Page 78 of Look for Me

And I miss her most of all.

Spaghetti lunch was served, and Pete asked Martin to say grace before their meal. Martin made a short work of it, but he ended it with a prayer for Corinne.

“Lord, I know You’re watching over Corinne and her two children, but I want to keep praying that You would not let any harm come to them. If those criminals and diamond smugglers are gone, I pray that she will be free again. Above all, I only want Your perfect will to be done in her life. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”

Everyone else saidamen.

Their lunch conversation turned to their present-day life, and Martin realized that the two of them were living in poverty.

“What do you mean you don’t have health insurance?” Martin asked.

“We have Medicare,” Angelina said. “But Pete here put his life savings and the profits from the sale of his house into an investment fund that went under.”

“Oh, no.” Martin felt sorry for the man. “You lost money.”

“All of it.” Pete barely nodded. “I thought my nephew was… Well, I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

“So now he needs to get a job,” Angelina added. “You know anyone who could use a retired mechanic who can’t see straight without trifocals?”

Martin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Don’t worry about me,” Pete said. “Angelina talks too much. It’s not as bad as she’s making it.”

Martin ate his spaghetti quietly. Angelina kept giving him more. By the time he had three helpings, he was too full to eat any dessert.

“I made coconut macaroons,” Angelina said.

“Well, I’ll have one.” Martin laughed.

When Angelina passed the tray to her, Martin took four or five. They looked too delicious to pass up.

As he chewed, he turned his attention to Pete. “If you wear your trifocals, you can still see, right?”

“Sure.” Pete straightened up. “I can see fine. Angelina just worries about me.”

“You can’t even afford to get your eyes checked and get new glasses.” His wife patted his arm.

“Why are you saying all these things in front of our guest?” Pete chided her. “It’s not polite.”

“I was hoping he’d offer you a job at his car place.” Angelina looked at Martin.

Martin hadn’t thought about that, but if Pete qualified, there was no reason not to hire him. If he knew enough about classic cars to be useful, he could be helpful to Dad.

“In Savannah?” Pete asked his wife. “I don’t know.”

“If you go to our website and search for the Careers tab, you can find the job openings,” Martin said. “Dad handles that part of the company. He’s the personnel director. I mostly deal with paperwork and taxes and such.”

Pete looked embarrassed.

“You’ll have to move to Savannah though,” Martin said. “There are fewer hurricanes there.”

“We’d have to sell this boat,” Pete said. “Or rent it out.”

Angelina nodded. “Maybe I’ll get a job there too.”

“At MacMuscles?” Pete’s eyebrows rose.

“No, silly.” Angelina laughed. “In Savannah. Or on Tybee Island. We’ll still be by the Atlantic Ocean.”

---