A Very Special Delivery

client’s face when she solved a problem for them.
    Since the ice storm there had been plenty of problems to solve. The center had been inundated with calls. In addition to their regular Meals-on-Wheels and other programs, everything from the need for a ride to the doctor to folks out of food and medicine had kept Molly and other staff members hopping. Many of the seniors were only now beginning to brave the cold weather to return to the center for lunch and socialization. Mrs. Gonzales was one of them.
    Molly escorted the bird-like lady from her small office to the main recreational and dining area. She liked this large common room, finding it cozy and welcoming despite the size, due in large part to the warm colors and decorations on the walls. At one end, a sectional surrounded a fake fireplace. At the other, a quilting frame awaited the expert fingers of the Quilting Club. Small game tables lined the walls and longer dining tables centered the room.
    Molly and Mrs. Gonzales made their way to a table where two other women chatted over hot coffee. One of them, Iris Flowers clunked down her cup and said, “Molly. Just the girl I wanted to see. How in the world did you know Maud Jennings needed groceries?”
    “Intuition, I suppose. I called her and she didn’t sound right, so I ran by her house on the way to work.”
    Phoning clients who hadn’t made an appearance at the center was something Molly did on her own, but she believed making that contact, especially with those who lived alone, was important and necessary.
    Iris, who wore wild floral prints befitting her name, pursed crimson lips in irritation. “The proud old thing never told a soul she was in trouble.”
    “Some folks are like that. Don’t want to impose, but I was glad to help out.” And she was.
    The seniors accepted her, never whispered behind her back or made snide remarks. And in return, she gave them her all, sometimes working long after
the center closed. She didn’t mind. Usually she had nothing but a cat to go home to.
    “You’re more and more like your Aunt Patsy everyday,” Mrs. Gonzales added. “Isn’t she, Iris?”
    The other two women nodded and beamed looks of approval her way.
    Molly hoped the compliment was true. She couldn’t imagine a better person to emulate than her great-aunt.
    “Thank you, ladies. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find someone to go out and light Mrs. Gonzales’s furnace so the place will be cozy when she gets home.”
    “Why don’t you get that cute UPS man to do it?” Iris said. “He’s right handy at such things.”
    The old ladies giggled like teenagers and Molly laughed with them, though hers was more forced. All the seniors seemed to know that she and Ethan had ridden out the storm together and teased her about him on a regular basis.
    “I imagine he’s in Mena today making deliveries.”
    “And then again,” Iris said pointedly, giving her glasses a shove. “Maybe he’s not.”
    The ladies giggled as Molly followed the direction of Iris’s gaze.
    Her heart tumbled to her toenails.
    Ethan, carrying a load of packages, pushed through the glass double doors and came toward her.
    When he spotted her gaping at him as though she’d never seen such a good-looking sight, he smiled. Her heart tumbled a little farther.
    “Close your mouth, Molly,” Iris whispered.
    Though her mouth wasn’t really open, Molly knew she had to get a grip. She took a deep breath and returned his smile.
    “Hi,” she said and was amazed to sound so natural.
    “Hi, yourself.” He stopped in front of her and gazed down with the strangest light in his eyes. She stood there like an idiot, mesmerized.
    He looked rested and well. And really, really handsome in the brown uniform that set off his brown hair and blue eyes to perfection.
    She’d missed him. Had he missed her?
    “Yoo-hoo, Molly. Ethan,” Iris trilled while two other ladies tittered. “Helloooo.”
    Ethan broke the magnetic stare long enough to nod in their direction. “Ladies. How y’all doin’?”
    “Couldn’t be better.” The three women beamed. “Isn’t that right, Molly?”
    Molly decided to ignore their pointed attempts at matchmaking.
    “Deliveries for us?” she asked.
    “There are more in the van. Must have been a backlog while the roads were so bad.”
    He seemed in no hurry to move, but Molly knew she had to do something besides stare like a lovesick cow.
    “I’ll help you unload.”
    “Great.” Ethan grinned as if