Free Finding Floyd by Melinda Peters Page A

the women had brought. Several of the
chainsaw jockeys were seated around the table, plowing their way
through the desserts. Two women were at the sink rinsing and
stacking dirty dishes. On the floor, Lina and her sister, Callie,
played under the work island with their dolls.
    Gesturing towards the crowd, Jack said close
to her ear, "I thought I'd go to the store for Diane. With all
these unexpected guests, she's running out of groceries. You want
to come? We could check out Floyd and find The Country Store. I
want to go there on Friday night for the music."
    Vicky grinned at him. "Absolutely! I'm so
going with you. Friday night there's a lot of activity in Floyd. I
read about it on the web site. Ask Diane what she needs while I get
ready. I won't be long." She slipped through the crowd and out of
the kitchen."
    "Jack?" He turned to see Diane at his side.
She looked frazzled in the midst of the barely controlled
chaos.
    Pushing damp tendrils of hair off her
forehead with the back of her hand, she said, "Thanks for offering
to buy some groceries. I sent a list to your phone. Just a few
things to last me until I have a chance to go on Monday. Make sure
you get a lot of coffee."
    "No problem. We came here to help, not just
to relax."
    "Thanks." She glanced around and said, "It
seems like everyone is either bringing in food, serving food,
eating food, or cleaning up the mess from food. I don't know how
Sandy can afford to feed all these people! And I don't know how I'm
going to pay those men for all that work. Sandy never mentioned an
emergency fund, or said anything about people coming for breakfast.
She told me there were no guests booked for the rest of the month
and I just had to take care of the animals. They all just started
showing up. Everybody's real nice and friendly, but...I wasn't
ready for all this."
    Carol Anne, Beau Shackleford's wife, was
loading the big commercial dishwasher. Frowning she called over her
shoulder, "Hey Diane. I think there's something wrong here. The
handle on this faucet is loose and it's started to leak some."
    "Let me take a look," said Jack, stepping up
to the sink. After examining the fixture, he said, "This faucet
needs to be replaced. It's just plain worn out."
    "Oh no!" moaned Diane. "What else can go
wrong?"
    "Just be careful with it. I'll get a new
faucet while we're out and tomorrow I'll replace it. No
problem."
    "Thanks, Jack," Diane said gratefully. "I'm
really glad you and Vicky could come."
    Out on the porch, the music stopped and the
men began packing up their instruments. The people at the table
pushed back their chairs and began to carry their plates to the
dishwasher. The women hung up their dishtowels and gathered their
things.
    Diane smiled weakly as they all stopped to
thank her.
    Kyle hung back from the crowd as they filed
out, and then approached Diane. "It was mighty nice of you, Miss
Diane, to take over for Sandy like this." He winked as he slipped
another brownie from the plate. "Usually there's more music, but
today we wanted to get that tree out of your way. I'm fixing to
head into town. Why don't you come along with me? I could show you
around and then we could get us a bite to eat."
    More food? Seriously? Diane's mind reeled.
Except when they were cutting up the fallen tree or playing their
instruments on the back porch, they'd been eating all day long!
"Thank you, Kyle. I really appreciate your thinking of me, but I'm
pooped. Maybe another time?"
    "I understand, but I'd sure feel privileged
if you'd let me take you to lunch, maybe tomorrow? There's a couple
of nice places to eat in town. Be happy to show you round." He
smiled and gave a tug on the bill of his baseball cap before
slipping past Vicky as she returned to the kitchen with her jacket
and purse.
    "He totally likes you, Diane!" Vicky teased
as she rejoined her friend.
    Diane sank onto a kitchen chair and
groaned.
    "Hey. Where'd everybody go all of a sudden?"
said Vicky.
    "I don't know. They all just left