Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Read Online Free PDF

phone to her secretary and adding another meeting later in the week with this almost-certain client, she secured a room at the Viscolli hotel to get back to party planning details.
    She checked her watch then dialed Jacqueline Anderson’s number. Up until a few weeks ago, she’d been actively involved with Maxine and Sarah with the party planning and insisted on running the games for them. But for the last two weeks, she’d not returned Maxine’s calls. Maxine couldn’t figure out what kind of game she was playing. Where was she?
    As close-knit as Maxine and Robin were, Jacqueline’s position – as the wife of her brother-in-law’s best friend – forced Barry’s wife into her life far more often than Maxine enjoyed. She found the woman plastic, stuck up, and rude.
    Maxine loved it when Jacqueline was out of town because Barry seemed to be happier, more relaxed, less on guard. He always seemed more open to watching a football game or talking about basketball scores or anything. Though the second Jacqueline showed up, he turned reticent, withdrawn, noncommunicative, and obviously unhappy. Maxine couldn’t figure out how they’d stayed married for almost twenty years.
    Every Sunday after church, family and friends gathered for lunch at the Viscolli home. Tony and Robin would have a soup and sandwich bar and they would eat and fellowship and rest before evening services. In the three years since Robin married Tony, that tradition had been something that kept Maxine going to church even on her most “exhausted from the Saturday night before” Sunday mornings.
    Tony and Robin had close friends at their church who joined them on a semi-regular basis, and almost always some pastor or visiting evangelist joined as well. In attendance without fail, in addition to Tony and Robin, one could nearly always count on: Derrick; Sarah and a few boyfriends here and there over the years; Barry, but rarely with Jacqueline; and an always unescorted Maxine.
    In those three years of Sunday lunches, Maxine and Barry had become really good friends – great friends. They typically found a corner somewhere in the massive apartment and spent hours talking, laughing, planning lunches or, to Barry’s dismay, golf outings. They both loved football and a few times when Jacqueline was on one of her regular out of town excursions, Maxine would head to Barry’s house after Sunday evening services to watch the day’s games that he’d recorded. He usually let her fast forward through the commercials and the endless game replays. She looked forward to that time with him and had really grown to count on his friendship.
    Shaking her head at the train of her thoughts, she brought herself back to the present. Shooting Barry text number three of the day, worried about why he hadn’t texted her back yet, asking him if he knew where Jacqueline was and how Maxine could reach her, she went ahead and placed a call to the kitchen and reconfirmed the schedule for the night ahead.
    Checking her watch and calculating the time until the party, she determined she had about two hours to do some office work before she had to refocus on party work. She knew she owed the bulk of the party preparation credit to Derrick and the rest of Tony’s staff. She wasn’t even going to pretend that she could have done this without them.
    Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She caught a glimpse of the caller ID as she answered it. “Hey, Sarah.”
    “Hey. I got your text. Thanks for getting a room. My roommate is dropping my clothes off on her way in to cover for my shift.”
    “Awesome. I thought about what you said and I agree. I think it’ll just be easier to have a command center here.”
    “Are you staying there tonight?”
    Maxine looked around the luxury of the suite. “Probably. We’ll be here rather late. What about you?”
    “Definitely. It isn’t every day I get to stay at the Viscolli.” She laughed. “Any news from Jacqui?”
    Maxine felt