Something To Treasure. Virginia McCullough

with Jerrod. You simply say it’s not your thing. Or you could tell him what happened. Maybe he’d have ideas about getting past your fears.”

      Or, better yet, maybe she could sidestep the whole issue. “I’m a consultant, not his employee. I have nothing to do with the nuts and bolts.” She sat a little straighter in the chair. “Yeah, that’s right. Why am I even worrying about it?”

      “Good. That’s the spirit,” Lark agreed, matching Dawn’s tone.

      “Now that I’ve tabled that little problem, I suppose I should be on my way.” Dawn yawned and let her head fall back. “But it’s so comfortable here. I wish I didn’t have those phone meetings. I’d stretch out on this couch and take a nap.” She gave her thighs a light slap as she rose from the couch, feeling the shot of energy needed to keep her moving. “By the way,” she said, “I’m putting out some feelers for speaking gigs for Jerrod.”

      “You seem to be supplying the whole of Northeast Wisconsin with all the speakers we can handle,” Lark said.

      “I take him seriously. He’s so many things. Archeologist, environmentalist, historian and, of course, the big draw, international adventurer. I have a feeling he could make his mark here in Two Moon Bay—and the entire region—in any number of ways.”

      Lark cocked her head. “You’ve got my attention. Knowing you as I do, I’m eager to see what kind of a campaign you put together for him.” She opened her front door. “Do you want me to bring Gordon home after practice?”

      Dawn let her shoulders drop in relief. “That would be great.”

      “Better yet, he can go to Lou’s for pizza with Evan and me. Miles is in Boston for a couple of days, so Evan and I are on our own. You can meet us for dinner there when you’re done with your calls.”

      “Thanks so much. Now I don’t have to worry about fixing dinner.” She gave Lark a quick hug and hurried to her car.

      As she drove through town, Dawn’s thoughts turned to Lark and the enormous changes in her friend’s life. It made Dawn’s head spin to think Lark was reunited with Miles, the father of a baby girl they’d given up for adoption when they were college students. Eighteen years later, they’d discovered their daughter was the rising figure skating star Perrie Lynn Olson. Dawn still found it remarkable that in working together to learn about their daughter, Lark and Miles had fallen deeply in love. Perrie Lynn had even come to their wedding. It was a matter of addition, not subtraction, Lark had said about how their family formed. She had become stepmom to Miles’s nine-year-old daughter, Brooke, and Lark’s son, Evan, gained a stepdad.

      A miracle, Dawn thought, feeling the same surge of pleasure she always did when recalling Lark and Miles’s small but joyful wedding.

      Maybe it will happen for me one day, Dawn thought, pulling into her driveway. Maybe. Baby Zinnie had been on her mind, ever since she’d seen her happily snuggled in her daddy’s arms. Bill was a good dad, too. Dawn had never denied that fact, no matter how she’d claimed to hate him for what he’d done to their family. Did Jerrod know how lucky he was to have Carrie, a little sprite full of curiosity?

      What was she doing? She had no business asking questions like that.