1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [83]
Her head whirled with emotions she didn’t want to confront. If Tanni had asked her about the program, Shirley wouldn’t have been able to give her a single detail.
The phone rang, and she didn’t even bother to look at caller ID. She couldn’t see any reason to torture herself. Besides, Tanni would grab it fast enough.
Ten minutes later, her daughter wandered casually into the living room, arms swinging at her sides. “That man who wants to cut off his relationship with you is on the line.”
Shocked to the very core of her being, Shirley nearly fell off the sofa. “Larry?”
Tanni grinned. “He’s really nice, Mom. I like him. We talked.”
Larry had spoken with her daughter for ten minutes?
“I asked him about Shaw, and he said he checked and Shaw’s doing really well at the art institute.” Her smile revealed her pain. “I’m glad for him. I mean that.”
Shirley knew what it had cost her daughter to make that statement.
“Mom, answer the phone,” Tanni teased. “You don’t want to keep Larry waiting.”
Tanni was right. Feeling better than she had in days, Shirley picked up the phone.
Twenty-Three
Tanni Bliss parked in the lot adjacent to the library—and did a competent job of it, too. At least in her own opinion. Having her driver’s license had made a big difference to her life. It meant freedom! Her mom had been pretty good about letting her take the car, too, especially if it involved her work at the library.
The Reading with Rover program had gotten off to an excellent start. The first few weeks were an experiment to figure out how it should work when school began again in September.
Grace had called a meeting for the volunteers on Thursday afternoon. Tanni was on her way there now. She liked working with the kids and dogs; what she didn’t enjoy was being around Kristen Jamey. Tanni wasn’t sure why she disliked Kristen so much, other than the fact that she was dumb. She didn’t know how else to put it. Kristen was about as empty-headed as anyone could get.
Her lack of intelligence didn’t matter one iota because Kristen was beautiful. The boys at school stumbled all over themselves every time Kristen walked down the hall. She was popular with just about everyone—except Tanni. Already there was talk about Kristen being crowned homecoming queen next October when they were seniors.
Tanni suspected Grace thought she was jealous of Kristen but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t. She simply didn’t respect the other girl. The head librarian had asked Tanni to make an effort to get along with Kristen, and she’d tried. She really had, not that it’d done much good. Knowing that Kristen would be at the meeting today put Tanni on edge.
The library was busy, probably due to the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. Half a dozen people stood in line waiting to check out books. All the computers were in use, too.
One of the librarians recognized Tanni and greeted her with a smile. “Grace is in the conference room,” she said, pointing in that direction.
“Thanks.” Tanni headed toward the back of the library.
The conference room door was open, and she saw Grace sitting at the table with a pile of tissues in front of her. Tanni hesitated. Either Grace had come down with a wretched cold—or she’d been crying.
Not until she walked into the room did Tanni notice that Grace wasn’t alone. Kristen Jamey sat across from her, and instinctively Tanni stiffened.
Grace glanced up. “Oh, hello, Tanni. I apologize for the tears. My dog, Buttercup…” She didn’t finish.
“Grace found Buttercup dead this morning,” Kristen explained. “She died in her sleep. Grace’s husband, Cliff, is burying Buttercup in her favorite shady spot.”
“Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry.” Tanni felt terrible for her. She’d lost her own dog, Bingo, when she was ten and, until her father’s death, it’d been the worst event of her life.
“I’d had Buttercup at the vet earlier in the week and everything seemed to be okay. She was getting on in years and sleeping a lot, but…this was