Free More Than You Know by Nan Rossiter Page A

Rumer to get in and looked out the window. “She loved ‘Spirit of Gentleness’ and ‘There Is a Balm in Gilead’ too,” she added softly.
    “Those hymns are all perfect,” Rumer agreed.
    “I think Tommy might be willing to give a eulogy,” Isak said, turning the key. The engine rumbled to life. “He has a lot of memories from spending summers with Mum when he was little. But I think we should ask someone else too.”
    “I wish I could say something,” Beryl mused, “but I’m afraid I’d never get through it. Maybe I’ll write something and let someone else read it.”
    “That’s a good idea,” Rumer said.
    “I think Meghan would be willing to read one of the Scriptures,” Isak added. “Would Rand want to?”
    Rumer swallowed. “I don’t know, Isak. He’s kind of young and his reading skills aren’t the best, and I . . . I’m not even sure they’re coming.”
    Isak looked over at her sister and just about drove off the road. “What? Why?”
    “Hey!” Rumer said, reaching for the handle above her head. “Watch where you’re going!”
    Isak looked back at the road. “By the way, where are we going? Are you two hungry?”
    “A little,” Rumer said.
    Beryl looked out the window. “I bought salad and stuff.”
    Isak glanced over her shoulder. “We have all week to eat at the house. Why don’t we just go to Harlow’s? It would be quick and easy—and my treat.”
    Beryl hesitated and then remembered the Avocado Bliss sandwich on the Harlow’s Pub’s menu. “Fine with me,” she said. “But afterward I have to stop at the shop.”
    Isak and Rumer looked at each other. “Thoreau!” they said in unison.
    “Why don’t we just bring that poor cat back to the house for the week?” Rumer asked. “He’s going to be lonely with the shop closed.”
    “Actually, I hadn’t decided if I was going to close,” Beryl confessed. She was already beginning to feel like she might need a break from her sisters, and the shop would be the perfect excuse.
    “Ber, you have to—we have so much to do,” Rumer said. “Just put a sign in the window. Your customers will understand.”
    Isak nodded as she parked near the restaurant. “One week won’t break the business.”
    “It might.”
    “Well, if it does,” she quipped, “you’ll have more time for what you’re supposed to be doing—writing!” As they got out of the car, she eyed Rumer. “Now, what do you mean you don’t know if they’re coming? It’s his grandmother and he better be coming!”
    “It’s not that simple,” Rumer said as she passed through the open door of the pub.
    “It is that simple,” Isak countered, smiling at the hostess. “Three, please.”
    The restaurant was crowded, but the hostess showed them to a table that had just been cleared. “Your waitress will be right with you,” she said with a warm smile, handing them menus.
    “Rumer, I don’t want to hear some lame excuse about money. You’re about to come into money, and if you need some until that happens, just say so.”
    Rumer shook her head. “Will does not want to bor—”
    “Will needs to get over himself,” Isak interrupted dismissively. “He always thinks he has to carry the world on his shoulders. There was a time when he was fun to be around, when he didn’t take life so seriously—whatever happened to that Will?”
    “I guess I happened to him,” Rumer replied edgily. “You know, Isak, you’re awfully quick to judge people. Not everyone has had the world handed to them.”
    Their waitress appeared. “Hey, ladies! My name’s Lexie. Would you like to start with something to drink?”
    Isak looked questioningly at her sisters, and Rumer quickly scanned the beverage list. “Hmm, I’ll have a Sam Adams—Alpine Spring, if you have it.” Lexie nodded and turned to Beryl.
    “I think I’ll have an iced t . . .” she started, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Isak shaking her head and quickly changed her mind. “I’ll