Farewell to Cedar Key Read Online Free PDF

and purl, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. After all, we teach knitting to children and they do well.”
    â€œMe?” I said with surprise.
    â€œI agree.” Dora patted me on the shoulder. “I think you’d be perfect. And hopefully you’ll be back to work nursing soon, so we could arrange for the classes to be in the evening. I don’t want to pressure you, but I’d like you to give it some thought. I think it could be a lot of fun.”
    Fun? That wasn’t the word that came to mind. “Okay,” I mumbled.
    Dora took the last sip of her coffee. “Now if you’d like to start unpacking one of those boxes, Chloe can explain where the various yarns should be placed. I’m going to get on the computer and check for any online orders.”
    The next few hours passed pleasantly, with Chloe as my guide, and when lunchtime arrived, I realized that I had actually enjoyed learning my new tasks.
    â€œJosie, why don’t you go to lunch now? I’ll eat here and, Chloe, you really should go home and get some rest.”
    â€œYeah, I’m a little tired. Since I won’t be knitting for a while, and believe me, I’m already going through withdrawal, I think I’ll stop by the book shop and stock up on some reading material.”
    I was getting ready to head home for lunch when the phone rang, and Dora informed me it was my mother. When she’d called me the night before, I had explained to her that I’d be working in the shop for a while to help Dora out. To my surprise, she thought it was a good idea. So I figured she was calling to see how I was doing.
    â€œHey, Mom,” I said into the phone.
    â€œJosie, can you come over to the house? When do you get a break for lunch?”
    â€œActually, I’m leaving now to go home. Why? What’s up?”
    â€œNo, no. You can’t go home. Come here to eat. I’ll have Delilah fix you something nice. I need to talk to you.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?”
    â€œIt’ll keep till you get here. See you soon.” And with that, she disconnected the call.
    I let out a sigh.
    â€œEverything okay?” Dora questioned.
    â€œOh, yeah, I’m sure it is. Just my mother in her drama queen role. I’ll be back in about an hour.”
    Â 
    My mother had the front door open before I barely got out of the golf cart. Now I was worried.
    â€œAre you okay?” I asked, running up the steps. “Is it Dad?”
    She shook her head from side to side. “No, no. We’re fine. Come on into the kitchen. Delilah prepared you a nice crabmeat croissant.”
    I followed my mother to the back of the house and sat down at the table while she began to pace the floor.
    â€œIt’s CC,” she said. “She called me this morning.”
    Now I detected agitation in her tone. CC—whose given name was Catherine Carol—was one of my mother’s close college friends. Five of them belonged to a group that they had dubbed Sisters of ’68, the year they graduated college. Elly Bishop, Maggie Seymour, and Jane Carlisle, who was Mallory’s mother, composed the rest of the group. Although they had been scattered along the East Coast since graduation, they had managed to stay connected and had forged a strong female bond. As an only child, I had adopted all four as my surrogate aunts and always looked forward to their visits.
    â€œIs CC okay?” I asked with concern.
    â€œOkay?” My mother threw her hands up into the air. “I think she’s gone mad. She’s making no sense at all.”
    I felt a sense of dread, wondering if perhaps she was showing signs of Alzheimer’s. “What do you mean?”
    â€œIt seems,” my mother said, pausing only long enough to take a quick sip of her sweet tea, “that CC has taken up with a younger man. Much younger.”
    So far I was failing to see any crisis; I waited for her to go