Читать книгу Heart's Desire - Catherine Lanigan - Страница 15

CHAPTER SEVEN

EASTER SUNDAY WAS one of the three days of the year, the other two being Christmas and the Fourth of July, when just about every business shut its doors and hung out the closed sign in Indian Lake.

Maddie had been one of the first to post her Easter hours. Though she was always closed on Sunday mornings, she closed on Good Friday afternoon and used the time to fill Easter catering orders for hot cross buns, coconut cupcakes, bunny-shaped cakes and her popular lamb-shaped, vanilla-bean, cream-filled cake.

But Easter itself was a day off for Maddie, and she planned to spend it at The Pine Tree Lodges’ Easter brunch with Sarah, Luke, his kids, Mrs. Beabots and Olivia.

The Pine Tree Lodges began its tourist season every year at Easter. Because so many holiday visitors came to Indian Lake for the early-spring dogwoods and red buds that blossomed on the property, the lodge was booked to capacity. Another main attraction was the six-hour-long Easter champagne brunch that Edgar Clayton had been serving for four decades. Not only did the out of towners book tables for brunch, but so did the townsfolk.

Maddie knew that Isabelle would be doing double duty all day on Easter. Normally, the bookkeeper and accountant, on Easter she had to serve as head hostess in the dining room.

Isabelle was a talented artist, but she had to work at the lodge to make ends meet, since she couldn’t yet support herself with her art alone. This winter again, Isabelle had entered several of her sculptures and three of her oils to various galleries in Arizona, New York and Los Angeles and was rejected by them. She was now faced with the fact that as good as her work was, it just might not be good enough. Maddie constantly told Isabelle not to give up and to keep submitting her work. Because Maddie was teetering on the precipice of success, she encouraged her friend to stay the course, too.