Free The All You Can Dream Buffet by Barbara O'Neal Page A

thing.”
    Lavender eyed a trio of hens who had wandered down the path behind her. One fat girl with wheat-colored feathers clucked under her breath, eyeing the ground. “I’ve known all three of them for years. Each one has something that might make her a good fit.” She held up her thumb. “Ruby is devoted to the organic movement, and she’s young and looking for her place in life.” She poked her index finger into the air. “Valerie and her daughter need a fresh start, and Val’s as smart as anyone I’ve ever met. She’s spent a lot of time studying wine, which takes a knowledge of the soil.”
    Noah gave her a skeptical look. “She’s the ballerina, right? City woman.”
    Lavender shrugged. “She’s a stretch but worth a try.” She stuck up her middle finger. “Ginny was raised on a farm and is so miserable where she is that I think she’d move to Mars.”
    “You do what you need to do, I guess. I’ll be here.”
    She patted his shoulder. “Fair enough.” She got to her feet. “How is the dancing platform coming along?” Her vision for the night of the Blue Moon Festival included a party like the ones she’d enjoyed in her youth, with lights strung around a platform and everyone dancing to a band.
    “It’s good. Come on over later and I’ll show it to you.”
    “Will do.”
    As Lavender was heading back toward the house, Noah called after her, “Lavender, I am sorry.”
    She only waved a hand. He thought he knew what he wanted, but she saw him better than he did himself. She hadn’t given up yet.
    Lavender found Ruby drinking a mug of tea on the porch of the cottage. Ruby didn’t see her, so Lavender caught the pensive expression before Ruby could mask it with her eternal smile. She reminded Lavender of a Russian farm girl, with her straight blond hair and curves and the round apple cheeks. Before they’d met in person, Lavender imagined that Ruby would be a whirling dervish, thin and leggy and exuberant.
    The exuberance was there, of course, the zest that brought people to her blog in such numbers. But how did a person stay so cheerful all the time?
    “Good morning,” Lavender called out now. “Would you like some breakfast?”
    “I’d like to make you some breakfast if you’ll let me,” Ruby said. “It’s my turn, you know.”
    “Better be something hearty. I’m starving.”
    “Pancakes, then. How’s that? Do you have any bananas?”
    “Yes, ma’am, I do. I also have some fresh blueberries we collected down by the creek. We can run down to McMinnville later this afternoon and get groceries if you want.”
    “I’d really like to do that. I need to stock up on a bunch of fresh food.”
    The kitchen was tiny, just about enough room to turn around three times. “I need coffee,” Lavender said. “You want some, too, or does it upset your stomach?”
    “I’m going to stick with my mint tea.” Ruby gave Lavender a wan smile. “The doctor gave me anti-nausea drugs, and I broke down and took some this morning.”
    “Sometimes medicine is a good thing.”
    They moved companionably around the small space, back-to-back, side by side. Ruby assembled her ingredients and heated a griddle Lavender had dug out of the back of a cabinet, a cast-iron beauty that covered two gas burners. It had belonged to her mother and showed the depth of time.
    Ruby squeaked when she saw it. “This is so cool!” She made a kissing noise toward it. “I’ve wanted to get one for ages.”
    “My mother used it nearly every day of her life.”
    “I can imagine.” She spread oil over the heavy iron, then lovingly heated it until water skittered over the surface. As she ladled the batter into evenly sized pools, Ruby bloomed with that beneficent, glowing smile. She half lit up the room with it. “Can we go to the meadery today?”
    “You bet.”
    “And … uh, do you have cat food?”
    Lavender frowned. “Cat food?”
    “A little black cat showed up on my doorstep last night. She was being