Third Time's a Charm
Read Third Time's a Charm Online
Authors: Virginia Smith
Sister-to-Sister
Third Time’s a Charm
a novel
Virginia Smith
© 2010 by Virginia Smith
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
E-book edition created 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-0772-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Published in association with Books & Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
This book is dedicated with much love to
Sarabeth Marlowe and Tori Smith—
the youngest sisters in my family’s next generation.
Contents
One sign was certain to drive even the most pressing appointment right out of a girl’s head: Today Only—All Shoes 15% Off. The bright red letters snagged Tori Sanderson’s gaze as she speed-walked through the mall toward the exit, an elegantly wrapped box clutched in her arms. She skidded to a halt before the exclusive store. The last time she shopped here, she’d tried on a darling pair of Bournes that had haunted her dreams since she walked out without them. If her sister Allie hadn’t been with her at the time, she would have bought them in addition to the two pairs that went home with her. But Allie wasn’t here now. Tori glanced down at the pumps on her feet. They looked okay with this new dress, but those Bournes would be perfect.
She glanced at her watch. Two o’clock. The bridal shower started in one hour, and the drive from Lexington to Danville would take about forty minutes. If she’d known about the sale, she would have left the office at noon. Or maybe she would have skipped work completely. Some people didn’t come in at all on Saturday.
But, of course, those people didn’t work for Kate Bowman.
Tori thrust thoughts of the office out of her mind. She spent far too much time at work, and even more time worrying about her job when she wasn’t there. Anybody who worked as hard as she did deserved a reward. And was there a better reward anywhere than a new pair of shoes?
She tucked her sister’s shower gift under her arm and tilted her chin in the air as she pressed her way into the crowded shoe store.
Ninety minutes later Tori marched up the sidewalk and mounted the stairs to Allie’s front door, then paused to examine the dim reflection in the storm door glass. With nervous fingers, she plucked at her hem and guided a stray ringlet back into the Shirley Temple mass on her head.
What was the matter with her? Why didn’t she just dash into the mall, pick up Joan’s gift, and run straight back to the car? She aimed a smile at the shoes on her feet. They
were
absolutely adorable, and the matching belt had been on sale too. But she should have ignored the sale sign. Then she could have gotten here in time to pretend to be enthusiastic about Joan’s wedding and help set up for this party.
No, it wasn’t the shoe store. It was her job. If she had a normal job, she wouldn’t be working every Saturday. She would have been here this morning, blowing up balloons or something, and she wouldn’t feel like such a loser of a sister now. Kate’s constant demands were taking over her personal life lately, and she didn’t like it one bit. But what else could she do? Advertising was a fiercely competitive business. If she slacked off even a little bit at work, she’d find herself removed from the prestigious customer accounts and assigned to something dull and unimportant, like Lawton Lawn Service.
Besides, Allie probably didn’t need her help planning a bridal shower. No doubt her super-organized oldest sister had everything under control, as always. She probably recruited Gram to bake cookies or other goodies, much better than the bag of Oreos Tori would have grabbed at the store if she’d been put in charge of snacks. Allie could handle anything: the food, the decorations, those silly games you had to play at showers. Besides, both Joan and Allie knew she’d been working on a big project the past few months. They didn’t expect her help.
And hopefully they didn’t suspect her lack of help with the shower was because of her lack of support for the wedding. They wouldn’t think that, would they? No, they wouldn’t.
Tori clutched at the shoulder strap of her handbag. So why did she feel like such a slouchy sister?
A burst of muffled laughter sounded from inside the house. The party was under way, and she was missing it. Tori squared her shoulders and opened the door.
Inside, a jumble of clutter and chatter greeted her. Folding chairs lined the perimeter of Allie’s tiny living room, each one occupied. Wall-to-wall women, all of them talking and laughing and sipping something orangey out of plastic punch cups. Tori stopped just inside the doorway and scanned the room for a familiar face.
“Tori!”
Joan jumped off the sofa and crossed the room in two steps. Tori found herself pulled into an embrace.
“I’m sorry I’m late.” She held on to her middle sister for an extra couple of seconds.
Joan returned her hug. “You’re just in time. Allie has been hinting at some embarrassing game she’s planning to play, and I need an ally.” She pushed Tori back, hands clutching her arms as her gaze swept downward. “Look at that dress. On most women it would look like a baggy T-shirt, but on you it’s fantastic.”
A rush of warmth for her sister thawed the edges of Tori’s discomfort. Nobody could spend more than a minute in Joan’s company and feel uncomfortable. She exuded happiness, especially since she met her fiancé, a doctor who moved to town last year. Of course, the guy’s good looks were spoiled by an over-the-top attitude about religion, in Tori’s opinion. An attitude that seemed to be spreading through the Sanderson family at an alarming rate.
“This is for you.” Tori thrust her gift into Joan’s hands. “I hope you like it.”
“What a gorgeous package.” Joan ran a finger over the elaborate silver bow. “Go grab some punch while I put this in the other room. Allie and Gram are in the kitchen.”
Tori picked her way across the room, nodding a smile at the chatting women. She recognized a few faces. Most of these women went to the church where Tori and her sisters had been raised, and where they still attended.
“Hey, long time no see.” Eve Tankersley scooted her folding chair sideways a few inches to allow Tori to squeeze through. “We’ve missed you at church. Where’ve you been lately?”
Tori shrugged as she angled through the opening. “Working, mostly.”
She escaped to the kitchen without having to offer any further excuses. When she stepped through the doorway, Allie pounced on her.
“There you are! It’s about time. Here. ” She thrust a plastic container into Tori’s hands. “Get a tray out of the cabinet above the dishwasher and arrange these brownies on it.”
Tori stuck her lower lip out and sniffed loudly. “It’s nice to see you too.”
Allie paused in the act of reaching for the sink. She returned to squeeze Tori’s shoulders in a quick hug. “Sorry, I’m doing the headless chicken dance right now. It is good to see you.” She whirled away.
“Hello, Tori.” Gram started to rise from her seat at the small table, but Tori hurried to her side to save her the effort. Gram had recovered enough from breaking her hip last year that she no longer used a walker, but she still winced often and moved more slowly than before.
Tori pressed a kiss into a soft cheek. “Hi, Gram.”
Wrinkled eyelids drooped over the blue eyes turned up toward her. “We missed you again last week. Sunday dinner isn’t the same without the whole family there.”
“I missed you too.” Tori sidestepped Allie to retrieve the tray. “My job is crazy busy right now. Sundays are the only day I seem to be able to get any work done, when the phone isn’t ringing constantly and someone isn’t poking their head into my cubicle every few minutes.”