At least her wrists were covered by her voluminous wet-weather wear.
‘My mom always says I have nine lives,’ he said, regarding his hands as though they contained the truth of the moment. ‘Although I’ve always been more of a dog person, to be honest. Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to talk to Bowow about fostering. Or adopting. Do you want me to carry that for you?’
Shaking her head, Effie grabbed protectively at the straps of her book bag.
‘The umbrella, at least?’
All right. He was taller, so it only made sense. She grudgingly passed over the umbrella.
‘An animal is a lifelong commitment,’ she said stiffly, as they navigated the garden path. She’d heard the stories from Bowow of people giving up their dogs on a whim: the pet was inconvenient to their travel plans, or it needed too many walks during the day. Or it shed too much. ‘Especially if you’re just here temporarily.’
‘Temporarily?’ Theo regarded her curiously as he opened the front gate.
Had she misspoken? For someone so into poetry, he seemed to struggle with subtext.
‘Yellowbrick Grove is a big change from the city,’ she explained. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s no stock exchange here.’
Theo chuckled. ‘I had noticed that, actually.’
Effie’s lips tightened. It was an unwritten rule that only locals were allowed to make fun of the town.
‘There’s not much for me back in the city, at least for now. It wasn’t my doing,’ he added, as though he’d read her thoughts. ‘I was perfectly happy with how my life was going. But my ex apparently wasn’t. And sometimes you need to step away to heal.’
Effie nodded slowly. All right, so he wasn’t wrong about that. After Mom’s death, she’d seriously considered fleeing to the city, a place where she could be anonymous and unknown, and where anyone who looked at her wouldn’t instantly know her entire life story. One of the hardest parts of working through grief in a small town was the constant pitying looks and theendlessquestions about how you were doing and whether someone could do something to help. It forced you to face your feelings over and over, and constantly go on the record about how you were coping.
‘I lost you for a minute there, huh?’ Theo swiped the rain from his hair, his green eyes trying to find Effie’s hazel ones beneath the safety of her oversized glasses.
It wasn’t just grief Effie had been thinking about. It was whether she wanted to risk getting to know someone who might pack up and leave the next week. Effie had always been cautious with her attentions, even her friendship ones. And with good reason. Because usually when she opened up, mockery awaited.
‘I was thinking about my coffee,’ said Effie, as she turned the corner to the main square, which The Winged Monkey had laid claim to for as long as she could remember. The huge planters out the front overflowed with colourful wildflowers, and the hanging baskets swung gently in the misting rain. The paned windows were steamed up from the inside. Someone had drawn a heart on one of them, and Effie idly wondered if she’d ever be the subject of a heart drawing.
Shaking out the umbrella, Theo dropped it by the entrance with the others, then opened the door for Effie, gesturing for her to go ahead. The shop was busy, as it always was at thistime of the morning. A line of customers hung out by the espresso machine, and a backdrop of murmured conversations was punctuated by the clinking of spoons and the rattle of coffee cups. Curious eyes followed the two of them as they approached the counter, and Effie immediately felt defensive. She could feel the questions on their lips, the way that people were trying to make sense of it. Effie, not Bonnie, walking into the coffee shop with Theo.
Terrance, the barista with the crush on theotherChalmers sister, took her order: a coffee for herself and a pastry for library parking lot Thomas. Then, finger poised over an iPad, he glanced at Theo, who’d sidled up next to Effie and was brushing down his damp jacket.
‘Are you two together?’ asked Terrance. She could hear the undercurrent of confusion in his voice.
Spluttering, Effie took a step to the side. ‘Absolutely not. What a thing to assume.’
She wouldnotbe the subject of town gossip and judgement.
Terrance raised his hands to protect himself from her stark tone. ‘I meant your order.’
‘Sure,’ said Theo easily, handing over his card. ‘I’ve got it. Make mine a flat white.’
Effie rummaged in her purse for a five-dollar bill, handing it out to him. Amused, Theo waved it off.
‘It’s on me. As payment for lending me your umbrella.’
Effie put the bill in the tip jar, then hung back as Terrance set to work banging out the orders that were ahead of theirs. About half were coffee-based drinks, and the rest tea – after a recent video from someone called an ‘influencer’, the whole town had decided that it was very important to start reading their futures in their tea leaves. Or, in the case of the people ordering Turkish coffee, in their coffee grounds.
She was about to pick up a newspaper to try her hand at the word puzzles when she noticed Hannah and Alana lounging on the L-shaped sectional in the corner, sharing acroissant and a pot of tea, and no doubt some local secrets. It was strange to see just the two of them without Bonnie around. Until Alana had shown up at the crochet night, Effie hadn’t even been sure that Bonnie’s friends existed independently of her. Tessa always joked that they lived in a stairwell cupboard, coming to life like weird puppets only when Bonnie needed her entourage.
To Effie’s surprise, Alana waved, the bangles on her slim wrist jangling.
‘Hey, Effie,’ she said.
‘Alana,’ responded Effie, baffled. Was this a trick of some sort?
