Free Everyday Blessings by Jillian Hart

“Talk about a storm. I pulled into the parking lot as the lights went out, or I’dprobably be snarled up in a long traffic jam somewhere. The streetlights are out, too. Guess what I brought?”
    Aubrey squinted at the brown paper bag. Could it be? “Leftovers?”
    â€œYep! I didn’t forget ya, and good thing, too. And guess what? It’s still warm. What have you been up to, besides hunting for a flashlight?”
    â€œIt would have helped if you made it a habit to put things where they belong.”
    â€œI had technical difficulties.”
    â€œWhat a surprise.” Aubrey pulled a knife and fork from the silverware drawer and a length of paper towel from the roll. “I never thought I’d ever be lucky enough to marry you off. I can’t believe there was a taker for you.”
    â€œI know. It just goes to show that true love doesn’t find you until you’ve given up your last shred of hope.” Cheerfully, Ava padded into the living room. “I heard from Dad, who’d talked to Katherine who heard from Danielle that Jonas is holding his own. He’s not better, but he’s not worse. That’s a miracle enough for now.”
    â€œAnd something to be very thankful for.” Aubrey slid onto the middle cushion of the couch and stood the flashlight on end on the coffee table. She opened the brown bag Ava had brought her. “Ooh, chicken manicotti. Garlic bread. Onion rings.”
    â€œAnd chocolate fudge brownies are on the bottom.” Ava dropped into the reading chair and tilted her head to one side as if she were focusing on something on the shadowed edge of the coffee table.
    Right where she’d left the phone, Aubrey realized. And William’s card! She reached out to snatch it.
    Not fast enough. Ava slapped her hand down on it. “Well, now, what have we here?”
    â€œNothing. And if it was, it’s not your business.”
    â€œYou have that wrong, Aub. Everything is my business.” If Ava grinned any wider, she was going to sprain a jaw muscle. She snatched up the card and kept it protected against her palm, so that it would be impossible for Aubrey to grab. She squinted in the bad light. “William Corey. Imagine that.”
    â€œDanielle asked me to keep him informed of Jonas’s condition.”
    â€œSure she did.” Ava rolled her eyes, reading far too much into that simple, innocent request.
    â€œDon’t even go there.” Oh, Aubrey knew exactly what her twin was thinking. Her twin with no common sense whatsoever had an imagination that always got her into trouble. “It was totally nothing.”
    â€œIf I remember right, didn’t I say the same thing when I met Brice?”
    â€œYes, but this really is just business.” Not that she’d remembered to tell him much about it. How could she have forgotten? “He wants to make a donation, too.”
    â€œOkay sure, but I said it was just business, too, and look at me—engaged to be married to Brice and having had an almost successful dinner with his parents.”
    â€œNo, when you met Brice, you thought he was a yucky man with no morals, propositioning you. Nothing could have been further from the truth.”
    â€œOh, yeah, well, so I was wrong. It worked out.”
    It was Aubrey’s turn to roll her eyes. Ava was wrong all the time, but she wasn’t about to argue with her. That would only keep the conversation focused on William, right where it didn’t belong. Ava so had the wrong idea about poor William. Time to redirect the conversation. “Why was the dinner with Brice’s parents almost successful? What did you do this time?”
    â€œIt’s always me, isn’t it? Okay, so it was.” In good humor, Ava laughed at herself. “Brice’s mom had just got this new vase kind of thing. I guess it was worth beaucoup bucks. Do I look like an art expert? No-oo. I decorate cakes and work