Tending Roses Read Online Free PDF

deal until some important paperwork wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and word leaked out to a few influential people in Chicago. Sloppy accounting practices are a terrible black eye for an organization that depends on government grants and the endowments of noteworthy people.
    Liz let out a long sigh, and I knew the news was not good. “It hit the papers this morning. We’re already getting calls, but we don’t know what the fallout will be.”
    “Oh, no,” I muttered, my mind reeling. “That’s bad.”
    “I know. I wasn’t going to tell you with everything else you’ve got going on.”
    “Ohhhh, I wish I were there. I wish I could get Larry Shaffer by the neck and strangle him. He knew he was leaving for that other job, and he just blew off keeping the foundation paperwork in order.” My hand tightened around the phone cord. “You know this means people will pull funding, and it’ll cut down the usual December revenue.”
    “I know. We’re already making calls to try to do damage control. Don’t worry about it. Dianne’s doing her best to fill your shoes while you’re gone.”
    “I know, but . . .” I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of my assistant filling my shoes.
    “Just relax and take care of your family stuff. Now I’m sorry I even told you.”
    “No. Don’t be. I can make some calls from here and try to spin things with some of my bigger givers.” Joshua wiggled on my shoulder and started to cry again.
    “Sounds like somebody’s hungry,” Liz said. “I’ll let you go. Don’t worry about things at work and tell Ben not to worry about the town house. Tell him I’m busy sampling all his favorite wines and driving this cute little golf cart up and down the street. Tell him on Saturday I might go sail his boat around Lake Michigan.”
    “I think it might be a little cold.” I laughed. “But feel free to use all of Ben’s toys. Someone should. We pay for all that stuff and then he never has time to use it anyway.” Which was so true, it was embarrassing. Ben had a bad habit of taking up expensive hobbies. “You should have seen the place before we got rid of his antique motorcycle collection to pay off a couple of hospital bills. You know, boys and their toys.”
    “Yes, I know. That’s why I’m not married.”
    Joshua let out a loud squall and kicked his feet, fed up with the supper delay.
    “Oops!” Liz said. “I’m really letting you go this time. Tell Ben I said hi.”
    “O.K. Thanks for calling, Liz. It was great talking to you.”
    “ ’Bye, girl. Have a good Christmas. Miss ya’.”
    “You, too. ’Bye.”
    I hung up the phone, feeling homesick and nervous about the events at work and the fact that I couldn’t be there.
    But Joshua had a more immediate problem, so I grabbed a bottle from the refrigerator and walked into the hall. Through the window, I could see Grandma sitting on the porch, enjoying the warm weather, so I wrapped a jacket around Josh and went outside to sit with her while he had his bottle.
    Sinking into the quilted cushions of Grandma’s swing, I took in a deep breath of the warm air. It smelled of green winter wheat and freshly tilled earth, drying puddles of water and decaying leaves. Just a hint of winter. Compared to Chicago, Missouri felt like a heat wave and not like December at all.
    It was quiet. I wasn’t used to such a deep silence—no cars, no voices, no commuter trains, no doors slamming, no cell phones ringing, no pagers beeping, no horns honking. At this time of the year, not even any insects buzzing. Just silence as the sun crept through the screen and settled over us, soothing my nerves like warm bathwater. I let out a long sigh, trying to forget my troubles. Grandma turned to me with her brows knitted, and I was afraid she could tell something was wrong. “Oh, I can just imagine what all this activity has done to the floors.” She gave me a look of deep grief.
    I was relieved that she wasn’t questioning me again about our