“Ma’am, it’s been an age since someone called me a ‘young man,’” he said, waving a hand vaguely at his graying temples. “Thank you very much.”
Miriam gave him a mock frown. “Well, it’s been less than a day since someone called me ‘ma’am,’ and I still don’t like it. Call me Miriam, please, or else I shall start to suspect I am actually growing old.”
“Nobody would ever accuse you of that, Miriam,” Diana said with a laugh.
Now, it was Miriam’s turn to look distinctly pleased.
Miriam led the two adults deeper into the party, where all the original members of the book club were present, as well as a few other neighbors and friends. Poor Garrett looked as though he was completely over interacting with people after spending the whole day at the bookstore with Eleanor, but he was valiantly keeping up a conversation with Tyler, who kept casting fond looks over at Cadence, as he had been wont to do ever since the couple had reunited.
Cadence, alas, was not looking back at her husband, because she was focused on pestering Diana, as was June.
“Ohhelloagain there,” Cadence said to Anthony, grinning at him so widely that her cheeks were going to end up hurt from it. “It isso niceto see you here. And with my good friend Diana! Wow! Who every could have predicted such a thing?”
“Please ignore them,” Diana told Anthony. If she had worried that he would be embarrassed though, she was absolutely incorrect. He looked like he was having a blast.
“Cadence,” he said. “Next time you think someone would make a good pair, tell them! I’ve been over here fumbling about by myself. I could have used your guidance.”
Cadence shot Diana an approving look. “I like him,” she said.
“And he likes Diana,” June chimed in, her voice a sing-song.
Diana narrowed her eyes at them both, although she was annoyed more in jest than in reality.
“I’m sorry, is this middle school?” she demanded.
“Oh goodness, I hope not,” came a voice at her elbow. “I hated middle school.”
Diana turned to see Winnie standing there, holding a wrapped parcel in her hand. Diana wrapped her arm around Winnie’s, leaving the other woman looking pleased.
“Winnie, thank goodness, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, noting that the woman’s cheeks tinged slightly pink at those words. Diana made a mental note to remind their newest friend that she was wanted. It seemed like Winnie hadn’t had enough of that in her life. “Protect me from these vultures.”
“Isn’t that his job?” Winnie asked, nodding at Anthony.
“Oh, they’re after him too. He’s on his own.”
“Hey!” Anthony protested with a laugh.
Winnie patted Diana’s arm consolingly, then unlinked them. “Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m going to have to abandon you too. I have something for Eleanor.”
“Something for Eleanor?” asked the woman in question, approaching at the sound of her name.
Diana was grateful, because that meant it was Eleanor’s turn to be mobbed by Candence and June. They wrapped her in a hug, one on each side.
“Congrats, honey!” Cadence said.
“The store was so bustling when I came in earlier,” June chimed in, bouncing on her toes.
Diana gave Winnie a sidelong look. “You abandoned me to their clutches, but I, in the very spirit of generosity, will help you get some Eleanor face time.” She made a shooing gesture at Cadence and June. “Begone, you two. Winnie is too nice to brush you off, but I’m wise to your tricks.”
Winnie looked a little bit bashful in the face of all this attention as she held out the parcel to Eleanor.
“Now,” she said,” I know it’s a little unconventional to give what is pretty obviously a book to someone who literally just filled the ground floor of her house with thousands of books. But I wanted to get you something that befit the occasion… and something that had a little bit of me in it too,” she added quietly.
Eleanor undid the wrapping paper delicately, revealing a gorgeous antique copy of Jane Austen’sSense and Sensibility.
“Oh, Winnie,” she breathed. “It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s not a first edition or anything,” Winnie hastened to add. “Those are impossible to find, even with my Historical Society connections, and even if you do find one, they cost about a gazillion dollars. But that copy is over a hundred years old and, well, I just thought it was beautiful.”
