Page 45 of With Stars in Her Eyes
“So, I really need to finish up here, Mom.”
She ignored me, as expected, so I stopped listening and let my mind wander to happier things. Ever since that first shared sandwich day, Courtney and I had eaten lunch together whenever our schedules overlapped. She hadn’t asked for my number, and I hadn’t asked for hers either. We just checked our schedules at the end of each lunch and planned for the next one. She had made me laugh so hard yesterday when she reenacted a scene from the morning in the bookshop involving a customer who had accidentally bought a steamy gay hockey romance for her grand-nephew who played goalie at his college. Apparently, the kid didn’t want her to return it though, he just wanted to know if there were more in the series.
Today was already going to be crummy because Courtney had a doctor’s appointment and wouldn’t be around to eat with me at lunchtime.
“Also, your brother scheduled the delivery to you the week before you said you were leaving to drive and meet us at the beach. Made sense timing-wise.”
I stopped pacing. My chest constricted as I returned to thephone conversation. “What? The delivery to me ofGrandpa’s collection?”
“They want to close quickly, and your brother pulled some strings with the bank—”
I swore low enough she couldn’t hear over the phone. “Of course he did.”
“Your brother has done a lot for this family. And a lot for you. You knew the arrangement with your grandaddy’s house wasn’t a permanent one.”
I sighed. “I thought he was giving me until the summer to find a storage space for it all.”
“He said the truck would be getting to Kansas on Thursday. Keep in mind, sweetie, hewantedto get it all appraised and sell it for you.”
“I didn’t want to sellanyof it. Wait… Thursday.This week, Thursday?”
“The estate’s Realtor wants to do another walkthrough, and we thought it wouldn’t have made the best impression if it looked like there’s some mysterious setup out there.”
“It was a film studio, not a meth lab, Mom.”
“Be that as it may. There are enough rumors still making the rounds about our people for me not to want them to know exactly how eccentric your grandfather was. Your brother wanted to get everything sorted out.”
A few beats of silence followed, but I was too furious to ask my mom if she was still there. My neck was cramping, so I gave up my photography aspirations for the morning and slid my camera back into my bag.
“So, should the movers deliver the boxes to Marshall’s house?”
“I…” I had been so busy that I hadn’t shopped around for a storage unit yet. “Shit.”
“Thea.”
“Sorry. Just… let me call you back on that.”
“I thought Marshall has plenty of space?”
“He does. For living and an extra bedroom for guests. But it’sa condo. I can’t co-opt the guest bedroom for the collection. I just need another day to get a storage unit rented. It’ll be fine. Can you text me the number of the movers so I can tell them?”
“Of course, sweetie,” Mom said. “And we hoped you could take some nice photos of all the grandkids, so don’t forget to bring that really good camera to the beach. The ones you did last year turned out so nicely.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
It took ten more minutes to get off the phone. When my phone was safely stowed in my pocket, I walked back and forth, stretching out my neck until I took out my frustration by kicking a nearby rock so hard it hit the base of a giant tree.
“Watch it. That’s a champion tree you just hit with a rock.”
“Holy fuck.” The unexpected voice made me jump. I whirled around and foundtheMs. Jeannie Gallagher-Keegan, plant shop owner and erstwhile snowstorm drill sergeant herself, looking shrewd. She had a shovel perched on her shoulder and wore a man’s jumpsuit.
“Sorry for terrifying you.” A twinkle played in her steel-gray eyes. “So, what’s the problem here?”
“The problem where?”
“You were just in a fight with your mother on the phone and now you’re pacing a track in my courtyard.”
“You’re not even pretending you weren’t eavesdropping?”
