Page 26 of Dying to Read

By the time Shirley had arrived at nine, Rarity had finished a pot of coffee. She still had a box of eggs to stuff. She glanced at her watch as Shirley came into the back room. “Good morning.”

“Don’t tell me I’m late, I stopped by Annie’s to get coffee for us.” Shirley handed her a to-go mug and studied her face. “You need to get more sleep.”

“Thanks. I take it I look about as good as I feel?” Rarity sipped the coffee gratefully. She might not be able to sleep tonight due to the amount of caffeine in her system, but at least she’d get through the day. If she had to, she’d go cold turkey from caffeine on Sunday to get her system back in sync. “Maybe we should keep the door locked until these are done. Heidi’s coming at two.”

Shirley glanced at the table, then emptied the rest of the box of plastic eggs on top of it. “We should be fine. We rarely get customers this early. And besides, Jonathon should be here soon to watch the front.”

“How did you know Jonathon was coming?” Rarity put a blue egg she’d filled into the basket and reached for another one.

“I texted him to see if he needed coffee.” Shirley shrugged. “I figured he’d be hanging around here during the day while Drew works. He’s a creature of habit.”

“He didn’t want coffee?”Rarity asked.

“It’s sitting behind the counter with my tote.” Shirley sat down and started filling eggs. “How’s Terrance?”

“Maybe you should text him yourself and ask.” Rarity glanced up as she put a pink egg into the basket and reached for another one.

“I’m asking you.” Shirley’s voice was quiet.

Rarity nodded but didn’t look up at Shirley. “He’s sad, I think. Jonathon spent some time last evening with him. He would know more.”

“Oh, my. Are the two of them hanging out together? Sedona won’t survive,” Shirley said. Rarity looked up at the tone and saw Shirley smiling.

The bell over the door rang and Jonathon called out, “Honey, I’m home.”

“We’re in the back working on eggs,” Rarity called back. It felt good to have people around. Especially after the strange night she’d had. If this was the end of her and Archer, at least she wouldn’t be alone. She had friends.

“Aren’t you done with those yet?” Jonathon stood inside the doorway where he still had a view of the front door. He held up one of Annie’s to-go cups. “And is this my coffee?”

“No, and yes,” Shirley answered. “If you’re that worried about us finishing, you can come in and work on a few.”

Jonathon shook his head. “Nope. I always left Easter for Edith to manage. Except, I need to get back to Tucson in time for the festivities in two weeks. It’s nice that Sedona does their egg hunt so early. I heard parents talking about doing one each weekend up until Easter Sunday. I would have been the grump to put my foot down and limit the kids to the one hunt close by. But no—Edith and the grandbaby are coming up for Sedona’s hunt, then hitting Flagstaff’sthe next day.”

“I hope I’ll be seeing them.” Rarity worked on filling a yellow egg that didn’t want to goback together.

“You have too much stuffing,” Shirley pointed out.

Jonathon chuckled at the two. “Reminds me of that old Lucy bit with Ethel. You need a conveyor belt. And to answer your question, Rarity, Edith promised to stop by your tent. You need to make sure you have baby books for sale, I’m sure she’ll want to fill up Savannah’s basket with books.”

“Believe me, we’ll have an assortment for all ages. I almost didn’t buy any adult books, but I know we’ll have lots of tourists wandering through as well as local families.” Rarity turned to Shirley. “Remind me to have Katie make a sign for the door telling them we’re at the festival and to stop by.”

“She’s not in today, but she’s already made a sign for the door. She did it last Saturday.” Shirley nodded to the front. “It’s under the register counter.”

“Of course she did.” Rarity grabbed another egg. “I swear, that girl could run a three-ring circus all on her own on top of a forty-hour-a-week job. She’s going to do something with her life.”

Shirley grabbed another egg. “I’ve decided that I’m going back to school next fall.”

“What?” Rarity and Jonathon asked the question atthe same time.

“Jinx.” Shirley grinned. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I don’t want a degree for some big job, but I’d like to explore a few subjects and see what I want to study. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get a master’s degree and teach at the college level.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Rarity almost followed it up with the whole since-you-were-kicked-out-of-hanging-out-at-George’s-home. She rethought the comment and only said, “I’ll probably lose you backto part-time.”

Shirley shrugged. “Not at first. I talked to a counselor a few weeks ago and they suggested I take some evening classes to see what I want to study. I’m pretty sure it’s English, but maybe history. So I’m taking two classes in the fall. Kathy’s worried about me driving so much.”

“Kathy’s worried about a lot of things she should leave alone,” Rarity said then slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I should stay out of family business.”

“I trust your opinion. You see me as an adult woman. Kathy sees me as her aging mother. I know I gave the kids a scare during the cancer thing, but I’m a grown woman and I can make my own decisions—especially since their father is unfortunately abdicating his role in the family. He didn’t even recognize Kathy yesterday when she went to see him. And that Lizzy, she thought Kathy was trying to flirt with him.”

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