Page 30 of Dying to Read

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be right back. And thank you.” Jack grinned at Shirley. As he left the tent, he called out, “I claim the bear claw.”

“That kid is always hungry,” Archer said as he set the box on the last table. “I think this is everything. I’ll come back Sunday evening right after I clean out my booth and move everything back.”

“Thanks, Archer.” Rarity was setting up the cash box and the register. “I appreciate all the help this morning. Fromyou and Jack.”

“My pleasure. Shirley, thanks for the coffee. Tell Jack I’ll meet him over at our booth.” Archer left the tent as Killer came out and watched him leave.

“That was extremely civil between the two of you,” Shirley commented as she set up the children’s table. “I don’t think we need air conditioning in this tent as long as you twostay inside.”

“Hush, we’re being nice.” Rarity had felt the chill too but didn’t knowhow to fix it.

Jack came in and dumped the ice on top of the water bottles that Rarity had already taken out of their plastic. He tossed Shirley’s keys to her. “Okay, I think you’re set.”

Rarity relayed the message from Archer and thanked him againfor his help.

As he grabbed his coffee and bear claw, he grinned. “I’m here to serve. Literally. Dude put me on the clock at five this morning when I helped him with the bus. And he works around my training schedule. He’s paying for my tuition to go back to school and get my business degree. Don’t tell Archer, but he’s the best boss I’ve had in a while. Maybe ever.”

Shirley was unloading the last box of best-sellers when the first customer arrived. The festival might not be fully open, but there were people already there. Rarity pulled back the front flaps on the tent a few minutes after she’d collected all the boxes and stacked them at the back of the tent behind her table. One more escape route closed off, in case Killer got frisky.

They stayed busy until about eleven when the food trucks opened. Malia walked in a few minutes later with a bag. She put it onthe table. “Lunches, and I tucked a few cans of soda in the bag too. Just in case you needed something besides water.”

“I’m starving and my feet are barking. We’ve had quite the morning.” Shirley started pulling out the wrapped sandwiches and sodas. She grabbed the napkins and tucked the sodas away in the rapidly melting ice. “Is Katie coming for lunch?”

Malia grabbed one of the chairs and sat down. “No, that third sandwich is for me. I don’t have to be at the Garnet until noon. I wanted to tell you about some people I had at my station last night.”

Rarity found her sandwich, turkey with avocado on a wheat roll, and sat down, grabbing a cola to go with it. “Please don’t tell me Archer was outwith someone.”

“What? No. And what’s the story there, anyway?” Malia opened her vegetarian wheat bread sandwich. Shirley had the combo that had a little bit of everything. They all spent enough time together that they could order their friends’ meals without asking, even though Malia always did. She’d called Rarity last night to let her know she would be bringing lunches for her on all three days and to see who would be working.

Malia was kind like that.

“No story, and I shouldn’t have asked that.” Rarity waved away the question. “Okay, so whodid you see?”

“Lizzy from the nursing home. I guess she was on a day pass with her sister and her husband. They live in Flagstaff.” Malia glanced over at Shirley, probably to see if she was upset. “Anyway, she acted completely normal. Like she was out with friends for the day. Weird, isn’t it?”

“That her sister would take her out? The nursing home isn’t a prison, dear.” Shirley got up and got a lemon-lime drink.

“No, that she’d be normal. Didn’t the nurse call her Tizzy Lizzy because she was always upset?” Malia set her sandwich down and grabbed some chips. “Even the night we took the dogs into the rooms, she was acting weird. She and the bookkeeper lady got into it because Lizzy kept going into theadmin offices.”

“That’s McKenzie Jones. I swear that woman is a saint. She’s so good with the finances. When I moved George into the home, she walked me through the process at least three times. You would havethought I was the one needing to be admitted. I just couldn’t deal with all the paperwork.” Shirley sat down at the end of the table with Killer watching her sandwich. “She works so hard. I see her car there a lot of nights when I check on George with thenursing staff.”

“Well, Tizzy Lizzy was a different person last night. Calm, attentive. I even heard her sister say that maybe she could come and live with her.” Malia squeezed mustard out of a little packet onto a napkin and dipped her sandwich into it.

Shirley set her sandwich down on the flattened paper bag. “I’m sure you misunderstood. When I finally got George into the facility, he had such an extreme degree of memory loss I couldn’t keep him at home anymore. He’d go wandering off at all times of the day or night. Maybe she was having a good day.”

Malia looked thoughtful. “I guess. But looking at her yesterday, I’d swear she was a different person.”

Rarity was so hungry that she was devouring her sandwich while letting the others talk. She hadn’t had breakfast, and although she’d packed Killer his food, she’d forgotten to pack any snacks. So besides the pastries that Shirley had brought, Rarity hadn’t eaten today. Besides, at least the subject wasn’t her and Archer.

Shirley was still trying to convince Malia she must have misunderstood Lizzy’s behavior. “There are medical screenings to get into the facility. Especially the ward that George and Lizzy are on. There is no way she could come back from that level of dementia and live on her own again.”

Something about what Shirley had said was ringing bells for Rarity, but she wasn’t sure what she was missing. Killer put a paw on her leg and whined.

“I need to go walk Killer. Malia, can you hang around for a bit in case Shirley gets swamped?” Rarity grabbed Killer’s leash and snapped it on his collar. When Malia answered, she headed out the flap to see who was in the other booths. She could see a local souvenir shop directly in front of her tent, but other than that one and Archer’s booth, she didn’t know who else was at the festival.

Rarity wandered through the row of booths, pausing to let Killer sniff when he got a notion. When she turned the corner, she found that Sedona Memory Care had a booth. A woman in a bright pinksleeveless dress smiled as she paused, holding out a flyer and a bottle of hand sanitizer. “Do you have a family member inneed of care?”

Rarity shook her head but took the offered goodies. “I was at your facility recently. I was with the pets from the humane society?”

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