eager to live with her dad-maybe it will feel more like her
own home."
Maggie shrugged. "I thought she felt at home here."
Looking for You AilMy Life183
"Well, there's nothing quite like your own kin," said
Audrey, giving her daughter a warm squeeze. "I wouldn't
give it a second thought, honey."
"Yeah, it's not like we still don't have a pretty full house."
"I'm wondering if you're starting to run a boardinghouse
after all," said Audrey wryly as she led Maggie into the
kitchen. "Look, I saved some of my special vegetable beef
soup for you. I'll bet you're hungry."
"I guess so." She dumped her briefcase onto the kitchen
table and sighed loudly.
"Is there something else going on here that I should be
aware of? I couldn't help but notice that Jed seemed a little
grim when he was making the switch tonight. And he said
the two of them probably wouldn't be able to make it to
dinner tomorrow. He said he's got a lot to do to get ready for
that furniture show."
She suddenly felt very weary. "Well, I suppose we can still
have Barbara over anyway, if you'd like."
"Sure, why not? You know, I met her at church on
Sunday while you were in Nevada. She seems quite nice.
Maggie took her soup and bread to the library and sat
down in front of what was left of the fire. "Did Gavin and
Michael eat dinner with you and Spencer?"
Audrey nodded. "Yes, me and the boys. It was actually
kind of fun. You know, I think I might enjoy running a
boardinghouse, or bed-and-breakfast, or whatever you want
to call it."
Maggie smiled. Maybe it was the soup, but she was
feeling a little better. "You know you'd be great at it, Mom.
By the way, this soup is really good. I'm so glad you're
around to help out. I really appreciate it."
Audrey beamed in surprise. "Well, I must admit, it's nice
to be needed."
"Where's everybody else?"
"Spence and Daniel hobbled out to the barn to make
music. They weren't too happy to see Leah leave. Looks like
they're back to being a duet again." She glanced up at the 4184Melody Carison
clock. "Actually, Daniel's grandpa should be picking him up
any minute now. I'm not sure what Michael's up to. Maybe
unpacking, although he only had one bag."
"I hope he doesn't feel like Jed threw him out."
"No, not at all. He seemed happy to be here. And he
seemed to hit it off with Gavin too.,,
"What's Gavin up to?"
"He said he had some work to do upstairs, but that was
after he helped me in the kitchen. You know, after all I'd
heard about Gavin Barnes, I never expected that he'd be such