Pamela Morsi Read Online Free PDF

on who she was or what she did. Viv spoke of her daughter with such warmth, it was almost as if their relationship had been by choice rather than a mere accident of fate.
    “I’m sure it was...pleasant having someone so...artistic living in your home.”
    Viv nodded. “The way John and I saw it, our children balanced each other out. Leanne was edgy and imaginative and never saw a risk she wasn’t willing to take, while Scott has been steady and responsible since the day he was born. I can always count on Scott. Come to think of it, there’s not anyone who knows him who can’t count on him. He’s that kind of guy.”
    “Isn’t that nice,” D.J. said politely, resisting the urge to look at her watch.
    “John and I worried that he might want to leave Verdant. Well, I guess the truth is we worried he might leave and we worried that he might not. The last thing we wanted was for him to feel trapped here with the business.”
    “The business?”
    “We own the drugstore downtown. It’s been in my husband’s family since they were selling cigars to the Kiowas.”
    Viv laughed at her little joke. D.J. smiled.
    “In the end, we were so glad that Scott stayed. Not everybody who grows up in a small town wants to live there forever.”
    “No, I suppose not,” D.J. agreed.
    “And after his divorce... I did mention that he’s divorced?”
    “Uh...”
    “Well, he is. You might as well know that. It’s a fact. It can’t be helped. And it was a mess.” Viv waved her hand in front of her face as if she could whisk it all away. “I suppose that sort of thing always is. I wouldn’t know. We’ve never had a divorce in our family before. But infidelity...” Viv gave an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. “What’s a mother to do?”
    D.J. gave no answer, but Mrs. Sanderson didn’t appear to require one.
    “I am just very grateful that he decided to stay. They say the only way to get past gossip in a small town is to avoid it completely or grow so old you’ve outlived it.”
    Viv sighed. “Oh, but now you’ll be thinking you’ve moved into this hive of rumormongers,” she said. “It is kind of that way. But mostly we’re very chummy, you know. Everyone knows everyone. It’s like a gigantic extended family. That can be very appealing. Although I’m sure it may be very different from your upbringing as an only child in a city neighborhood.”
    D.J. paused midsip of her coffee.
    “How did you know I was an only child?”
    Viv looked momentarily like a deer in headlights. “Didn’t you mention it?”
    “No, no, I don’t think so.”
    “It must have been on your resume.”
    That was ridiculous. There was absolutely no personal information listed.
    D.J. shook her head.
    Viv shrugged. “Well, something must have made me think so.” She gave a bright smile and then glanced at her watch. “Look at the time.” Viv downed her coffee and rose to her feet. “I’d better get busy. Mr. Dewey, I will see you later. So much to do today.”
    That was supposed to be D.J.’s line.
    By 7:30, she couldn’t wait another minute. D.J. drove her car, empty trailer still attached, back the circuitous route she’d come toward the beautiful library on Government Street.
    The small parking lot behind the building was completely empty. D.J. parked longwise, taking up three spaces but promised herself that she would find the place to turn in the trailer by midday.
    There was an employees’ entrance in the back. Hopeful, she gathered up her box of moving-in files and carried them to the doorway. As she neared the entrance, her eyes were drawn to the bicycle attached to the metal railing. Her first thought was simply that perhaps one of her employees biked to work. As she got a better look, she began to hope not. The very ordinary-looking, slightly rusted bicycle was attached to the railing with U-locks on both the front and back tires. A chain connected the two locks together and to another chain that wove in and out of the