Read Online A Wedding on Primrose Street (Life In Icicle Falls Book 7) by Sheila Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

struggling town on the verge of extinction to an Alpine village. The place was so full of hope you could almost taste it. Roberta had, and that was why she’d decided to settle here. She’d needed a good dose of hope. And a job.
    She’d gone into this very restaurant when she hit town. Back then, before Dot had come to Icicle Falls and taken over the place, it had been nothing more than a greasy spoon catering to truckers and travelers crossing the pass, but to her it had felt like an oasis.
    1961
    Roberta got off the bus in front of the café and went inside. Summer was coming early to the mountain town of Icicle Falls and it was a relief to get inside and escape the heat. She ordered a cup of coffee that tasted like battery acid and a fried egg that upset her stomach, still delicate so early in her pregnancy. The toast that came with it, once she’d scraped off the burned part, helped with the queasiness.
    “Honey, you look done in,” said her waitress. The woman appeared to be the same age as Roberta’s mother. Her hair was what Mother would have labeled “bottle blond,” and the wrinkles around her mouth, along with the faint whiff of smoke coming off her, proclaimed her a smoker.
    “I’m a little tired,” Roberta admitted.
    “We got a motel on the other side of town,” said the waitress. “Nothing to write home about but it’s clean.”
    Roberta couldn’t afford a motel. She nodded and thanked the woman anyway.
    “Course, pretty soon we’ll have more going up, fancy ones like you’d see in Switzerland or Germany. This town is making some big changes. This time next year, it’ll really look like something.” She proceeded to tell Roberta all the plans in the works for putting Icicle Falls on the map. “My husband, Fred, and me, we’re saving up to build ourselves a hamburger place. To pass on to the kids, you know?”
    Roberta had nothing to pass on to her child.
    No, she corrected herself. She had love. This baby would be well loved and well cared for.
    If she could find a job.
    And a place to stay. But her money supply was dwindling and she couldn’t spend it on motel rooms. “Is there anyone in town who takes in boarders?” she asked.
    Before the waitress could answer, someone new walked in, a pretty woman with brown hair wearing a white blouse and pedal pushers. She had an equally pretty little daughter with chestnut curls. The daughter stared at Roberta curiously as they approached the table.
    She supposed she’d stare at herself, too, and wonder what someone her age was doing, traveling all alone. Soon she’d be showing, and with no wedding ring people would really stare. They’d do more than stare if they knew she was only seventeen. Well, she’d be eighteen in two months. Then she’d be an adult and no one could force her to do anything. She tried not to think about what a lonely birthday it would be.
    “Hi, Flo,” said the woman.
    “Hi, Betty,” the waitress said. “How’s the cleanup going?”
    “Great. The men have hauled those dead cars and car parts off for old Billy. And that’s the last eyesore gone.”
    The waitress nodded approvingly. Then, remembering Roberta, said, “This young lady’s looking for a place to stay. Do you know of anything?”
    “Sarah Shepherd’s taking in boarders,” the newcomer named Betty replied. She turned to Roberta and introduced herself. “And this is my daughter, Muriel.”
    “Hi, Muriel.” Roberta smiled and Muriel said a polite hello in return.
    “So you’re new in town?” Betty asked.
    Roberta nodded.
    “Where you from, dear?” asked Flo the waitress.
    “California,” Roberta lied.
    Flo let out a low whistle. “You’re a ways from home.”
    “I needed to make a new start,” Roberta said. That was no lie. “I’m a widow.”
    “A widow,” echoed Flo. “And you so young!”
    “My husband was killed in a car accident.”
    “Oh, how sad,” Betty said. “I’m very sorry.”
    Roberta murmured her thanks. “This