Rose Harbor in Bloom by Debbie Macomber Page A

hallway. He closed the door to their room and then twisted the knob several times to be sure it was locked. “Now, what is everyone in the mood to eat? I say we go out for Mexican.”
    “Kent,” Julie said with a groan. “You know how Mexican food gives me heartburn; besides, all that cheese isn’t good for your heart.”
    A frown darkened her grandfather’s face. “I haven’t had cheese in weeks. If I want to splurge and have cheese, then I will. You’re not in charge of my diet, I am, and I want Mexican.”
    “We can order a chicken salad, Grandma,” Annie suggested.
    “Oh, all right. I don’t know why it is everyone feels they have to tiptoe around your grandfather.”
    Her grandparents walked ahead of them, arguing over somethingnew as they all made their way outside to where Oliver had parked the car.
    “Were they like this all the way from Portland?” Annie asked Oliver, shaken by their bickering.
    “I’m afraid so. They’ve been snapping at each other from the moment we left.”
    “Oh, dear.”
    “How about a truce, Annie?” Oliver asked. “Between you and me. If we can be civil to each other, maybe they’ll follow our example.”
    Annie knew better than to trust him. But then he looked down at her with those deep brown eyes and she almost gave in. “We’ll see.”
    He shrugged. “Okay, have it your way.”
    While Annie joined her grandparents, Oliver went back to get a recommendation for a Mexican restaurant from Jo Marie. He returned in quick order and slid into the driver’s seat next to Annie’s grandfather. Annie and her grandmother sat in the backseat.
    “Jo Marie said there’s a great place not far from here called the Taco Shack,” Oliver said as he started the car engine.
    Annie’s grandmother muttered something under her breath and grimaced.
    Annie patted Julie’s hand. “I’m sure it will be all right.”
    Julie looked out the side window and whispered, “I think it’s wrong the way everyone caters to your grandfather. It’s wrong, I tell you.”
    “I heard that,” Kent growled. “No one is catering to me, especially you.”
    “Don’t you remember …”
    “Julie has the memory of an elephant,” Kent said, leaning toward Oliver. “She brings up stuff from forty years ago as if it happened yesterday.”
    “I think we’re going to have lovely weather for the vow renewal,” Annie piped in before the two broke out into a full-blown argument.
    “Who said anything about renewing our vows?” her grandfather asked, twisting around to look at Annie. “At the rate your grandmother and I are going, this marriage won’t last another week.”
    “You’ve been threatening to leave me for fifty years. One would think you’d have done it before now.”
    “Children, children,” Oliver said, chuckling softly.
    “Oh, look at that cute restaurant,” Julie said, pointing to a pink Victorian-style building as they drove past.
    “That’s the tearoom I mentioned when I first started looking for someplace to hold the reception,” Annie said. “Unfortunately, the restaurant isn’t set up for receptions.”
    “It looks just perfect,” her grandmother mused aloud. “I bet they serve incredible lunches.”
    “You couldn’t get me within ten feet of that place,” Kent muttered. “You won’t see me in a tearoom with my pinkie in the air, sipping tea.”
    “I wouldn’t want to go there with you anyway.”
    “Ah, here we are,” Oliver said, cutting off their argument. He made a right-hand turn into the restaurant parking lot. “This looks to be every bit as good as Jo Marie promised.” He parked directly in front of the Taco Shack.
    After listening to her grandparents bicker for the entire ride, Annie’s stomach was tied into one giant knot. All her memories of her beloved grandma and grandpa had been those of a loving couple. Not once could she recall a cross word between them. Here they were about to celebrate fifty years of marriage and it was almost as if