Long Memory Read Online Free PDF Page B

Teamster.
    “I always hated watermelon. It’s a laxative, you know,” Jean announced. “What do you have for me this week?”
    Beth put her own novels on the returns counter and headed into the stacks. She usually got two books a week in the summer, but the way the girls were she hadn’t been able to get out as much. This time she selected three and carried them to the checkout desk where Becky and Andrea had turned their attention on James again. He was leaning on the counter laughing while keeping an eye on Nonie and Jean sitting in the chairs inside the entrance. If he’d turned the full wattage of that smile on her, she wasn’t sure how she would resist. Becky and Andrea weren’t even trying. They both leaned on the counter laughing with him until she cleared her throat.
    “Oh, Miss Wilson, are you ready?” Becky asked.
    Beth smiled, but didn’t answer. She thought her three books on the counter with her library card on top was answer enough. After the books were checked out, she led Nonie and Jean toward the car trusting James to follow.
    “Imagine those hussies acting that way,” Jean fumed, clutching Nonie’s arm as they crossed the parking lot.
    “Indeed,” Nonie agreed.
    Beth was glad she hadn’t had to say it. She did have to wonder how James was taking the rant. So far he hadn’t said anything. Curiosity drove her to look back to check his expression and fought against it. No need to make him think she was interested.
    “Pathetic. You’d think James was the last man on earth and their biological clocks were ticking time bombs.”
    Nonie nodded.
    Beth grabbed the door handle and pulled.
    Nothing happened.
    She tried again.
    Nothing happened. He’d locked the doors.
    “James, you locked the–” Beth stared over Nonie and Jean’s heads at the empty parking lot.
    “What’s the matter?” Jean demanded.
    “Where did James go?”
    “He’s probably still in the library in the clutches of those tramps,” Jean muttered. “Why, I should call those girls’ mothers and tell them what they act like. Of course, Linda Kavanaugh was a little tramp in her day too. She was pregnant when she and the Raney boy married, you know. I was at the wedding.”
    “Wait here. I’ll go get him.” Beth dodged around them and trotted back inside. James was still leaning against the counter chatting with Becky and Andrea. “James?” she asked, breaking into a detailed list of Atlanta’s many charms. “We’re locked out.”
    “Locked–oh, are you ready? I didn’t notice. Sorry, ladies, I have to go.”
    “Come back and visit us,” Andrea called.
    “Bye.” Becky settled for waving.
    “Sorry, I didn’t know you were done,” James said as they walked out the door.
    “Listen, every woman in town is going to want to talk to you.”
    “Fine with me.”
    “No, not fine. Jean is getting all torqued up about it, and if that happens your grandmother will be stressed. Capische?”
    “No.”
    Beth stopped halfway between the building and the car. She hoped Jean wouldn’t hear her, but the woman had poured all of her lost eyesight into her hearing. “Every woman in town is going to swarm all over you, fresh blood. Normally I would stand back and watch, but if Jean upsets Nonie, Nonie is going to have a bad night. If Nonie has a real bad night, it might mean another trip to the hospital in an ambulance. I’m not up for it, and I don’t have her hospital bag repacked yet. So just cool your jets, Casanova.”
    “Why would you stand back and watch? You don’t want to join in?” He quirked one eyebrow.
    Beth searched his face, trying to decide if he was that egotistical or if he was fishing for information. It was too hard to guess, and she didn’t have the time to waste figuring it out. “Just humor me and try to keep the flirting to a minimum. You are welcome to visit the local hot spots trawling for women when we don’t have your grandmother and great-aunt in the car. I’ll draw you a map.”
    He