Free A Chance of a Lifetime by Marilyn Pappano

not adding another.”
    “Darn,” Lucy said, though she wasn’t really disappointed. She had never said to herself, I want a half-frozen kitten, but since she’d gotten one, she was making the best of it. Besides, Norton curling up to sleep on his bed with Sebastian and his yellow ducky sharing equal places of honor guaranteed her at least one smile a day.
    Ilena replaced the kitten next to the dog, then stood up and brushed her skirt down. “I came to talk to you about your business.”
    Pleasure skittered through Lucy, settling somewhere in her chest.
    “Remember my old boss Brody? Actually, I probably talked more about his wife the witch than I did him.”
    Lucy nodded. The conversations were memorable for two reasons: because it was out of character for Ilena to talk badly about someone else, and because the wife really had been a witch to all the poor unfortunates who crossed paths with her.
    “Alicia Anne fancied herself a caterer, so Brody bought a little place for her to set up shop in. Before she actually cooked anything in the new building, she decided the summers here were too hot, so he sold the real estate office and they moved to Florida.”
    “Because of course it never gets hot there.”
    Ilena grinned at Lucy’s snark. “Anyway, Alicia Anne won’t let him sell the building because…well, even Brody doesn’t understand why, but he figures he should recoup at least some of his investment, so he’s looking for a tenant. He completely redid the kitchen for Alicia Anne, though she decided they had to move as soon as that was done, so the dining room needs work. The rent is really reasonable—”
    She stated a number that raised Lucy’s brows. She could totally pay that for a year from her savings, which was how much time she’d given herself to prove Prairie Harts could succeed. She wasn’t expecting total self-sufficiency, much less a profit, in that time, but at least some evidence that either or both were somewhere on the horizon.
    “The downside is that the location isn’t the best—one of the reasons Alicia Anne changed her mind, I’m sure. It’s on North First Street.” Ilena wrinkled her nose and raised her brows. “But you see the potential, don’t you? You want to go see it, don’t you?”
    North First was that section of street leaving town that every town had: empty lots, a motel, a flower shop, a gas station, a garage. It lacked the charm of downtown Tallgrass and the commercial traffic of East Main and the first few blocks of South First. But a kitchen she could afford…a space that met her needs both for catering now and a bakery/restaurant later…
    “Of course I want to see it. Can we go now? Just let me clean up.”
    After handing John to his mother, Lucy went to the bedroom, opened both closet doors, and stared for a moment before pulling out a brand-new pair of miracle-fiber jeans that were like Spanx for her entire lower body. Even her feet looked better in the jeans. She added a snug-fitting sweater that stopped an inch below her waist and boots that barely cleared her ankles—her punishment for having fat ankles and calves that wouldn’t fit in a pair of knee boots to save her life. She put on rings, bracelets, a necklace, and perfume, and headed back to the living room.
    “Oh, I like your hair down, Lucy,” Ilena said happily. “You’re so pretty.”
    A flush warmed her face. She had never had the delicate/pale/blond beauty Ilena took for granted, but she was feeling happier with her own self these days. Not pretty yet—still too round for that—but getting there.
    “And you went shopping! How many sizes have you lost?”
    “Two. Three if I don’t breathe.”
    “Oxygen’s overrated.” Ilena hefted John to her shoulder while Lucy gathered her coat, purse, and keys, then they piled into Ilena’s SUV for the short drive to the restaurant.
    It sat alone in the middle of a block that was only half the usual size. The parking lot was gravel and bumpy, and