“I thought you gave that to your granddaughter already,” Peggy said to Nan.
“Well, I am,” she replied. “And I guess I forgot to. But you’re right. I said I would.” She handed it to Doreen. “Here. This is for you.”
Doreen held up her hands. “No, no, no, no. I can’t take that.”
“Why not? It was Chrissy’s sugar bowl,” Nan stated. “I dumped out the sugar because I don’t add sugar very often to my tea, but I so wanted to give it to you. Then after all this discussion about what happened to Chrissy, I just hung on to it.”
“And so you should hang on to it,” Doreen stated firmly. “It’s much more important that you hang on to it for memories’ sake.”
At that, her grandmother just put it back in the cupboard. “I’ll think about it.” She gave an eye roll, as she looked over at Peggy. “I’m just a foolish old woman.”
“You really liked Chrissy, didn’t you?” Peggy asked.
At that, Nan nodded. “I did, indeed. She was always really nice to me.”
Peggy didn’t say anything to that, and they made tea, sat down, and Doreen turned to Peggy and asked, “How long have you worked here?”
“About ten years,” she said, with a smile. “Seems like a lifetime. I wanted to move in here, once I retired. But I don’t think I’ll have the money.”
“Oh my.” Doreen frowned. “Surely they could give you a break on the price, after you worked here all these years.”
She looked at her. “You know what? I never even thought of that.”
“I’d ask them,” Doreen suggested. “I don’t know what your situation is like, but, if you’re close to retirement age or something along that line, you might talk to them about part-time work, in exchange for some of your care.”
Peggy stared at Doreen. “I really hadn’t considered any of that,” she muttered. “Maybe I’ll talk to them later,” she stated, giving Doreen another odd look.
She shrugged. “I’m all about making things work.”
“Glad to hear it, but you’re right. I hadn’t even thought of it.”
At that, Nan jumped in. “My granddaughter, she’s got quite a brain on her,” she stated proudly.
“Hah,” Doreen said. “Sometimes I think I’m out to lunch.”
At that, Peggy laughed. “That’s me all the time. You think you’re okay, and then one day you just wake up and do something foolish, and you think, What was that all about?”
“Exactly.” Doreen nodded.
They had a nice visit, and then Peggy stood. “I’ve got to run and to get back to work.” She looked down at the empty plates. “I’ll see if I can bring you a few more croissants later today,” she said to Nan. “Doreen here’s eaten them all.”
At that, Doreen flushed. “I guess I was hungry.” She winced. “I’m sorry. I had a sandwich at home, but the croissants are just always so good here.”
“Absolutely they are.” Peggy smiled, turned, and left.
At soon as she was gone, Nan leaned forward. “What do you think?”
“What do you mean, what do I think?” Doreen asked.
“Do you think Peggy killed Chrissy?”
Doreen stared at her grandmother, considering that question. “I’m not sure. She seems nice enough. And I did meet with Xavier this morning,” she shared. “I really can’t say that I see Xavier and Peggy as a couple.”
At that, Nan nodded wisely. “None of us did. But Xavier confirmed they were dating?”
“He said that they were friendly, but, once he met Chrissy, it was all over for him.”
“You know what? That’s quite true. That’s how I saw Xavier and Chrissy too. He very much fell in love, and, after that, I don’t think it would have mattered who he had been seeing, if he actually was seeing Peggy in that way,” Nan explained. “And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with Peggy, but you understand that Chrissy was quite beautiful, inside and out.”
“I do understand that. Xavier thought she was gorgeous.”
At that, Nan looked at her and nodded. “That’s a very interesting comment, but you’re right, isn’t it? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes we look at couples and think, What on earth is keeping those two together?”
Doreen chuckled. “Yeah, like me and my ex.”
At that, Nan winced. “I didn’t mean that, dear.”
“Maybe you didn’t mean it,” she stated, “but I’m not foolish enough to ignore the fact that, for a lot of people, it was probably part of what they were thinking.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” she stated loyally. “You’re well away from him, and that’s a good thing.”
“It is, indeed. It’s all right, Nan. You haven’t insulted me.”
“Oh, I’m glad to hear that,” she replied, “but still, you should have left him a long time ago.”
“Thank you, Nan,” she quipped, with an eye roll.
Nan grinned at her impudently. “Anyway, if you can figure out what happened with Chrissy,” Nan said, “let me know.” And she hopped up, grabbed the sugar bowl again, and handed it over. “Here. Take this.”
“No, I thought you would keep it.”
“Oh no, I’d rather you had it,” she stated. “I have my memories.”
With that, Doreen accepted the sugar bowl, not sure what she should do with it.
Nan added, “I don’t think it’s gold, dear, but I think you could probably sell it.”
At that, Doreen burst out laughing. “Nan, are you just taking things from your friends in order for me to make a few bucks?”
She nodded. “It is an antique. She bought it because I told her to, many years ago,” she admitted. “So, by rights, I didn’t have a problem accepting it back. Her nephew gave it to me to remember her by.”
“Okay.” And Doreen leaned over, gave her grandmother a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow or the next day.” And she called out to the animals, “Come on, guys. Let’s go home.”
And, with that, all of them got to their feet, looking a little more tired than normal.
She smiled down at them. “Okay, we’ll go home, and we’ll stay home this time.”
At that, Mugs barked, and they headed across the lawn, calling goodbye to Nan.
Chapter 17
Doreen pocketed the sugar bowl, and she and her animals headed back to her house. Doreen considered everything she’d learned so far. When she got to her property, she stopped for a few minutes here at the river with the animals and sat on the bench, looking for all the world like everything had calmed down and was much more peaceful now. And yet she knew that she probably did understand what had just happened, and peaceful was not exactly the answer she got. When her phone rang, she sighed and looked down to see it was Mack. “Hey.”
“Are you okay?”
“I am,” she murmured. “Are you coming by tonight?”