Read Online Dakota Home by Debbie Macomber - Free Book Online

steered her cart toward the check-out counter where Maddy waited. “I see you’ve been busy,” she told her friend. “That’s great!”
    Maddy nodded. “This week has been my best so far.”
    Lindsay knew Maddy was determined to make this business a success. She’d invested everything she’d managed to save, plus a small inheritance she’d gotten from her grandfather’s estate. This store, and its success or failure, was her future.
    Setting her groceries on the counter, Lindsay looked around and noticed Bert Loomis stacking canned tomato soup on a shelf. The Loomis family farmed 1200 acres near Bellmont. The twins, Larry and Bert, were the youngest of six boys. Neither one showed much inclination toward farming, nor any great intelligence, at least of the academic kind. Lindsay knew the expenses involved in sending them to college made it out of the question. Like so many others, they had few options after graduation—either look for work in the big cities or join the military. Both Larry and Bert were notorious troublemakers, and it was just like Maddy to take them under her wing, Lindsay reflected.
    â€œI thought you hired Larry?” Yet Bert was the Loomis twin busy stocking the shelf.
    â€œI did, but it seems I got two boys for the price of one.”
    â€œThey’re a real handful,” Lindsay warned, and she should know. She remembered her first day of teaching and the trouble those two had given her with their fighting and constant bickering. Not only that, they couldn’t sit still for more than five minutes. She marveled that Maddy had the courage to hire one of them, let alone both.
    â€œThey’ve been a real blessing to me,” Maddy insisted.
    Lindsay didn’t know what it was about Maddy, but she seemed to bring out the best in other people. That was her gift. “I have an idea I want to talk to you about when you’ve got a chance,” Lindsay said, once she’d finished writing out her check. “How about lunch tomorrow? Come over to our place, okay? It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to sit down and chat.”
    â€œThat’d be wonderful.” Maddy waved at Rachel Fischer, owner of The Pizza Parlor, as she came into the store.
    â€œI’ll see you tomorrow,” Lindsay said, mulling over her idea. This was going to work out so well, discussing ideas with Maddy and not having to pay long-distance telephone rates to do it!
    Â 
    An afternoon with Lindsay was exactly what she needed, Maddy thought as she drove out of Buffalo Valley early Sunday afternoon. They’d barely had time to do more than greet each other in passing since Maddy had moved to town.
    So much had happened during the first few weeks. As soon as the store was officially hers, Maddy had painted the outside and spruced up the grocery’s interior—scrubbing and waxing floors, dusting shelves, washing windows. She would’ve liked to change the sign out front, but that meant laying down money needed elsewhere. Working seven days a week, although the grocery was closed on Sundays, Maddy was definitely ready for a break.
    Lindsay was waiting for her on the porch steps, with Mutt and Jeff, her dogs. “I made us a Cobb salad,” she said as Maddy climbed out of her Bronco. The dogs, who knew Maddy well, greeted her with ecstatic barking and wagging tails.
    â€œHi, guys!” Maddy crouched to give them both some enthusiastic ear-scratching and tummy-rubbing, then got up to throw her arms around Lindsay in a hug. “Hi, you.”
    â€œCome on inside.” Lindsay held open the door and Maddie entered the house as the dogs dashed past her. Lindsay grinned. “They never change, do they? Now sit down before the salad gets warm and the bread gets cold.”
    Maddy had never seen Lindsay happier and wished she could find that kind of contentment, too.
    â€œYou made the bread yourself?” Maddy asked.