“Anyway, it’s all good,” Doreen said. “Heidi will pay for her crimes—however the court ends up deciding the matter—and Aretha hopefully will continue to live in and to look after Heidi’s house.”
“And that’ll be good for Aretha too,” Millicent said with a knowing nod. “That poor woman needs something good to happen in her life.”
By the time she had done all the weeding, Doreen had run out of things to talk about. But Millicent was full of questions, and she kept peppering Doreen with a million of them. Millicent totally agreed with selling the jewels and turning it into a charity scenario. It had been one of the things that Doreen was a little worried about, as nobody could really lay claim to the jewels. The businesses involved had gone bankrupt, and then so many years had gone by that it was hard to determine exactly who should get any money. She still needed to talk to Mack about it, and that was a bit of a problem because he was avoiding her.
“And you have a buyer for the emerald?” Millicent asked.
That launched Doreen into Zachary Winters’s story.
“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Millicent said. “We definitely need to make sure that Mrs. Winters gets that emerald.”
“I know,” Doreen said, “but we’ll sell a few of the other gems too.”
Millicent sighed. “If there aren’t very many, maybe we could split those up. You get one. Mack gets one, and Aretha gets one.”
Doreen looked at her in surprise. “Well, you know what? That’s not a bad idea. Sell the big ones, then put those funds into the charity, and everybody else can have one of the smaller gems,” she said with a shrug. “I have to get them appraised, just to see what kind of money we’re looking for. Only that didn’t work out so well the first time.”
“It will now.” Millicent clapped her hands in joy. “Who knew that by asking you to look into this, you’d solve it, and so fast,” she said with an admiring glance at Doreen.
“I don’t know,” Doreen said. “Seems like it took forever to me.”
Millicent smiled and shook her head. “And, by the way, I was given a whole bag of zucchini,” she said. “Do you want one or two?”
“If I knew how to make zucchini bread,” Doreen said, “I’d love some. I could use one maybe.”
“I made zucchini bread too,” Millicent said. “Hang on a moment.” She hopped up and raced inside.
While she was gone, Doreen picked up the wheelbarrow full of all the weeds and walked it over to Millicent’s compost bin and quickly emptied the wheelbarrow. It wasn’t her compost pick up this week, so Doreen moved the wheelbarrow back against the shed and tilted it up, so the rain wouldn’t collect in it. When she returned to the deck, the animals were all sitting and paying attention. She looked down at them and said, “Millicent said zucchini, not treats.”
Millicent’s laughter seeped out through the door. She headed to the animals and gave all three of them a piece of cheese.
“Wow,” Doreen said. “I didn’t know you were feeding these guys too.”
“Not all the time,” Millicent said. “But it’s such a joy to have them around.”
“They’re such moochers,” Doreen said with a laugh.
“It’s all good,” she said. “And, for that matter, this is for you.” She handed over a couple baby zucchinis and a pack of something wrapped up in tinfoil.
“What’s in the tinfoil?” Doreen asked, looking at it.
“Oh my,” she said. “The best zucchini bread ever. Ask Mack. He’ll tell you.”
“This is your own recipe,” she said, her mouth already watering.
“Absolutely,” Millicent said. “I don’t even plant zucchinis in the garden anymore because so much comes from a single plant. But I have friends who still plant it, and they give me enough every summer. I’ve already put seven loaves of zucchini bread in the freezer, so please take this one.”
“What about Mack though?” Doreen asked. “I don’t want him getting shorted of his share.”
Millicent’s laughter carried across the backyard. “He’d probably thank you for taking some,” she said. “Every time I bake a batch, I give him a whole loaf. He’s protesting that he can’t eat it all, so I’m sure he’s happy that you take some.”
Doreen wondered about that because none had come her way. So, either Mack was eating it all or he’d frozen a bunch himself. But he never seemed to be sad about taking any from her. She smiled at Millicent and said, “Thank you. I’ll enjoy it thoroughly when I go home.”
“Good,” she said with a smile.
And, with that, Doreen led her motley crew around the cul-de-sac and onward to home. With her animals in tow, following along behind her. It would be a busy weekend if she and Mack could get started on the deck like she really wanted to, but she was afraid that they still needed more supplies. On that note, she sent Mack a text. Do we have enough to start on the deck?
The response came back as, Yes.
When?
Probably tomorrow. I’ll stop by later tonight.
She grinned at that. Dinner?
Have you got anything?
Maybe, she replied with a frown as she headed to her house. Let me get inside and check. She disarmed the security and walked into the front room. Without the furniture and with everything still so clean, it was an amazingly spacious-looking house. She headed back into the kitchen, where she set down her goodies and put on the teakettle. Then she checked out the fridge. She still had a few leftover noodles that he had cooked for her, but she was short on meat.
Leftover pasta, plain, she sent out. No meat.
Mushrooms?
Yes. Why?
A happy face was his response.
She chuckled. Does that mean dinner?
