Page 50 of Dying to Read

“Sorry, I thought…” She smiled at the man, who was still waiting for her to move. “It doesn’t matter. Thanks for holding the gate open.”

“No problem. Cute dog,” he said as he motioned a woman next to him through the gate where Rarity hadbeen standing.

As she walked home, she thought about Kevin and how they’d left things. She’d come home from work, and he’d been standing there in their town house. His bags were packed and several pieces of furniture were already gone from their living room. The furniture that he’d bought or brought to the town house when they’d moved in together.

His last words still hurt. “Face it, with this cancer thing, you’re not the woman I proposed to. Rarity, you used to be fun.”

She shuddered the pain away. She hadn’t thought of the perfect comeback until hours later when she was on the couch with a half gallon of gooey butter cake ice cream in her hands. “I’m not fun when I’m fighting for my life!” she yelled at the door.

It would have been a much more satisfying of a response if she’d done it before he’d left. If that was Kevin, here in Sedona on a business trip, maybe she should go back and tell himexactly that.

Killer paused at the driveway to her house and looked up at her. He must be able to tell that her mind wasn’t on getting him his dinner.

“Come on, then.” Rarity nodded toward the porch. The man at Carole’s more than likely wasn’t Kevin, and she didn’t feel like going back now, just to find that out. She’d put Kevin, their relationship, and St. Louis in her rearview mirror years ago. Why was she thinking about him tonight?

She knew the answer, and as she fed Killer, she felt stupid. Archer had made a big hole in her day-to-day life. He walked her home from work. They typically had dinner together and had a date night at least once a week. They talked on the phone during work, and he’d gotten her hooked on hiking. They were supposed to go to Montezuma Castle sometime next month since she hadn’t seen the local tourist site yet.

She’d let her life as part of a couple define her. Again. Now, Archer wasn’t Kevin, not by a long shot, but she was still Rarity. She needed to figure out who she was when she didn’t have a man around. She opened the weekly newspaper and scanned the regional events list for the weekend. She was getting out of the house and doing something. Alone. Well, hopefully, with Killer, but if he couldn’t come, she’d go it alone. She was a strong, independent woman.

Her phone rang and it was Archer. She felt a little guilty at the joy she felt at hearing his voice.

She could be strong and independent tomorrow.

“Hey, what’s going on?” She curled up on the couch as she listened to him talk.

Chapter 20

Friday morning, the shop was quiet, so Rarity decided to look into the charities that Ruth Agee had been planning to leave her money to, at least before she met William and changed the will.Will got named in the will. Okay, she was tired and a little rummy. She and Archer had talked for a long time before she’d gotten to bed. His dad was worse. Dana wasn’t handling it well, and Archer was trying to be the strong one. Drew had come over to his dad’s apartment with the book that had been sent to Rarity. It didn’t match the description from the insurance claim that was filed at the time of the robbery.

“The problem is,” Archer had told her before they hung up, “I remember that specific book. I wrote my name on the last page like the other one. I wanted to get the book if anything happened to Grandma, so I guess I was staking my claim. Dana might not want it if my name wasin the book.”

“And is your name there?” Rarity thought Archer had a habit of writing his name in books. She’d sat up in bed when she’d asked, disturbing Killer, who gave her a look before curling up on the other side of the bed,away from her.

“No, but there’s a page missing in the back.” He paused. “Look, I know this sounds crazy, but I’m pretty sure that’s Grandma’s book. It’s not as valuable as the one that Dad listed on the insurance papers.”

They’d said good night soon after, but the question of the book stayed in Rarity’s head for a long while afterward. Had Archer’s dad lied on the insurance claim to get abigger payout?

Not her circus, nor was it her monkey. Yet the question still haunted her thenext morning.

Jonathon had texted to say he’d be late coming by to write. He was meeting one of his friends from the Flagstaff writing group. Katie was scheduled to come in at one, and Shirley had scheduled to work from home to get ready for tomorrow’s middle-grade book club. So unless she got customers, Rarity was alone inthe bookstore.

Well, with a sleeping Killer on his bed bythe fireplace.

Holly had sent everyone a copy of the distribution of Ruth’s estate that had been filed by the probate court. Rarity printed a copy for her murder book and then used the list to look up the charities onthe internet.

The first one was a local division of a well-known cancer research charity. It had a high-end website that its national support team must have made for it. The local board had several people from the hospital and a local doctor that Rarity knew but didn’t care for much. She thought he was in the field more for the glory than helping his patients. She wrote down the six board members and the administrative assistant’s names as well as their contact information. She wasn’t quite sure what she’d ask; maybe she’d pretend to be gathering information for her mom to help her distribute her assets. She’d figure that one out before she made a call.

So then she did the same for the other charities listed. Ruth had shorted each of them the same percentage to get the money to give to William. Maybe she hadn’t been quite the easy mark he’d assumed. He’d gotten a six-figure check last month. What had he done with the money? That was a question for Drew. She wrote it on aseparate page.

As she got to the last charity, her stomach rumbled. She could call in a delivery order and send Katie to get it. She texted her, hoping that she wasn’t on the road. Rarity wasn’t sure if Katie’s older car had hands-free capability, but if she hadn’t eaten, Rarity would buy her lunch too. She got a quick text back, telling her to call in the order and Katie would be in town in thirty minutes. A second text listed off what Katie wanted, a fish tacos plate. Rarity would have ordered that for her employee if she hadn’t responded. Katie ate a lot of fish tacos. Rarity got on the website and ordered their lunches along with a bag of chips with queso.

She and Killer were going to a quilt fair in Flagstaff tomorrow afternoon. She’d be here at the shop until Shirley’s book club wasover, and if traffic slowed after that, she’d head to Flagstaff. If not, they’dgo on Sunday.

She had a plan to be a fun version of Rarity, no matter if she had a guy hanging around to approve or not. Besides, even if Archer was available, he hated craft shows. She found that out when they’d walked through the county fair building last summer. She wanted to see the jars of canned peaches and jelly along with the home arts stuff. He’d wanted to see the animal barn.

She went back to finish listing off the board members and administrative assistant for the last charity and found a name she hadn’t expected. Sedona Memory Keepers was an independent charity started by the woman who still ran the charity, at least part-time. Rarity stared at the picture of Marsha Graves on the website.

She clicked on the About Us tab and read about how Marsha’s mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Marsha had realized how little money people who were helped by the state got to keep. The charity sponsored craft projects, snacks, a van for outings, and other things that weren’t covered by their payment to their care facility or by Medicaid.

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