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Grace gave Cindy a few moments in the bathroom, then grabbed a change of clothes. She took a shower, washing away the grime and sickness of the day, then slathered lotion on her skin that held a faint tropical fragrance. She tugged on a pair of worn jeans and a soft T-shirt before rushing to the kitchen.
Cindy stood at the stove browning the ground beef they’d need for the goulash.
“I said I’d cook,” Grace admonished as she took out a large pot from a bottom cabinet. She filled it with water and then set it on a burner to boil.
“I know, but I’m starving. The sooner we get this ready, the sooner we can eat.” Cindy grinned at her. “I’m also dying to know what is in the box you received and assumed you’d open it after dinner.”
“You assume correctly. I’ll open it right after we eat. While the goulash bakes, I want to whip up a batch of cookies for Jared.”
At the mention of her brother, Cindy blushed.
That was new.
Grace knew Jared had written to Cindy a few times after her fiancé was killed, but had her brother been writing to her best friend more frequently than she realized? If romance was brewing between Cindy and Jared, it would make Grace deliriously happy. She’d dreamed so many times of Cindy becoming her sister. In a small town with three handsome brothers, the odds had been in her favor, but Cindy had always loved Caleb.
Now, though, with just the very mention of Jared’s name making her friend’s cheeks turn pink, Grace could hardly hold her tongue, wanting to know if romance was afoot, but she wouldn’t say anything. At least not yet.
“I thought if I baked the cookies tonight, I could box up a care package. I can mail it tomorrow on my lunch break.”
“That’s a great idea, Grace. I’m happy to help.”
Grace bit her tongue to keep from teasing Cindy and merely nodded her head in thanks.
While Cindy finished cooking the ground beef with chopped onion, thinly sliced celery, and salt, Grace drained the noodles, then stirred them with tomato sauce and added it to the meat mixture. She spooned the meat and noodles into a casserole dish, added shredded cheese on top, then slid it into the oven. In about twenty minutes, they’d have a hot, filling meal with enough leftovers that they wouldn’t have to cook tomorrow night.
Grace washed the dishes they’d dirtied while Cindy got out their baking sheets and set out ingredients to make cookies.
“Brown sugar drops?” Cindy asked as she retrieved brown sugar from the refrigerator and set it on the countertop.
“That’s what I had planned.” Grace set the skillet she’d just dried back on the stove, then hurried to cream together shortening and eggs while Cindy measured the sugar and flour. Working together, it didn’t take long to have the cookies ready to slide into the oven.
While Cindy set the table, Grace made a green salad with the last of their lettuce, a stubby end of a cucumber, and a few radishes. How she longed to pluck a fresh radish from her mother’s garden, brush away the rich earth, and bite into it.
For now, what they could buy at the grocery store would have to do.
Truly, Grace was thankful she and Cindy could share the apartment and expenses. She knew they fared better than many young women living on their own. It helped that Grace’s brother had provided her with a car, and both of their families had donated a motley assortment of furniture for them to use.
Grace glanced at their couch, which had once belonged to her grandparents, and the table and dining chairs that had once sat in the Miltons’ home. There wasn’t a single piece of new furniture in the place, but somehow it all worked together.
She looked around the apartment, at least what she could see from her spot in the kitchen. The walls in the living room and bedrooms were painted a soft cream color instead of some ghastly modern hue. The kitchen cupboards were pale maple, the countertops white, and the wallpaper was a dainty pattern of flowers on a white background, giving the space an old-fashioned charm.
“Is it ready?” Cindy asked, filling two glasses with iced tea and carrying them to the table. “I’m so hungry, I might start gnawing on the silverware.”
“You aren’t the only one.” Grace grinned over her shoulder as she pulled the casserole from the oven and carried it to the table. She slid the cookie sheets into the warm oven and retrieved the salad, then the two of them sat down and bowed their heads. Grace offered a brief word of thanks for their meal, then they dug into it, discussing their day and the problems they’d both experienced at work.
By the time they finished eating, the cookies were baked, and cooling on a rack. Grace washed the dishes, while Cindy dried them, then they returned to the living room.
“Will you open it now?” Cindy pointed to the box on the floor at the end of the couch.
Grace was as curious as her friend to find out what was inside the box, but she wanted to make the anticipation last as long as possible.
However, the box would be perfect to use to send Jared’s care package, so if she wanted to pack it tonight to have it ready to mail to him, she needed to open it and discover what her family had sent to her.
“Fine,” Grace feigned indifference as she opened the sewing box they kept beneath the coffee table and took out a pair of silver swan-neck scissors that had once belonged to her great-grandmother. She used the sharp tip to cut the string around the box, and pulled away the brown paper, which was a grocery sack. Her economical mother had trimmed off the bottom and slit up the side of a bag to wrap the box. Grace could turn it over and use it to wrap Jared’s package.
She opened the box to find a note on top of what appeared to be a finely crafted mahogany case.
“What is it?” Cindy asked, leaning over the throw pillow on the couch to see into the box.
