Page 33 of Dying to Read

“No, I’m looking up a will to see what happened to someone’s estate.” Rarity took the cup and took a big drink. “This is so good, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I had a good afternoon, but it started slowing down just before you got here.” Katie came around and sat on the chair next to Rarity. “Did someoneyou know die?”

“No, I’m looking at someone who died at the nursing home a few months ago. George, Shirley’s husband, thought her death was suspicious.” Rarity kept working, then realized that Katie hadn’t responded. She looked up at her.

Katie bit her lip. “Look, I don’t want this to sound uncaring, but George has memory issues. Maybe he’s not the best source of information right now?”

“Maybe,” Rarity agreed. “But what if he told you something important and you ignored it because he was in a memory care unit? You’re right, it might be a wild goose chase, but I’m not a private investigator or a member of law enforcement, so I have time to chase the weird theories. Like this. And we’re not busy right now anyway.”

Rarity realized those were famous last words because right then, people flooded into the tent. She closed and tucked the laptop away. As she stood, a young child pushed books up on the table. Her mom stood behind her, laughing. “Winnie bought every book she didn’t have already on animals. She loves any kind of animal. Thank goodness Easter only comes once a year orI’d go broke.”

As Rarity rang up the purchase, she tucked a flyer into the bag reminding Winnie about the preschool book club that Shirley ran once a month. Winnie was probably already a member, but it never hurt to remind people. “Good readers make great students. It’s all about an inquiring mind. Do you want to be a zookeeper ora vet, Winnie?”

“I want to have a horse farm and ride all day.” Winnie grabbed the bag and looked at her mother. “And Mommy can live there and cook me dinner.”

Her mother tucked her credit card back into her purse. She pushed a wayward curl out of Winnie’s face. “And where will Daddy live?”

“He has to work, so he’ll live in our old house.” Winnie hugged the bag to her chest. “Can we get frozenbananas now?”

Winnie’s mom nodded and then turned back to Rarity. “Thank you for opening your store in Sedona. We used to drive to Flagstaff to that used bookstore. I had to make do with what he had on hand. Having you so close nowis a godsend.”

Rarity and Katie stayed busy for the rest of the evening. When seven came, Rarity closed up the portable register and tucked the machine in her tote. Katie was closing down the front canvas panels. They closed with a padlock and a key that the festival organizers had provided for each tent. It wasn’t totally secure since anyone could cut out an opening in the canvas, but besides the books, there wasn’t anything of value left in the tent overnight. Rarity made sure.

As she was walking out, she ran into Archer, who was helping Katie with the canvas. Rarity held up the lock. “Katie, do you have everything you need?”

“Hold on a second,” Katie said as she ducked into the tent again.

Archer took her tote and almost dropped it because of the weight. “What? Are you taking an encyclopedia home withyou tonight?”

“It’s my laptop, the register, and the cash box. I don’t feel comfortable leaving the register here. Drew said at the last festival his guys caught some kids trying to break into one of the tents.” She held it open as Katie came out with her backpack. “Are you ready? I’ll see you tomorrow at noon. I think it’s going to be crazy in here afterthe egg race.”

“I’m bringing one of my papers to edit in case it slows down. If not, I’m going to have to work some late hours before Monday.” Katie glanced at Archer but didn’t say anything to him. “I’ll seeyou tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” Rarity watched as Katie disappeared into the crowd toward her car.

Archer took the lock from her and slipped it between the last loop of the ties. “Do you have everything? Where’s the rat?”

“Killer is at home, and I’m going to tell him you called him that. But, yes, I have everything.” Rarity looked at him, wondering about the question and answer. It felt like so much more than what she needed from the tent. Instead, she felt like she was answering for her life. Was she happy? She had been until Archer told her he was rethinking moving in together.

After they started walking toward her house, she turned to him. “Archer, I need to know. Are we still a couple?”

He stopped and turned toward her. “Why would you even ask that? Because I needed to slow down a bit, you think we’re broken up?”

She smiled and started walking again. Relief washed over her. “No, I asked you that not because of what I think. Archer, the Sedona gossip train is saying that we’re no longer a couple. I didn’t want to be the last one to know ifit was true.”

Chapter 13

Screaming children ran around the festival grounds, filled with energy and sugar from the age-segregated egg hunts. Rarity thought they must be starting with the elementary school–age kids because the last group of moms in the booth had kids that had all been preschool age. They had almost swept that area of the bookshelvesclean, again.

Shirley opened the last box of books she’d brought over this morning. Well, Terrance had done the heavy lifting with several trips with the handcart to carry over the boxes of books. Then he’d disappeared after taking a donut from the box that Katie had broughtfrom Flagstaff.

“I probably should have brought more over,” Shirley fussed as she arranged the meager offerings of picture books and early readers. “We’ll have to restock that section at the bookstore next week.”

“It’s not a bad problem to have.” Rarity folded the box and tucked it under the table. “We can bring more over tomorrow, just not a lot. Sundays are a little quiet in normal festivals, at least for the buying stage. People tend to overspend on Fridayand Saturday.”

“I’m not sure that’s going to hold for this festival. The Easter Bunny is taking pictures with kids through the close of the festival tomorrow. Several of my moms are coming in after church since the kids will already be dressed up.” Shirley stood and adjusted her pink capris. “I always loved getting the kids ready for Easter. Then we’d take pictures and the next thing I knew, the dress would be covered in mud or blood. Kathy was a little tomboy. She was always following Tommy up a tree, then slipping or falling. We spent several holidays in the hospital getting one or the other stitched up. It was our family tradition.”

“Some folks make ham for dinner. Your family did vending machines in the ER.” Rarity sat down behind the table. “I didn’t know Terrance was helping you move books. If you felt uncomfortable, you could have calledme or Archer.”

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