Looking For You All My Life Part 124

She had barely stepped into the reception area when the

onslaught began. "Greg Snider's been by twice already,"

reported Abigail with exasperation, "and he's acting like he

owns the world too!"

"Randy Ebbert stopped in as well," added Scott as he

held up a flyer. "He delivered an official notice announcing

the birth of his new newspaper, the Conservative Code.

Don't know what the code stands for. Maybe it's a secret

handshake for members only or a special swastika ring."

"And Cohn Byers asked that you return his call as soon

as you step in," said Abigail with a deep sigh. "He's called

several times already, and for the gentleman that you

described, he sounded slightly rude-if you ask me."

Maggie ran a hand through her hair. "I'll bet he's already

read the Pine Cone from our website. Oh man, I can hardly

wait for that conversation. My guess is he'll bring in one of

his high-powered attorneys to scare us a little."

"Oh, I almost forgot," called Scott just as she was trying

to slip into her office.

"Now what?"

"Actually, this has nothing to do with business," he

began somewhat apologetically. "And it's probably the very 194Melody Carison

worst timing on my part, but I promised. You see, Chloe

wants to know if we can get married in your house.

Maggie stared at him speechiessly.

He laughed self-consciously. "I told her I thought you had

your hands full right now, but she was so upset last night

that I promised her I'd ask you the moment I saw you today.

Feel free to say no, Maggie. I know it's a lot to ask anyone.

I mean it's crazy, really."

"But why? I thought you were going to get the hotel or

the church. And it's such late notice-don't you have your

invitations printed already?"

"We thought we could get the hotel, but we hadn't nailed

it. Then we found out last night that Brian and Cindy had

Ialready invited a bunch of their Seattle friends for a big New

Year's Eve bash. It's their way to drum up some business, I

guess, especially since this year's ski season is looking so

gloomy right now. And then, of course, Jed's shutting down

the church-"

"Shutting down the church?" She was incredulous. "I

hadn't heard that."

"Yeah, it kind of surprised me too. But that's what he told

my dad yesterday. It's always been pretty inconvenient for

folks to get up there, especially during the winter months,

and as a result they end up missing a lot of Sundays because

of the snow and ice and bad weather. Anyway, he told Dad

he thinks it's time to turn the building back into a house like

he'd always planned to. I guess now that his daughter's living

there he needs more room. Can't say that I blame him either.