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“I’m fine,” I promised, then I filled him in on the wedding.
“I’m so happy for them,” he said when I’d finished. “I’ll help with whatever you need.”
I swallowed around the nervousness in my chest and nodded. “I hope so because I need a favor and I don’t want you to get mad.”
“We’re past that, remember?”
“Not mad, but maybe sad. Um, when I put my clothes in the closet in the spare room, there was a coat way in the back in a dry cleaner’s bag. It was Michelle’s.”
“There was? I thought I cleaned all of her spare clothes out of there.”
“It would have been easy to miss in the dark bag it was in. I was going to take it to the thrift store so you didn’t have to worry about it, but when I took it out, it was just so beautiful. It was a long white coat with fur trim. Do you remember it?”
His gaze turned pensive for a moment and then he nodded. “I do remember it. She only wore it one time. It was for her pinning ceremony for her nurse educator graduation. That’s why it was white.”
“That makes sense,” I said, nodding. “Well, it was so beautiful I just couldn’t part with it. It held the essence of Michelle in it, how she protected the things she loved and took such good care of them,” I explained, patting his face.
“She did do that,” he agreed with a smile.
“Anyway, would you mind if I let Becca borrow it for the wedding? She’s wearing a pantsuit, but she’s going to be cold and I don’t want—”
His finger came down on my lips and he smiled. “I love the idea, Gumdrop. So would my mom. Offer her the coat, I would love for her to wear it.”
I jumped up and kissed his lips. “You’re the best, Lance Garland!” I called as I jogged back to the front of the diner.
“You’re back,” Mel said with a chuckle when I joined them again. “Where were we? Oh, yes, a white coat.”
“I had to talk to Lance for a minute because when I said my closet, I should have said the closet I’m using at Michelle’s.”
Mel and Ivy both made an O with their mouths as realization dawned.
“Oh, I could never ask Lance to let me wear Michelle’s coat,” Becca whispered.
“You don’t have to ask him, I just did. He didn’t realize he’d missed the coat when he donated all of her clothes, which tells me it was still hanging there for a reason. Lance said Michelle wore it once to her pinning ceremony for her nurse educator degree.”
“She’d be tickled pink if you’d wear the coat, Becca,” Lance said from the cut-out window where they set the food when it was finished. “Mom told me she felt like a queen walking up to get her pin that day. Be his queen.”
“Okay,” Becca said with laughter on her lips, but tears in her eyes. “Thank you. I’ll wear the coat.”
“Sounds like you have your something borrowed,” Ivy said, patting her back.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Michelle was such a sweet lady, always checking with me to make sure my leg wasn’t developing sores. I think it’s a perfect something borrowed.”
“That just leaves the reception then,” I said to change the subject so we didn’t all start crying.
“We aren’t having one,” Becca said. “We’re going to get married and then we have to do family day on Saturday, so there won’t be time.”
“You’re having a reception,” Ivy insisted.
“You have to have a cake,” Mel said to back her up.
“And I know the perfect one!” I exclaimed.
“Goody-Goody Gumdrop!” all three said in unison and Lance’s laughter filled the diner.
“Leave the food and cake to us, Becca,” he said from the window. “We’ll set it up in the store and after the ceremony, everyone can enjoy a meal and cake with you before they head home. We’ll still have everyone gone by nine. Good?”
She grinned and nodded. “Better than good. Great. I didn’t want to ask, since I know this is such a busy season for everyone, but we’d love a chance to hug everyone and share a meal to celebrate. We’ll have plenty of eggnog if nothing else.”
