CHAPTER 16Housewarming
WHEN Linda parked the station wagon and hurried into the Purchases’ Saturday morning, the kitchen looked like a bakeshop. Mrs. Purchas had been on the job since five, and her chairs and tables were loaded with boxes of brownies and pastry tarts and trays of frosted cupcakes. The Delight’s cook had rolled and checkerboarded sandwiches to store in his refrigerator most of the afternoon before, but Deborah Purchas was taking care of everything else herself. Doughnuts were still ahead of her, and she did not mind a bit. This housewarming was important. She could not remember when anything had given her as much satisfaction as watching the old Farr house come back to life.
“Deliveryman,” Linda sang out, and Mrs. Purchas looked up to smile at her.
“All these boxes are r
