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She giggled. “Look at my boot!” She lifted her foot, and on the bottom of her boot, someone had writtenAndyin shaky letters.
“I love it!” I said, daring to lower my arms. Behind her, I saw Jolly weaving through the crowd, tracking her energetic granddaughter. Cluck-Cluck was leading the way, straining at her leash.
It had been good news from the hospital. The best news. The tumor had been benign.
“How’s Junebear?” I asked.
She looked down at the ground. “Someone got marker on her.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Someone?”
She nodded vigorously. “Might could’ve been a ghost.”
If Dez heard her now, he’d laugh his fool head off. Hisghoststory had taken root in town and now everyone seemed to use it as an excuse for bad behavior.
“Well, bring her to me and I’ll get her cleaned up for you, okay?”
She threw her arms around me. “Thank you, Miz Ava! Bye!”
She veered off, running toward the cotton candy machine. Jolly froze, threw a hand in the air, then pivoted to follow. “Lord have mercy, child. Slow down!”
Estrelle took a slow sip of her drink. “That’ll be you soon enough, running after your little one.”
I put my hand on my stomach, which was still, somehow, flat. The doctor assured me I would round out soon enough. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Coming from behind the stage, I picked up the sound of Sam’s guitar. He was practicing the opening of “Count Me In,” which he’d been tweaking endlessly over the last few weeks. I personally thought the original was faultless, but trusted him when it came to songwriting.
People drifted by the Stitchery tent, picking up, putting down,oohing, aahing. Most people who stopped bought something. A coaster, a bib, a patchwork animal. Across the way, I heard someone whispering about Estrelle and asking why she always wore black.
Estrelle put her cup down as if ready to stand up and afflict someone with warts.
“Mourning her youth,” someone answered.
Estrelle laughed. “That’s funny. I’ll have to remember that one.”
I’d come to realize her hearing was just as good as mine. If not better.
She picked up the ostrich and glanced at me. “The pillbox hat is a nice touch. My hips aren’t that wide, however.”
I’d named the pieceA Kooky Old Bird. I smiled. “Artistic license.”
She lifted an eyebrow, then pursed her lips. She took a marker from the table and changed the three on the thirty-dollar price tag to an eight, making it eighty dollars. “Don’t you dare sell it for a penny less.It has been said.”
I laughed, then picked a piece of lint off my shorts as I searched for the right words to start a hard conversation. “Maggie says the curiosity she matched this morning went to the man renting the Pink Peony Cottage. Don’t suppose you know anything about him I can pass along?”
“To pass along? No.”
“But you know something.”
“I know everything.”
I rubbed the edge of the table. “About that…” I’d wanted to talk to her about this for weeks now but had been waiting for just the right moment. Now that it was here, however, I was suddenly hesitant.
“Spit it out, child.”
I shifted in my seat to face her. “I was thinking about how every time I’ve seen Maggie match a curiosity, you’re either in the store or nearby. Maggie also once mentioned her first memory of you was the day her mother disappeared. You were on the beach the day she found the penny in the sand. She’s always thought that her mother somehow gifted her with her abilities when she disappeared, but I’m starting to think maybe her abilities came from…” I broke off, finding it incredibly difficult to suggest that it had been Estrelle behind the abilities all along. “You,” I finished, my heart in my throat.
Estrelle lifted her veil and leveled me with her silvery stare.
