Tuesday night, she’d introduce a Keep Darby Safe campaign at the book club meeting. Then they could get down and dirty in the who killed Mason Pike investigation. Having two projects might strain their resources, but they had Jonathon in town until the murder was solved. Jonathon and Romeo.
And Jonathon still hadn’t brought his dog to the bookstore. She needed to talk to him about that.
Archer came into the tent at the end of the festival. “Do you want to load the books in my bus? It’s just outside the park in the vendors’ parking lot. Jack’s coming over as soon as he takes the last load for our booth over.”
Killer came out from under the table and pulled on his leash, trying to get to Archer. Laughing, Rarity unclipped his leash, letting him run to one of his favorite humans. “Of course I do. Even if we sold out, there are still the tables to get back. Maybe I need to get a bookstore van just in case I lose my boyfriend.”
He shrugged. “As long as there isn’t an active search going for a new one, I’m fine with this being a permanent gig. Picking up your booth remains, that is.”
“Almost a nice save, dude.” Katie stood from packing up the picture books. “I thought you were going down on one knee.”
“Believe me, I’ve got more swagger than to do it at the end of a festival in an empty booth in front of you all. Especially when we’re all tired and hungry. She might say no.” Archer grabbed the box and put it on the dolly he’d brought in. He winked at Rarity. Then he stacked three more and headed out the door. “Just wait until you see the fireworks.”
Darby and Katie looked at each other, then at Rarity. “He’s kidding, right? Or do you have something to tell us?”
“He’s messing with you. No plans have been made.” She put Killer into the wagon along with the register and stuff from the table they’d used as the point of sale. “Now let’s get these tables cleared off before Jack shows up.”
“Too late,” he called as he came into the tent. “Wow, Archer wasn’t kidding. You guys are slow at packing.”
“We had a lot more stuff in our tent than you did,” Darby countered.
With Jack’s help, it didn’t take them long to finish shutting the booth down. Rarity’s bookshop was the first stop, and they got the boxes and tables unloaded and into the store in record time.
Shirley glanced around at the book boxes. “And this is why you need me here tomorrow. I’ll get the books all returned to their shelves before I go home on Monday. We had quite a bit of walk-in traffic this morning. We sold out of the Pike book. They’re doing a memorial screening of his new film tomorrow night. It was supposed to be a dark night where people could regroup, but now they have this fundraiser for his charity at the theater. I bought tickets for the group.”
“Put an invoice in and I’ll reimburse you.” Rarity met Archer’s gaze. “We’ll have to change our date night plans.”
“It’s still dinner and a movie, just not the movie I’d planned.” Archer put his arm around her and kissed her neck. “I’ve got to go. Jack has a date.”
When Archer was out the door, Jonathon came over, his laptop bag packed. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
It didn’t matter how many times she’d explained to the men in her life that she didn’t need a chaperone to find her way home, when something happened, like Pike’s murder, she apparently became unable to walk alone. Now, she just accepted it. They weren’t going to change anyway. “Give me a couple of minutes to tie everything up. Darby? You have people with you tonight?”
“Me, it’s me.” Katie raised her hand. “I’m staying over one more night. Then Malia and Holly are taking over Operation Darby Number One.”
“To be clear, I hate that name,” Darby added.
Katie giggled. “We know. That’s why we called it that.”
“Be careful, I’ll banish you from the pool if you don’t be nice.” Darby grabbed her backpack. “Anyway, I’m staying home today. We’re doing fajitas for dinner if you want to come by.”
“Kathy’s taking me for dinner since she’s leaving tomorrow. She wants to talk about her father and the future. She’s worried I’m going to be broke and will have to live with her.” Shirley smiled as she picked up her purse. “She thinks that’s why I work.”
“It’s not, right? I could increase your pay rate and hours, if you need them.” Rarity hoped she hadn’t been underpaying Shirley. Especially since she did so many book clubs and now author visits. She was essential.
“I’m going broke too,” Katie said as she and Darby raised their hands. “If Shirley doesn’t want the pay raise, split it between us.”
“You two are fine,” Rarity said with a laugh as Shirley shook her head.
“I’m fine as well, dear. The reason I work and why I’m going to school now is to keep my mind busy and to be around people who aren’t all my age. Being here keeps me young. We’re doing a race car book at the Mommy and Me class on Wednesday. I couldn’t find a bike race picture book. They need to fix that.”
“I’ll put in a request with the publishers,” Rarity teased. “Okay, so everyone has plans this afternoon. I don’t want anyone to be alone. Archer and I are going to take full advantage of the film festival. I hear there might be some big actors in town for the screenings today.”
“Take pictures if it’s anyone I might know,” Katie said, clearly feeling like she was missing out on the festival. “I just don’t think I could deal with another movie that was as bad as the ones yesterday. Even Friday’s spider picture was a dud. I don’t know how this guy got to be so famous.”
As Rarity and Jonathon walked home, she wondered about Katie’s last question. “Has Drew done any research into Mason Pike?”
“No warrants, no prior convictions. He and his ex-wife had a rather public and contentious divorce a few years ago. She accused him of cheating; he accused her. They both were siphoning money from the joint account. I think he was better at hiding it. Still, she got a few million over the prenup she’d signed, but not as much as she wanted.” Jonathon rattled off Mason’s history from memory. “He’d been rumored to be in a couple of relationships lately. But no one has come forward, claiming to be next of kin or a new wife. He has a brother who’s probably going to inherit.”
