The Last Word (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

herself into work, scouring the docks for the freshest seafood, tweaking menus with Hudson and Michel, and answering hundreds of e-mails from customers, suppliers, and food critics.
    When the inbox on her desk was barren, she and Laurel drove to the closest megamall, talking about everything under the sun other than Laurel’s marital problems. Her articles on Cora and Boyd Vickers and the love story between Evelyn White and Heinrich Kamler had been picked up by several of the big-name papers. As a result, she’d had job offers from across the country, which she’d used as leverage to gain more flexible work hours and a higher salary.
    “I’ll be able to bring the boys to their preschool and pick them up again. And when I can’t be there, I can afford to hire this wonderful retired schoolteacher who lives in our neighborhood,” Laurel told Olivia with a smile. “I’m getting the best of both worlds. I get to be around for my kids and have the job of my dreams.”
    “I don’t know how you do it all,” Olivia told her friend. “You’re so busy. How will you find the time to work on your book?”
    Laurel shrugged. “I write after I put the boys to bed. I’m tired, but I pour myself some wine and sit down at the computer with Michael Bublé or Harry Connick and type away for an hour or two every night.” She twisted a strand of wheat blond hair around her forefinger. “It’s not like Steve and I are sharing a bottle of merlot in the kitchen and swapping stories about our day. We’re not even watching TV together. For the past few months, I’ve barely seen him. He comes home after I’m already in bed, smelling like beer and cigarettes.”
    “Have you asked him where he’s been?”
    “I’m afraid of the answer,” Laurel said after a pregnant pause. “As long as we’re in this limbo, we’re still a family.”
    Olivia cast her a sidelong glance. “And how does Michel fit in this familial arrangement?”
    Laurel colored. “He’s just a good friend.”
    “You know he wants to be more than that.”
    “I told him that I can’t,” she said firmly. “Not while I’m still married. I’m not that kind of woman.”
    Olivia wasn’t sure what else there was to say. Only Laurel could determine when she was ready to address the problems with her marriage, and Olivia knew nothing about the intricacies of the institution. It had taken her most of her adult life to meet a man worth taking a risk for, and yet, she had no idea how to follow Jeannie’s advice and do something big to show Sawyer Rawlings that she had no reservations left when it came to starting a relationship with him.
    Laurel perked up the moment she entered the children’s boutique. Moving through the store with utmost assurance, she filled a cart with bedding, clothes, diapers, bathing equipment, and toys. She then chose the nursery furniture, insisting upon same-day delivery. When the woman running the customer service desk spluttered an excuse, pointing at the schedule on her computer, Olivia gestured at the pair of loaded shopping carts and said, “We could leave these here and go to another store if that’s what you’d prefer.”
    “No, no!” the woman hastily capitulated. “I’m sure we can work something out.”
    “I wish I had the guts to do that,” Laurel said after their purchases had been totaled.
    Olivia grinned. “I wouldn’t have been so forceful, but the schedule page she showed us was for last week. I don’t like being lied to, I don’t like laziness, and I don’t like people treating me like I’m a nitwit.”
    “No wonder Michel respects you so much,” Laurel said with a laugh. “He refers to you as Madame General to the staff, you know.”
    “I think that has a nice ring to it,” Olivia replied breezily.
    After shopping, the two women and Haviland ate lunch at a dog-friendly outdoor café and then Olivia dropped Laurel off and drove across town to meet Hudson at his house. Hudson gave her a quick tour of his home and then they sat on the stoop and drank iced coffee. It wasn’t long before the deliverymen from the children’s boutique arrived and set up the nursery furniture. Olivia tipped them handsomely and then she and Hudson hung curtains and framed prints and washed a load of baby clothes, blankets, and burp cloths. They put board books and soft toys on the shelves and plugged in a crescent moon nightlight.
    When they were done, Hudson stood in the doorway and gazed around the room. Laurel