“A little. Are you buying anything?”
David scoffed in the direction of the salsa, his disdain signaling to Amie that no, he was not buying anything attheseprices.
As they exited the aisle, Amie nearly ran into what on first glance she could only describe as a pile of party supplies come to life.
“Whoa, sorry.” She jumped out of the way, getting a clear look at the human behind the vibrant pile of plastic.
“Oh, hi!” Raina shifted slightly to prevent a pack of noisemakers from sliding out of her arms. “Sorry, I have very low visibility right now. Should’ve thought to grab a basket.”
“I can get you one,” David offered, setting off toward the front entrance.
“Oh, thank you!” Raina called after him, losing a stack of conical party hats in the process. “Shoot …”
Amie crouched down to retrieve the runaway stack of hats, their escape foiled by the very nature of their existence as they rolled in a lazy circle.
“Big party?” she asked, straightening. “Or is this all just for a chill night at home?”
Raina laughed. “Bachelorette,” she explained. “For my best friend. We’re going to this rooftop bar on Spring Street.”
Amie held out her arms in a silent offer to take some of the items off of Raina’s hands.
“Oh, thanks,” Raina said gratefully.
“Are you the maid of honor?” Amie asked, careful not to knock anything over as she relieved Raina of four packets of balloons.
“You’d think, right?” Raina asked wryly, pointing her chin at her cargo. “Just a bridesmaid. I thought twenty-plus years of friendship would be enough to get me maid of honor, but she asked her sister. Who she only talks to, like, three times a year. Family pressure, I guess.”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, the sister isn’t really much of a planner. Which is how I find myself here, the day of the bachelorette, buying a white plastic sash that says ‘Bride’ and as many gold balloons as I can find. Next stop is the mall to see if they have any phallic-themed candy.”
“They don’t have that here?” Amie asked, widening her eyes in mock surprise.
Raina laughed again. “God, I wish. That’d make my lifesomuch easier.”
Amie decided to go for a third laugh. “At least you’re already stocked up on granola.”
Her stomach swooped as Raina’s smiling face transmogrified into a look of confusion. It only took Amie a second to catch her error. She hadn’t gone to the grocery store the last day of the time loop. To Raina, their interaction over the granola never happened.
As the other woman opened her mouth to question Amie’s non sequitur, Amie’s eye was drawn to movement over Raina’s shoulder.
“Oh, there’s David with a basket!” Amie exclaimed, steamrolling over the moment.Maybe try thinking before you speak, for once, she internally scolded herself as Raina turned.
The mental self-flagellation was pushed to the side by another thought. Raina had been at the grocery store the day David andSavannah had their argument. And she worked at the bookstore—in fact, she was one of the last people to see Savannah alive. It was very likely the police had spoken with her. Had she been the one to point a finger at David? And if so, had it just been an innocent mention, or something more nefarious?
Amie cast her mind back to her conversation with Grayson at the bookshop, fighting through the growing fog in her memory toward a flickering light within. Grayson had said that Raina wanted to run the store once Savannah retired, maybe eventually own it. And he had appeared to be under the impression that Savannah saw this future for Raina as well. After laying off most of the staff, it didn’t seem like she was planning on letting Raina go any time soon. So it wouldn’t have made sense for Raina to kill Savannah … unless …
Raina had been encouraging Madeline to talk to Andrew about buying the store. If Shelf Starter became a part of Eons Café, Raina wouldn’t be able to own it one day. But maybe Raina was more concerned about the financial future of the bookshop than one day owning it herself. If she’d thought Savannah was running the store into the ground, she might have figured she had a better chance at keeping her job if Madeline bought the place.
Could Raina and Madeline have been working together?
“—gotta get going. Thanks again. Bye, Amie!”
Amie automatically raised a hand in farewell as she emerged from her thoughts, realizing too late that she was saying goodbye to Raina, a person who she now had many questions for.
“Are you okay?” David asked, giving her a quizzical look.
“I … yeah.”
“I only ask because I took those balloons from you a full thirty seconds ago.”
