Lacy (The Doves of Primrose) Read Online Free PDF Page A

nswered. “I’m not sure. She milled around pretending to clean in the entryway while Kyle, the director and whoever those other people were talked their movie stuff. Then she offered to show everyone their rooms like she was the maid and took off chatting to the director. Actually, I’ve never seen her like that before.  I think she was nervous.”
    “That’s weird.” Lacy had never known Emmylou to be ner vous. Her parents wouldn’t have allowed it. They raised her to be a showpiece. Lacy always thought Emmy’s home life was slightly dysfunctional in its desire to appear normal. The Bennetts were always pressing their daughter to participate and excel in everything. And that wasn’t an exaggeration. She was literally in everything from music to academics to athletics. There were times when she and Scarlett, who were referred to as the misfits, had to attend those activities just to remind themselves what Emmylou looked like.
    “Well, maybe it’s just the famous thing that’s got her off her game. She’s not used to being the least famous person in the room.” Lacy checked her watch. “Crap, we better go and get lunch ready.”
    “I’ve already got the chowder on simmer and the biscuits are in the oven. We just need to toss the salad and we’re ready for lunch.”
    Lacy gratitude deepened. She couldn’t survive without Scarlett; she was the most organized free spirit Lacy knew.  Scarlett had never been interested in anything in particular. She was satisfied with floating down life’s path. She shrank from attention in hopes of blending with the background. Little did she know that was impossible for her to accomplish. She was too darn beautiful for her own good and the quiet thing worked as the exact opposite of what Scarlett strived for. She drew attention all the time, she was an enigma people were instinctively drawn to. And her gentle heart and compassion for others made them fall in love with her.
    Scarlett was the one who kept this place running. She took care of all the little details Lacy couldn’t focus on or keep track of. Lacy felt like a scatterbrain most of the time. She was so busy flying from collapsing chimneys to rotting shingles to loose floorboards to notice things like lunch. And Scarlett had happily agreed to split her time between her greenhouses and The Dove House when Lacy took over.
    “You are my life saver, Scarlett. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    Pink tinted Scarlett’s apple cheeks. “You’d have a tray of cold cuts and a sack of bread on the table for everyone.” They laughed and bumped shoulders as they started for the kitchen.
    Lacy tossed the salad with Scarlett’s special recipe salad dressing and piled it into bowls. Scarlett arranged them on the serving tray and handed it back to Lacy who shook her head.  Scarlett narrowed her brows.
    “You always take the tray out.”
    Lacy made a job out of wiping her hands on her apron. “You go ahead. I have a lot to do in the, uh, barn. I need to check Be tty’s leg and change the dressing.”
    Scarlett didn’t like to serve people, she preferred the kitchen work and Lacy knew she was practically feeding her to the wolves but she couldn’t face Kyle. She wanted to avoid all contact with him. It was safer that way. Scarlett’s face paled, but she nodded and made her way to the door.
    “Take one of those apples out to her and give her a pat for me.” A weak smile perked in the corners of Scarlett’s mouth .
    “Okay.”
    Lacy was a dirtbag. Here she was lying to her best friend, the saint. Scarlett was also a hopeless animal lover; the woman couldn’t kill a spider because she believed Charlotte’s Web was actually possible. She should let Scarlett take the apple out to the injured mare and check the dressing on the wound Betty got during their ride the other day, it would have been better. But no, because Lacy was a coward, a chicken-shit in every sense of the word, she was making her friend realize