Page 4 of Dying to Read

He shook his head and squeezed her. “Look, I promise we’ll talk soon. I need to get things straight in my head. And it’s not because of another woman.”

“Or asecret baby?”

He laughed and kissed her forehead. “You’ve been reading romance again,haven’t you?”

“Guilty as charged. But Archer…” She leaned on the door as she watched him step out on the porch. He turned back to meet her gaze as she continued. “I love you. There’s nothing we can’t get through together.”

He smiled sadly but didn’t respond. She watched him get into his Jeep and slowly drive away. Killer stood by her heels, watching himleave as well.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with Archer,” she told him as she picked the dog up so he wouldn’t run out to the street and try to follow the Jeep.

Even though it was late, Rarity didn’t feel like sleeping or eating dinner. Instead, she put her swimsuit on and did laps. She was hoping to not worry about Archer until he was ready to talk. She couldn’t make him love her, but she was beginning to think that a long-term relationship wasn’t in her future. So far, it looked like she was batting zero for two.

* * *

She swam again early Wednesday morning. She would regret it tomorrow. But since she hadn’t slept well, she figured she might as well get something off her list. She made a quick breakfast afterward and checked the daily newspaper she had delivered at the shop. She’d tucked it in her tote Tuesday morning and hadn’t felt like reading last night.

Rarity scanned the articles and stopped at an advertisement for a new cancer treatment center in town. The office was associated with her doctor in Flagstaff, and she pulled out her planner. She had an upcoming appointment and wondered if she could transfer it to the Sedona clinic. Driving to Flagstaff for a check-in seemed like a lot of wasted time. And, it looked like they did mammograms at that location as well. It was too early to call, but she put the information in her planner. She’d deal with it when she gotinto the shop.

She needed to put a post up about the lost book, so she wrote down the task. About to close her planner, she noticed an ad in the newspaper about the upcoming spring festival. She’d forgotten all about it. She opened her laptop to search her emails.

The city set up a carnival and an egg hunt that Saturday, two weeks before Easter. She’d told the organizer that the bookstore would love to stuff a thousand plastic eggs with candy and small toys. According to an email she had from Heidi Youngman, the eggs and filling materials would be dropped off at the store today. They had a week before they had to deliver them back to Heidi so she could get them set up for the Saturday event next week.

Worse, besides the eggs, no one, meaning herself, had ordered books for their tent bookstore yet. This was going to be close. She sent an email to Shirley and Katie to let them know that it would be all hands on deckthis weekend.

The good thing about being busy is that you don’t have much time to worry about the status of a relationship. She had to focus on work. If you could call filling plastic eggs work. Maybe she’d bring the activity to the Tuesday night book club and they could help. Wasn’t community service supposed to make people feel happy? She got ready to head tothe bookstore.

Shirley called at about ten thirty. The mothers had already started arriving and were gathering around the fireplace, chatting.

“I’m sorry to do this, but I was on my way there and William Jully, from the nursing home, called. He wants to talk about George. He’s been causing problems.”

“Shirley, the moms are already here.” Rarity stared wide eyed at the women and the preschoolers. “I can’t send them home.”

“You can run the event. All it is today is readingThe Wonky Donkeyby Craig Smith. Then we’ll act like donkeys and eat cookies. I’ll drop off the cookies before I go to thenursing home.”

“You want me to read? Aloud?” Rarity didn’t even want to think about what a donkey sounded like.Or acted like.

Shirley didn’t laugh. Instead, she said, “I’m pulling up out front. Run out here and grab the cookies, please?”

* * *

Thursday morning, the bite on her arm from a two-year-old terror named Angel still ached. Rarity wondered if she should get a tetanus shot.Can you get lockjaw from a kid?She’d ask Shirley when she came in. She’d tried to call her last night, but Shirley’s phone must havebeen shut off.

At nine, Shirley came in and dropped her bag in front of the cash register desk. Rarity could tell she was upset. Maybe it wasn’t a good time to ask about the bite. “Please tell me you didn’t put him up to this.”

Rarity needed to finish the book order before the cutoff at ten. She held up a finger, then made a line where she’d ended on the list of books they’d decided to order for the event. As well as restocking the kids’ section and the new releases. This month’s book bill was going to be crazy high. “Sorry, I lost my place three times when I had to help a customer. So what did I tell who to do?”

She took a deep breath. “Terrance. He’s working at the nursing home. Can you believe it?”

Rarity held up her hand. “In full disclosure, he told me about it but only after he’d started. I told him it was a bad idea. Especially him being friendswith George.”

The words were out before she realized that Shirley didn’t know that part. Shirley went over to a table and sank into a nearby chair. “He and George are friends now? What alternate reality do I live in today?”

“Look, in Terrance’s defense, he thought he was helping out. They needed an expert in security since there had been some issues with their system. He was working and George came to talk to him about what he was doing. To advise him.” Rarity smiled at the image. “When Terrance realized who he was talking to, it was too late to quit the job without leaving the home defenseless.”

“George always did love helping out. And you knew this.” Shirley looked up at her. “How long have you known this?”

“Terrance and I talked on Monday. I was going to tell you, but things have been a little crazy around here. And at home,” Rarity added. “Besides, now that you and Terrance aren’t, um, friends anymore, this shouldn’tbe an issue.”

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