waiting in their vehicles, or on the porch, at eleven o’clock, when it was time to open the doors for the first day.
When news got out about what they were doing, folks began to call to ask what they needed. One lady donated two bookcases—one for each of the gaming rooms. Others sent over boxes of dominoes, Monopoly, Chinese checkers, and other games. Then someone brought about forty jigsaw puzzles.
Eight tables for four had been set up in what was now the dining room, and the first day’s meal of tossed salad, hot rolls, and pot roast cooked with potatoes, carrots, and onions was ready to serve. Dessert was chocolate sheet cake, and there were cookies and some sugar-free treats, too, for those who wanted to snack that afternoon while they played games. Carafes of lemonade, sweet tea, and water were already on each table, along with four red plastic cups of ice. “The countdown begins.” Kayla pointed at the clock.
“Ten, nine, eight . . .” Teresa counted off the seconds.
Kayla crossed the floor, and when Teresa said “one,” Kayla opened the door. “Come right on in here. We’re so glad to see you,” she said with a smile.
Sam was the first one through the door, and he stopped right inside to take a deep breath. “Is that hot rolls? Sweet Lord, I’ll be here every day if y’all are making fresh bread.”
Car doors began to slam, and soon the room was filled with elderly folks, all seeming to talk at once about how much they’d looked forward to this day.
Sam ate dinner, made six deliveries to folks who were shut in, and then came back to play dominoes for a spell.
“Anyone need a ride home?” he called out in the middle of the afternoon. “I’m taking my golden chariot to the house, but I’ll be glad to give anyone a lift.”
He wound up with three elderly women who’d had their kids drop them off, and it was a few minutes after four when the last elderly person left. Teresa locked the door and sat down at one of the tables. “It went well.” She beamed.
Kayla poured two glasses of lemonade and sat down on the other side of the small card table. “How do you feel about today? Not just that we managed to serve lunch and visit with everyone, but how did it make you feel?”
“Oh, honey! I feel so good about today that I’d dance a jig in a pig trough if I wasn’t too damned tired to move. I’m so glad you got this idea.”
“Me too.” Kayla nodded. “I could feel Miss Janie patting me on the back all day.”
“I could, too,” Teresa agreed. “I felt like she was right there beside me when we were rolling out the pie dough for tomorrow’s cobblers, and Sam was fairly well strutting when he showed the folks the other rooms.”
“Yep.” Kayla took a long drink of her lemonade. “We should get on home now, though. Will is picking me up right after five. We’re going to Sulphur Springs to look in his storage place at the furniture his folks stored there when they moved to the assisted living center. He wants me to help pick out the furniture for his new house.”
“Would you have ever thought things would fall into place like they have?” Teresa asked.
“Not in a million years.” Kayla pushed up out of her chair. “We’ve only reconnected for two months, but I think I’m in love.”
“You just now figuring that out?” Teresa teased. “I knew it weeks ago. You’ll be moving into that house with him before long.”
“Nope. I’m not living with any man again until I have a marriage license in my hand,” Kayla declared. “Besides, I have a nice warm nest in Miss Janie’s house that I’m in no hurry to leave.”
“Perfect weather. Perfect day,” Teresa said when they stepped outside. She turned when they reached the car and pointed to the sign that Noah had paid to have painted on the picture window. Welcome to Miss Janie’s Senior Citizens Place was in the middle of a wreath of multicolored flowers.
“Doesn’t that sign give you all the good feels in the whole world?” she asked.
“I agree.” Kayla got behind the wheel. “Did you say that about me moving in with Will so I’d get out of the house to give you and Noah more privacy?”
Teresa air slapped Kayla on the arm. “I figured you’d be of the same mind I am. I do