeline got out, too, and closed her car door. “I’ve decided to stay until the end of the week and I was hoping you’d help me look for a place. To rent. If you’re not too busy, I mean. I’ll understand if you can’t. I can always stay at the Gale Motel. Maybe I’ll just go there now.”
    â€œWould you breathe?” Ruby whisked her ball capfrom her head and let her curls loose. “I’d love to look at rentals with you.”
    Madeline relaxed for the first time since setting foot in Riley’s bedroom an hour ago. After leaving his house, she’d driven through the quiet streets of Gale, past impressive houses and churches and schools empty on this Saturday afternoon. She drove past Sully’s Pub at the end of Main Street and the other businesses that made up the downtown district.
    The note bearing Riley’s and Kipp Dawson’s phone numbers was still in her purse. And it was going to stay there.
    She was in mourning—it sounded old-fashioned, but it was true. She doubted she would ever get over losing Aaron, but apparently she wasn’t as numb as she’d thought she was. Her heart had sped up beneath Riley’s gaze. For just a moment she’d felt— gulp —attracted to him. She’d panicked. Her stomach still did a somersault when she thought about it.
    Driving aimlessly had helped put her reaction in perspective. She was human. And humans felt. Emotions, reactions, responses, things they were better off not feeling. It didn’t have to mean anything. She liked Riley, and she wanted him to be happy. She wanted everyone to be happy. She couldn’t be completely honest with him about her reasons for coming to Gale. She also couldn’t sit idly by while he gotthe wrong idea about her intentions. She’d decided the best way to keep a respectable distance was to find her own place to stay this week.
    According to Ruby, there were dozens of cabins and cottages available so early in the season. Together they’d consulted the classifieds in the newspaper and online. They made several phone calls and compiled a list right there in the garage. Ruby’s enthusiasm was a balm. Madeline was doing the right thing. Coming to Gale, finding Riley, deciding to spend the week here so she could help him in some small way, it all felt right again, like the marvelous discovery of something as essential to life as air and water.
    Two hours and five appointments to look at rentals later, she was wondering if she should have done this alone. Not because Ruby talked a mile a minute—Madeline enjoyed that, but because “You can do better than that,” seemed to be Ruby’s mantra.
    Personally, Madeline would have been satisfied to rent the second-floor efficiency over Red’s Garage or the attic in the house near the dunes, but Ruby had other ideas. “You haven’t had a vacation in forever,” she said. “No it’ll do rental for you.”
    So far they’d checked five “it’ll do” rentals off the list. Now Madeline was driving again and Ruby was directing her