“Hello?”
Diana’s warm voice came over the line. “Winnie, hey. Are you busy? Am I interrupting anything?”
The idea was so ludicrous that Winnie almost laughed.
“No, not at all,” she said honestly. “What’s up?”
“Well, we’re assembling an emergency book club session.” Winnie felt a little thrill at being included, then registered the wordemergency.
“Wait, is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah,” Diana said. “’Emergency’ was a bit much. It’s just that Eleanor finally got this bookshelf that’s the centerpiece to her bookstore, and she is…”
“Beyond stumped!” Eleanor’s voice came from the background, sounding torn between being amused and being frustrated.
“She’s struggling,” Diana said diplomatically, which made Winnie chuckle. “And the opening is tomorrow, so we’re in an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.”
“I can definitely help,” Winnie offered immediately. Frankly, it would be a huge improvement on her current evening plans. “But isn’t Eleanor dating the hardware store guy?”
“She is,” Diana agreed. “But he is on a job tonight and Eleanor—” She raised her voice so that Eleanor could hear her. “Eleanor is being stubborn about calling him, even though he would definitely come!”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” Eleanor shouted back.
Winnie felt herself smile at the banter between the two friends.
“I’ve built a bookshelf or two in my time at the historical society,” she said. “I can be right over. Do you have tools?”
“We have tools and snacks and good cheer,” Diana said. “All we need is a Winnie, and we’ll be all set.”
Winnie felt almost as though she could blush. “Well, I can provide. I’ll be there.”
“Wear something comfy!” Diana called before she hung up.
Quickly, Winnie changed into yoga pants and a t-shirt she wore to do chores, hoping that this was the right level of comfy. She wondered how many times she’d have to hang out with the book club group before she stopped hearing that little naysaying voice in her head. She told that voice to shush it as she hurried over to Eleanor’s store.
“Hello?” she called as she poked her head through the front door.
“Winnie!” Her name came as a chorus from Diana, Cadence, and June, who turned toward her with broad smiles.
Winnie was relieved to see that they were all dressed as casually as she was, June even more so, in a pair of sweatpants that were spotted with paint from a past renovation job.
Poor Eleanor, meanwhile, looked like she was about to go out of her mind. Her normally smooth red hair was frizzy, her eyes a little wide, like she’d had too much coffee.
“Winnie, hey,” she said. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course,” Winnie said, offering the other woman a gracious smile. Her relationship with Eleanor was the least smooth, although Winnie could feel things getting a little easier between them with every encounter. She hoped that by helping out today, she could really show Eleanor that she wanted to be a true friend.
From the way Eleanor clasped her shoulder appreciatively, Winnie thought maybe that was within her reach, after all.
Just then, Miriam waltzed into the main room, carrying a tray of wine glasses like she was a professional waiter.
“Oh, hello, Winnie, dear,” she said grandly. “Would you like a drink? Eleanor, darling, youneeda drink. You look like you’re about to vibrate out of your skin.”
Eleanor accepted a glass of red wine with a grateful smile. Winnie did too.
“You’re really agile with that tray, Miriam,” she praised.
Miriam bobbed a curtsey. “I have lived a rich and storied life, Winnie, dear,” she said. “You will continue to be astonished by my many talents.”
