Fortunate Harbor by Emilie Richards Read Free Book Online

promised! The beach, or McDonald’s, or even the stupid library.”
    “I really am sorry, and we will, just as soon as this is over. You can choose. McDonald’s and the beach, if you want. We can stay until the sun sets.”
    “You’ll make me get a salad.”
    “Uh-huh. But you can have a hamburger with it.” Dana saw that hadn’t done the trick. “And fries, just this once.”
    “And a milk shake.”
    “Nice try. Fries or shake, you choose.”
    “How long is this going to take?”
    “I’m not sure.” Dana lowered her voice. “They probably called the meeting to tell us they’ve changed something else. Maybe I’ll have to wear a bikini and serve in my bare feet. How’ll I look?”
    Despite her annoyance, Lizzie giggled. “Silly!”
    Dana ruffled Lizzie’s hair once more. “Okay, come on, andplease be on your good behavior, okay? As much as you don’t like being here, it’s nice of them to let you hang out while I work. Let’s not spoil a good thing.”
    “I’d like to spoil it. Then I could hang out at the mall.”
    “Too young. Sorry. But not for long. You’re growing up so fast.”
    “Not fast enough.” Lizzie tried to pout, but when she stood, she let Dana give her a quick hug.
    Dana led the way through the kitchen to the dining room. The waitstaff had set the tables for the dinner shift. Dana’s feet throbbed, and she was grateful to take a seat in the circle that had been set up for the meeting.
    Rena and Gaylord Stutz, the couple who owned the Dancing Shrimp, were, in Dana’s opinion, most notable for the way they resembled each other. Late thirties, dark slicked-back hair, hips so narrow that from behind, it was impossible to tell who was whom.
    Staff who hadn’t been on the lunch shift began to trickle through the front door. Dana saw Wanda limp in. This was a job for athletic shoes, not for pointy-toed pumps. She caught Wanda’s eye and gestured to the seat beside her. Wanda joined them, pulling out a plastic bag of chocolate chip cookies and passing them to Lizzie.
    “For when your mom says you can have them.”
    Treats like homemade cookies were such a luxury that for a moment Dana didn’t know what to say. In the past few years she couldn’t remember an oven reliable enough to produce such a thing. She couldn’t remember having the money to splurge on real butter or walnuts, either.
    “Yum,” Lizzie said. “Thank you, Mrs. Gray.”
    “You know what? You’re in the South now, Lizzie, thoughsome folks don’t think Florida qualifies. Anyway, you can call me Miss Wanda, if that’s okay with your mother.”
    “Miss Wanda.” Lizzie giggled.
    “The little girl down the road just calls me Wanda, but she knows me real well. Maybe you’ll know me that well pretty soon, too.”
    “What’s her name?”
    “Olivia. Olivia Symington.”
    “I know her! She’s in my class. We’re friends!”
    “Well, if that don’t beat all.”
    Dana smiled her thanks. “She’ll really enjoy those. Store-bought’s nothing like the real thing.”
    “I bake when I’m upset, and I bake when I’m happy. It’s good to have somebody to give my cookies, too, although mostly I bake pies.”
    People were still straggling in, and the Stutzes were now at the front, conferring. Dana wished they would get moving, but they were the kind who seemed to feel larger when they made other people feel insignificant. She was afraid the meeting would drag on and drag on as they postured, and she hated to think how Lizzie might handle that. Lizzie took matters in her own hands, at least for the moment, and went to the restroom.
    Wanda leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I talked to my landlady. There’s an empty house in our little development. More of a cottage, really. Concrete block, little rooms. Nothing fancy, that’s for sure, but the setting’s pretty, and Tracy—she’s the landlady—has had some work done on it, so it’s tight and sound enough. There’s just one bedroom, but there’s