‘I’m terrified I’m going to forget her,’ admitted Effie. ‘One of our friends’ dads is having memory issues...’
Theo nodded. ‘I heard.’
Effie swallowed. ‘Oh. Basically, every time I hear anything about him, all I can think of is that our memories are all that’s left of Mom. And once they’re gone...’
Theo nodded. ‘I get it.’
She pulled up at Willamina’s, a charming cottage bright with hanging flower baskets (a brightness darkened by a surfeit of hideous garden gnomes).
‘How did your meeting go?’ she asked after a moment.
‘It went,’ said Theo with a chuckle. ‘But I have a few days to make my final decision.’
Effie’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel as she thought about Theo leaving Yellowbrick Grove for good. But should she be surprised, really? He had a whole life back there, a whole world of opportunities. Whereas here he had just the Friends of the Library group. And Effie.
‘Are we going in?’ he asked, shaking her from her thoughts.
Effie unbuckled her seatbelt. ‘We are.’
They came back with a stack of books and a few slices of carrot cake. After Willamina’s, they stopped at barista Terrance’s apartment (how could so much laundry fill one small space?), a new mom’s house (where Effie held the baby while the poor woman showered), and then the Dorothy House, which Bronson was busy painting grey, inside and out.
‘It’s hideous,’ breathed Effie to Theo, as she grabbed the stack of overdues off the porch. ‘Criminal.’
Theo grimaced in agreement. ‘They probably only coughed up the overdues because they’re not monochromatic enough.’
They spent the entire morning driving around chasing down books and being plied with baked goods and coffee, which honestly was not a bad way to pass the time. Especially when you had good company along for the ride. Even if that company was only temporary.
‘Wow,’ said Theo, when they’d reached the last of the houses on their list. ‘You’re going to need new suspension after this.’
The poor Jeep groaned under the weight of what was easily several hundred books, not all of them only recently overdue. They’d managed to collect a few that, according to the date stamp in the back cover, had been due back thirty years earlier. They were so old that they weren’t even in the system – Effie hadn’t even known they were outstanding.
Thankfully, she was an old pro at declining book ‘donations’, or it would’ve been worse. Effie had learned the risks of accepting mildewy basement boxes, because you never knew what you were going to infect the rest of the collection with. Mould. The plague. Impossible-to-remove mouse-pee smells.
‘I’ve never been this flush with cookies and cake in my life,’ said Theo, through a mouthful of carrot cake. ‘I think I pursued the wrong line of work.’
You did!Effie wanted to shout.Because it’s taking you back to the city!
But instead, she exhaled quietly.
‘Speaking of,’ said Effie, as diffidently as she could manage, ‘the college is looking for an adjunct poetry professor to replace the one I told you about, who had to fly back to Germany. It’s not tenure track, and I know it’s not a particularly prestigious school, but if you wanted to, you could apply.’
Theo cocked his head. ‘How did you find out about this?’
‘I asked,’ said Effie quietly. ‘I mentioned that you’re almost done with your master’s, and that you’ve basically been acting as an employee of the library. And that I’d write a letter of referral if you needed it.’
Theo almost choked on his cake. ‘You did? You would?’
‘I think the town would love to have you,’ she said quietly. ‘Whether you’d love to have the town, that’s up to you.’
Having recovered from his coughing bout, Theo regarded her thoughtfully. ‘You, Effie Chalmers, are an enigma.’
Effie pulled the Jeep into the library parking lot. ‘I’ve certainly heard worse. Now, are you up for helping lug this first batch of books inside?’
Theo opened the door, dusting carrot cake crumbs onto the pavement. ‘Let’s do this,’ he said.
Chapter 30
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