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And free to charge ahead with the website. Which would mean spending more time with Isaac. Oh boy. Could they possibly stay focused on the web design now, or would desire overshadow their agendas? Cause delays? Lead to broken links and a crappy web—
“Delaney Brooks, are you listening to me?”
Her gaze sharpened on Margaret Harper, who’d risen with her sisters but had yet to leave. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
“I said, Mia told us you found someone who might be able to put together a website for the fundraiser. Do we know how much it will cost?”
Her worries about kissing troubles took a sudden backseat to a more immediate problem: she hadn’t given any thought as to what she would tell the others about their mystery designer. Worse yet, Brooklyn was correct—she was a terrible liar. Del knew the best way not to get caught in a lie was to not tell one. Exactly.
“Nothing,” she said.
Margaret arched a brow, her former reporter’s gears obviously turning. “You’re telling me they’re going to do the work for free?”
“Yep,” she said, sitting up straighter. “It’s completely pro bono, their contribution toward the fundraiser.”
“Do they even have any experience with this sort of thing?”
From the corner of her eye, Del saw Mia look away. Clearly, she was still hung up on the “not knowing” thing. But in all fairness, none of them could say with certainty that Isaac could do what he’d promised he would. Though she couldn’t imagine him lying about something like that. It just didn’t fit the Isaac she knew. So instead of sharing her worries with the others, Del took a leap of faith and hoped like crazy he’d been telling her the truth about his work background.
“Quite a bit, actually.”
“Excellent,” Barb said, ignoring her sister’s skepticism. “Hopefully, they can make it to our next meeting on Tuesday, then, and we can talk through our ideas.”
“No!”
The trio fell quiet. Del threw an imploring look to Mia, the only other guest to remain, hoping for a little help.
“Uh, what she means is, the web developer is from out of town and won’t be able to attend our meetings. Which, we decided while you stepped out, Del, would be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings over at the bookstore for the next six weeks. So, you’ll just have to take good notes and relay our information to your friend.”
“Oh,” Barb said, her smile dimming slightly. “Well, I suppose that’s a concession we can make for them to build us a free website, right?”
Del nodded. “Exactly. Wait, why are we only meeting the next six weeks?”
“Because,” Nan said as The Sisters stepped out the side gate leading from Del’s yard into Margaret’s, “that’s when we decided the talent show will be: the first Saturday in October, six weeks from today. I suggested the following weekend, but your sister pointed out this was the only weekend in early October that half the town wouldn’t be away at a marching band contest.”
It was true—the band did have a substantial following. But six weeks to pull this off? Del smiled through her shock, wished them a good evening, and then hurried back to her sister, who was bringing snacks in from the back porch. She grabbed the punchbowl and followed Mia into the kitchen, quick to shut the door behind them.
“Six weeks to organize something this huge? Are they insane?”
“It’s cutting it closer than I’d prefer,” Mia said. “But if we push the date out past marching band season, who knows what the weather will be like.”
“This is Indiana, Mi. Who knows what the weather will dotomorrow, much less six weeks from now.”
Mia chuckled. “True. But the longer we push this out, the more risk we’re taking for the roof to give out.”
Okay, that was a valid point. Heck, as it was, Del held her breath every time she heard the weather forecast, praying for nothing more than a few scattered sprinkles. Still, just six weeks to pull this all off? It was gutsy for sure.
“You know, if your new buddy can’t produce this supposed online signup and ticket sales website, Barb’s idea may never get off the ground.”
“Then I’ll just have to make sure he stays good to his word,” Del said.
Maybe with the lure of more kissing. To commence after the project was done—if she could hold out that long.
“I gotta be honest, I’m a little hesitant to put all our eggs in one basket here.” The concerned look on her sister’s face deepened. “I mean, what if he skips town or something?”
“Then we’ll just have to find someone else to do the website. Surely, someone around here has at least the basic kind of skills we’d need even if they might not be as gracious and offer to do it for free. Wait—why are you so worried about his leaving all of a sudden?”
“Well…”
