AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Margaret’s smile widened. “Don’t be so sure about that.”
“We’re not using the mistress angle regardless.” Del leveled a stern look to them both. “We need this to be a community-supported event, not a community-dividing one.”
“You’re no fun,” Margaret grumbled. She took a long drink of punch, then rose for a refill.
“What about a carnival?” Robyn offered. “The PTO always does well with the one hosted at the boys’ school each fall.”
“But then ours would be too close to the school event,” Mia said. “I’d hate to unintentionally steal funds from the school.”
“Good point. I think we need to come up with something original, something a little more outside the box,” Del said. “Pops is right—a bake sale isn’t gonna bring in the kind of money we need.”
“Unless we add edibles to the menu,” Barbara offered. Her sisters groaned. “What? They fly off the shelves in Michigan.”
“Where edibles arelegal,” Gina said. “The last thing I’m sure the Brooks family wants is marijuana funding their repairs.”
“Hey, whatever it takes.” Del shrugged. Mia leaned over and swatted her in the arm. “Kidding. Sort of. We’ll stick a pin in that idea. What else we got?”
The group started throwing out ideas, and Del did her best to jot them all down. A street fair. A 50/50 raffle. A tractor pull. A rodeo. A hot air balloon race.
“What do you think, honey?” Mia asked her daughter. “What do you think the kids in town might buy into for a fundraiser?”
Brooklyn shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a video game tournament?”
“Writing it down,” Del said, ignoring the skeptical looks on the elders’ faces. “Come on, ladies, keep the ideas coming.”
Ideas started revolving around upcoming holidays: hayrides, haunted houses, a turkey trot 5k race, Christmas tree sales. Del worried the roof wouldn’t last that long, but she kept quiet on the subject. So long as the ideas kept coming, they were bound to eventually land on a great one.
Only…they didn’t.
An hour and a half into their brainstorming session, the group was doing more arguing about why ideas wouldn’t work than offering suggestions for ones that would. Even Brooklyn had seen the writing on the wall, begging off to join her friends who were headed to a movie in neighboring Warsaw. Dejected, Del called their meeting to a close and thanked everyone for coming.
“Don’t worry, sugar,” Gina said, offering her a hug on the way out. “The perfect idea will come. You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right.” Del gave their longtime family friend a tight squeeze. “Thanks for being here for us.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The others followed her out, and soon it was just Del and Mia. Punchbowl long empty, they went inside to search for more refreshments. After some rummaging, Mia soon produced a two liter of Coca Cola, a fresh pair of glasses, some ice—and a new bottle of Bacardi.
“That was…interesting,” she said from across Del’s custom countertop.
“Is that what’d you call it? Because to me, it sounded like a whole lotta failure.”
Mia slid a glass toward her and smiled. “Patience, sweetheart. You know how this goes—everyone will go back to their homes tonight, get a good night’s sleep, and ta-dah! An amazing idea will dawn on someone. Maybe on all of us. Who knows?”
“One can only hope,” she said, unable to fully get on board with her sister’s optimism.
“‘You can’t force creativity.’ How many times have you told me that when you’ve been doing your landscape design?”
“Too many if you’re repeating it back to me.” Del let out a weary laugh. “And you’re right. I just…I’m not ready to let it go, Mi. It’s all we have left of her.”
“Mom will always be here with us.” Mia tapped the place above her heart. “Bookstore or no bookstore.”
“But there is where I feel closest to her, you know? I can still see her standing behind the counter, wearing that patchwork apron Grandma made for her, smiling and ringing people up.”
Mia leaned on the counter and smiled. “Yeah. And reading to the little kids from that rickety old rocking chair she insisted on having by the kids’ section.”
“Gah, that thing was so ugly. I was secretly glad when it finally broke.”
