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“Okay.” Sam gets up, his phone already in his hand.

“Wait.” Hazel’s voice drops to a whisper. “Do you think Mai will forgive me?”

“You’ll have to ask her that yourself,” Sam replies. “I’ll say this, though. Bà can be stubborn, and demanding, too, but she’s the most compassionate person I’ve ever met.”

Hazel nods. “From the first letter Mai wrote me, I knew what a kind heart she had.”

“I forgot she wrote to you from Vietnam,” Sam says. “Do you still have those letters?”

“Rhon packed up our things and had them moved down here before putting Red Barn Books on the market. They must be upstairs somewhere.”

I jump in, my memoirist’s mind whirring. “You said Evelyn saved Billy’s letters, too. In a shoebox?”

“Yes, she did.” Hazel nods. “I remember now, I put Mai’s letters in with his.”

“I’d love to see them,” Sam says. “Maybe we could look for that box when I get back?”

“Of course. They’re yours now.” Hazel imitates his all-encompassing wave. “It’s all yours.”

“Cool.” Sam takes a stride toward the pocket door, then turns, his grin stretching the scar on his chin. “This is gonna blow my parents’ minds.”

Hazel chuckles as Sam clomps down the porch stairs two at a time. “Billy used to take the steps like that.”

“Are they really so alike?” I ask.

“I can see my brother in him, yes, but Sam’s spirit feels softer to me. The way Billy grew up made him hard. Not just on me, but on himself, too. Now, come here, Audrey. I expect you’ve got some questions of your own.”

I take Sam’s place on the couch. I’ve been so caught up in his side of things, I almost forgot I’m a main character in this story, too. “Since you asked, here’s one: Why did Rhonda lie to me about you being dead?”

Hazel clicks her tongue. “When did Rhon say that?”

I picture the repeated “unknowns” on the property disclosure. “Maybe she didn’t say it, but she definitely let me believe the owners were dead when I bought Red Barn Books from your trust. And what about Lucinda? Does she know you’re alive?”

“I talk to Lulu every week. She keeps me up to date on all the Schuywich doings.” Hazel places her hand on my knee. “You had a close call, she told me, in that snowstorm. You saw a vision of your parents, and your husband, too?”

I’m confounded. I never spoke about that outside the Spragues’ living room. “How did she know?”

“Lulu heard about it from Wren’s mother, Winnie. She’s in a Bible group with Nancy.”

I had no idea I was at the center of this web of gossip. “So everyone’s been lying to me?”

“It’s not like that, Audrey.” Hazel drinks some more water—stalling, it seems to me. “When you saw the listing for Red Barn Books, I was quarantined in the nursing home. Since the property was already in a trust, Rhon said it was best I let her handle the sale. As for Lulu, she’s kept my relationship with Evelyn a secret for half a century. She’d never say anything about me unless I gave her my permission.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Hazel shrugs her frail shoulders. “I told Lulu I wanted to stay out of your way so you could make the place your own. As for Joe and Nancy, we’ve always been neighborly, but to them I was just Evelyn’s roommate. People in the village might remember Miss McIntyre from the library, but no one knows Red Barn Books belonged to me, too. It wouldn’t have occurred to anyone to mention me, even if they did know I was alive.”

“It sounds like you were already a ghost,” I say.

“A ghost in my own life.” Hazel nods. “That’s a good way to describe being in the closet. Then again, you are a wonderful writer.”

I’m flattered but confused. “How do you know that?”

“I downloaded the ebook of Dad’s Apprentice after Rhon told me you’d inquired about the bookshop. By the time you made your offer, I’d read it. I found out about your husband, too.” My face must be an open book, because Hazel continues, “You needn’t look so surprised, dear. I am a librarian, after all. Anyway, some people in California offered more, but I chose you.”

I understand now. “Because Evelyn would have wanted a writer to run the bookshop.”

“Evelyn would have liked that you’re a writer, yes. That’s what I told Rhon, too. Really, though, it was because we were both widows.”