Set the Night on Fire Read Online Free PDF

“Tell me something. How do you stay so thin when you’re always talking about food? Something you just ate, something you’re planning to eat, something you wish you could eat?” 
    “That’s the secret. You burn all your calories thinking and talking about food rather than eating.”
    Her father waved her out, but he was laughing.
    “Can I take the Miata?” Lila didn’t want to risk alienating Danny further by taking his Jeep.
    He opened his desk drawer, fished out the keys, and tossed them over.
    Outside she sniffed the cold, metallic smell that precedes snow. A dirty gray overcast sky confirmed it. A white Christmas wouldn’t be so bad. She backed the Miata down the driveway. She had to stop at the corner of Willow Road while a rental truck made a slow turn onto the private lane. Strange, she thought to herself, who moved a few days before Christmas?
     
    * *
     
    Blaine’s was a variety store that never changed. Tucked away on a quiet street in Winnetka, it stocked everything people needed, plus things they didn’t know they needed until they saw them. The man who owned it, Sam Blaine, had been bought out by his niece a few years ago, but he still showed up for work every day. Now in his eighties, stooped, with white hair, he knew exactly where everything was.
    “Hi, Sam.” Lila stopped to chat. “Why aren’t you in Florida?”
    “We’re leaving after New Years, honey.” Everyone was “honey” to Sam. Had been for fifty years. She doubted he even knew her real name. “Can’t abandon the fort during our busiest season now, can I?”
    She smiled and asked him where the Christmas lights were. He pointed to an aisle on the far side of the store. She found them easily and picked up two boxes. The store was warm, and she unzipped her parka. She browsed in the aisles, checking out oven mitts, toys, first aid boxes, and cards. She remembered when Danny started a collection of tiny metal cars. He left them scattered all over the house until Gramum, tripping for the umpteenth time, threatened to move out if he didn’t put them all in one place.
    She paid for the lights, wondering how much longer Blaine’s would be around. Prime North Shore property with its own parking lot in back. Developers had to be salivating over the land. If Sam’s niece was my client, she thought, I’d tell her to wait for the old man to die, then sell the place and make a killing. But that was the professional voice. Not the little girl who’d happily shopped in what was then a kid’s paradise.
    She was walking back to the parking lot when she heard a high-pitched, clear voice.
    “Is that you, Lila?”
    As she turned around, a woman lumbered toward her. She was red-cheeked and plump, and her padding of winter gear accentuated her roundness. Something about her was familiar. Especially her voice.
    “It is you!” The woman came closer, her face breaking into a grin.
    Finally Lila recognized her. “Annie Gossage! How are you? It’s got to be fifteen years.”
    Annie had lived a block away from Lila. They’d gone to the same schools: Crow Island, Washburne, New Trier. They’d been in Brownies together, then Girl Scouts, until Lila quit after loudly comparing Scouts to the Hitler Youth. Annie’s mother had been the troop leader.
    “How wonderful to see you!” Annie exclaimed. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to hold a grudge.
    As a girl Annie had been graceless and self-conscious. That was gone now, Lila noted, a sunny cheerfulness in its place. “You look terrific, Annie.”
    “You too!” Annie rested a hand on Lila’s shoulder. “We really should catch up.”
    Lila glanced at her watch. Dad was probably still working. Danny was probably sulking. It might be fun to do something spontaneous like catch up with an old friend. Weren’t these the life moments she was supposed to savor? “You know, I probably should get home . . . but, hey, what the hell!”
    Annie beamed and pointed to a shop on the corner of Elm next