AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fair enough,” Lydia said.
Then Lydia grabbed her arm and bumped into her with her shoulder. “Thanks.”
“What?”
“Thanks for letting me borrow your problems for the afternoon. It feels kind of normal.”
“Well, I’m glad I could help with something.”
She might not be able to do anything right for Ava, but at least she had done something helpful for her sister.
They finished at the store, and Marianne ended up not even looking at Ava’s clothes. But she did toss her a candy bar when they got in the car. They drove to a small burger place that was just down the road. It was a tiny little shack of a building, always overflowing with people. The kind of place where people who didn’t come together ended up sharing tables. They all ordered hamburgers and went and sat on a picnic bench outside. The kids, including Ava, sat in the grass away from them. Riley and Hazel were throwing French fries at each other and picking weeds, Ava was looking at her phone.
“Thanks,” Lydia said. “For distracting the kids.” She smiled. “This is the first... This is the first thing that I’ve done that wasn’t work or just going to Mom and Dad’s.”
“Well, I’m glad to help,” Ruby said, beaming.
“Thank you for providing counsel to my teenager,” Marianne said to Dahlia, and she supposed she should just be grateful that Ava did have Dahlia to look up to. She hadn’t had a female relative she had considered cool that she could confide in. Or get fashion advice from.
“No problem. It’s kind of validating to know that a fifteen-year-old thinks that I’m... Very retro?”
“Wow,” Marianne said. “Isn’t your stuff kind of vintage 1996?”
“Yes. The nineties are retro.”
“That hurts,” Lydia said, frowning.
“I remember telling Mom the seventies were retro,” Marianne said. “History repeats and repeats and repeats, and I’m in the most annoying part of it, I swear.”
“Speaking of history,” Dahlia asked. “Marianne, what do you know about the building that The Apothecary’s in?”
“It’s been about a hundred things,” Marianne answered, turning her focus to her business, which was a much less complicated situation. “But it was a jewelry shop first. When the town was built in the eighteen hundreds.”
“I’m doing some research on the history of the town, for a series of articles. And I’m trying to get Ruby to play along and do the museum displays.”
“I’m playing along,” Ruby said. “I’m just deeply uncomfortable about the aspect that includes me.”
“What are you doing about Ruby?” Lydia asked.
“It’s a compendium of town history. I would be remiss to leave Ruby out of it.”
“Wow. First the nineties are retro, now Ruby is history. You’re not doing a lot for my self-esteem, Dahlia.”
“Well,” Dahlia said, “I think it’s interesting.”
“I think everything that can be said about Ruby and Caitlin has been said,” Marianne pointed out. “Didn’t theGazetterun exhaustive coverage of both things? They were the biggest stories Pear Blossom has ever had.”
“Well, yes,” Dahlia said. “I guess it’s just that... I don’t know. I’m curious about other angles or something. The full context of the history of the town. I’m trying to reinvigorate interest in the paper.”
“I hate to break it to you,” Marianne said. “But I think print circulation is on the downhill slide.”
“You used to love the school paper,” Dahlia said. “Used to want to write,” she pointed out.
“Yes,” Marianne answered. “But then I realized I was terrible at it. In any way. I like being around people too much.”
“Well, I don’t. I hate people,” Dahlia said, grinning. “So a life spent distancing them by filtering them through the lens of their stories, and sitting by myself writing, is perfect. Anyway. I want to include some stuff about the store.”
“Well, I like that,” Marianne said.
