Page 57 of Fire and Icing

Still no answer. Huh.

I twist the knob. The door opens and I step in. People in Waterford generally only lock their doors when they go on vacation. Otherwise, most doors in Waterford are perpetually unlocked. If you've known someone as long as I’ve known Syd, you pop by unannounced and you let yourself in.

I hear her giggle. Is there someone here with her?

“Syd?” I shout into the house.

“One minute,” she yells back.

“I’m coming down the hall,” I announce.

Syd’s latest stray cat weaves itself between my legs, nearly tripping me. I bend to scratch it behind the ears.

Syd’s bedroom door is open. I overhear her saying, “It’s not a good time. I’ll call you back later.” She’s quiet for a beat and then she tells whomever she’s talking to, “No. I’m sorry. I thought I told you I was going out tonight.” There’s another pause and she says, “Okay. Bye.”

The best way to describe how she sounds is to say there’s a smile in her voice.

“Who was that?” I ask.

“Who was what?”

“Whomever you were saying goodbye to.”

“Oh, that. Just a friend. And I can’t find my book. Do you have yours?”

“Yes. It’s in the car. What friend?”

“Just no one. Book. Book. Book. Where is that book? Oh! Here it is!” She picks the book up off the side table. “Sorry. It took me a while to pick out my outfit. I was running late.”

“Your outfit?”

“Yes.”

“For book club?”

“Yes.”

“Our book club, that you could literally attend in sweats with curlers in your hair?”

“Yes.”

“Book club that Winona actually wore her pajamas to last month?”

“That’s Winona.”

“Since when did you care what you wear to book club?” I ask.

“Maybe since tonight. Can’t a girl care about how she looks?”

“Of course. Of course. I’m just not used to you caring … especially not for something as come-as-you-are as book club.”

“Did you grab the cookies?”

“Not yet.”

“Okay. I’ll get them. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.” Syd grabs her book and purse and dashes past me, down the steps and into the shop. By the time I’ve followed her down to the bakery's back door, she’s coming out with the box of cookies we packed earlier to bring with us as a treat.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

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