Effie took off her glasses and polished them with her cardigan sleeve. ‘Fine. The Jeep’s full anyway. I love the space, Tessa. Really.’
Tessa gave a small smile. ‘Thanks, Effie. Sorry I didn’t text you after yoga, but it was all just kind of impromptu.’
‘And you seem to be busy anyway,’ said Bonnie, her gaze tracking from Effie to Theo.
‘I’ll see you in a bit for craft night?’ added Tessa, hopefully.
‘Of course,’ said Effie, although her voice wavered. Bonnie had the very strange sensation that her sister might be aboutto cry, something she hadn’t seen her sister do since the day of Mom’s death.
Bonnie might ordinarily have felt sympathy towards her sister, but frankly, she was getting tired of tiptoeing around Effie’s moods. So what if Bonnie had a popular bar and Tessa preferred Bonnie’s company? Why couldn’t Effie be grateful with what she had instead of complaining about what she didn’t? Moreover, wasn’t it about time she learned to share? Who cared if Bonnie happened to be available to take a peek at Tessa’s new shop! Especially since Effie had apparently had more important plans anyway.
Overdues ridealongindeed, she thought with an internal snort.
‘I for one am very excited about carving soap,’ Alana was saying with exaggerated cheerfulness, as Theo guided the huffy Effie back out to the Jeep. ‘So long as it’s vegan.’
Bonnie folded her arms and watched her sister climb dejectedly into the Jeep. Effie just couldn’t help being Effie.
Although she did have to admit that she liked her sister’s new shoes.
Chapter 31
SNAKES AND SNAILS AND PUPPY DOGS’ TAILS
Effie
Was it possible to live the rest of her life in a cave? Because a cave sounded quite pleasant right now. It had worked for the Oracle of Delphi, after all. And most importantly, Bonnie would never follow her into a cave.
Smarting from being made to feel like an outsider, Effie couldn’t get away from Tessa’s potential new shop fast enough. Unfortunately, the Jeep was so laden with books that she had to drive twenty miles under the speed limit. It wasn’t out of the question that she’d have to pay for new suspension after all this – or worse, new tyres. But at least her brakes were in good shape, because when she suddenly slammed her foot down on the pedal, the car jerked to a halt.
‘Did you see that?’ she asked Theo, who was in the passenger seat, half buried under a stack of books and a box of cupcakes. ‘Something moved.’
Theo adjusted the book stack in his lap, peering around to try to catch a glimpse of whatever Effie was talking about. ‘We caught the ghost,’ he reminded her. ‘Well, ghosts.’
They had indeed, although Effie hadn’t quite figured out what to do with them yet. Perhaps a cat adoption initiative through the library, with proceeds supporting the summer program. Or maybe when the kittens were big enough, Effie could just move the whole family into the library’s basement area. Or, and this was the option she was most leaning towards,she could keep them all. Were five cats too many? Surely not. Besides, the thought of separating them from their mom, Agatha, or from each other, seemed cruel. Effie knew first-hand just how painful it could be to no longer have your most treasured person around – or even your sister.
A point that had been driven home just now at Tessa’s shop. Effie’s social circle had never been heavily populated, and now it seemed that Theo was the only one left in it. Although Tessa had been right that Effie had invited her to the ridealong last minute. But still, Tessa could have texted her when she was done with yoga!
This was all Bonnie’s fault. She’d clearly been getting in Tessa’s ear.
‘There! There it is again!’ Effie exclaimed, grateful for the distraction from her woes.
It wasn’t a ghost, or a cat. A terrier with eye patches and a brown spot on his back was running in cheerful zigzags all down the street. His pink tongue lolled as he merrily cocked his leg on a fire hydrant, a mailbox, and a rubbish bin awaiting pickup. Sniffing at something near the bin, he flopped over on his back and proceeded to roll in it.
It wasn’t even Pickles, the neighbourhood’s usual escapee. Effie knew this because Pickles was on a lake vacation with his owners (she’d learned as much when her efforts to retrieve their overdue books had been met with agone fishingsign).
‘There’s another one.’ Theo pointed at a fat corgi who was happily lying in a triangle of sun, his head atop a freshly delivered newspaper.
‘A third.’ Effie nodded at a golden retriever balanced on its hind legs as it tried to coax a squirrel down from one of the massive oaks that lined the road.
There were at least ten, Effie saw, glancing around at the furry faces universally delighted at their new-found freedom – there was plenty of butt-sniffing and lawn-digging and shoe-chewing going on. The dogs all wore distinctive purplecollars: collars that Effie had seen on the ever-changing lock screen of one of her most dedicated library patrons.
‘They’re Bowow’s,’ she said in realization. ‘How did they get out?’
‘Maybe there’s a hole in her fence or something,’ suggested Theo. ‘But we should round them up before one of them gets hurt. Let’s do the corgi first. He’s definitely the slowest.’
He climbed out of the Jeep, gently approaching the fat-butted corgi, who had rolled over and was baring his fuzzy belly to the clear autumnal sky. The dog’s nubby tail wagged as Theo knelt to give him some belly scratches. Looping his hands gently around the corgi’s ample girth, he picked it up, grunting a little.
‘Surprisingly solid,’ he said, holding the baffled dog against his shoulder. ‘Now what?’
