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

seems to be a nice town,” she ventured.
    “You could do a lot worse than settle here,” Flo told her.
    “Hey, Flo,” called a husky man seated a couple of tables down. “Are you gonna take my order or leave me here to starve?”
    “You could live off that fat belly of yours for days, Hal,” Flo retorted. She rolled her eyes. “Guess I’d better go take his order,” she said and left.
    “Mind if I join you?” Betty asked. Before Roberta could answer, she slid into the bench on the other side of the booth, her daughter following suit. “When did you lose your husband?”
    “It’s been...a while.” Roberta could feel her cheeks warming. How many questions was this woman going to ask?
    “I can’t imagine losing a husband at such a young age,” Betty said, shaking her head. “I hope he left you well provided for?”
    “I’m afraid not,” Roberta said. “We hadn’t been married very long,” she improvised. They hadn’t been married at all, but that wasn’t something she was going to share with a stranger. It wasn’t something she was going to share with
anyone
. Ever.
    “Do you know if anyone in town is hiring?” she hurried on. If no one was, there was no point in staying. She’d have to keep moving on. Where, she wasn’t sure. When she’d first hit the road, all she’d wanted to do was put as much distance between herself and Seattle as she could. Now she realized she should have planned more carefully.
    Except there hadn’t been time to plan.
    Across the table from her Betty was looking sympathetic. “I hear they need a teller over at the bank. My husband and the manager are friends. I’d be happy to put in a word for you.”
    “But you don’t know me.” For all this woman knew, Roberta could be a con artist. In a way she was.
    “I’m pretty good at sizing people up. You seem like an honest young woman.”
    She was anything but.
    “What do you think, Muriel?” Betty asked, smiling at the girl.
    “I think she’s pretty,” Muriel said, then blushed.
    “Thank you,” Roberta murmured. Being pretty wasn’t always an advantage. Sometimes it got a girl in trouble. “I’m a hard worker,” she said to Betty. Not that she’d ever had any job besides babysitting. But she’d work hard for whoever hired her.
    “I’m sure you are,” Betty said kindly. “I tell you what. How about after breakfast I take you down to the bank and introduce you to Howard Mangle, the manager? Then I can show you where the Shepherds live.”
    The woman’s generosity was almost too much. Roberta felt tears flooding her eyes. “You’re very kind.”
    Betty cocked her head and studied Roberta in a way that had her cheeks heating again. “I suspect you’re a woman in need of a little kindness right now.”
    * * *
    If Betty had guessed Roberta’s real story, she never let on. Instead, she’d taken Roberta under her wing and helped her get settled in town. Roberta had spent many a Sunday at Betty’s house, enjoying dinner with her family. Betty and her husband, Joe, had helped Roberta move when, a few years later, she’d found her Victorian. Roberta had watched Muriel grow up and had been a regular customer of Sweet Dreams Chocolates ever since the day she got her job at the bank and splurged on a box of chocolate-covered cherries. She’d met new friends and made something of herself. Staying in Icicle Falls had turned out to be a good decision.
    Maybe it would be for Daphne, too. Maybe here Daphne would finally get inspired to do more with her life. Open a shop, live up to her name and become a writer like Daphne du Maurier. Or Muriel. Something. Anything. So far all she’d been inspired to do was mope around the house.
    “I hear you’re back to stay,” Dot said to Daphne.
    “I’ve sure had enough of Seattle,” Daphne replied.
    “Well, I’m sorry your marriage didn’t work out, kiddo,” Dot said. “But sometimes a woman is better off on her own. Look how well your mom and I have