“Thanks. I hope so, too.” Ella managed a smile, the chocolate tea cake on her plate helping. The light texture and chocolate flavor danced across her tongue and eased some of her frustrations.
Sarah took a bite of her scone and mumbled around it. “Oh my gosh. This is so good.” She sighed happily and took another bite, her gaze wandering around the room. “Do you remember when Momma used to put cinnamon brooms in all the rooms every fall?”
“It made the house smell like happiness.”
Sarah ran her finger over her plate to catch the crumbs. “That’s what I think heaven will be like. Desserts and books and nothing else.”
Ella had to laugh at her sister’s serious expression. “Throw in a nice French press and some freshly ground coffee, and I’d join you.” She went to stack the pans that needed washing beside the sink with the used mixing bowls, and then started loading the dishwasher.
She wondered if it was possible she’d made some progress with Angela, but just didn’t know it. Probably not. Whenever Ella had imagined having her conversation with Angela about the lost Book of Cakes, she’d never thought Angela would listen to the truth with a bored expression, shrug, and say, “Whatever.”
She’s insufferable. Still, at some point in the past week, it had dawned on Ella that while their little drives hadn’t exactly cleared her name, at some point she and Angela had slipped back into their old relationship. Just yesterday morning, while driving to a little boutique in nearby Swannanoa so Angela could buy a cardigan for the cooler weather, Ella had mentioned she was attempting to develop a brown butter cookie recipe that would meld the buttery taste with hints of ginger and lemon. She was having some difficulty finding the right balance, which had interested Angela immensely, and she’d offered several very good suggestions. It wasn’t a conversation Ella could have had with many people.
Sarah looked up from where she was buttering her second scone. “That’s about the fifth sigh I’ve heard in the past five minutes.”
“Sorry. I’m just a little frustrated. I’ve been driving Angela Stewart around for the past two weeks.”
Sarah’s hand froze in place, the scone halfway to her mouth. She lowered the pastry. “Why?”
“To give me some time to convince her I had nothing to do with her cookbook disappearing.”
“Driving her where?”
“Wherever she wants. I agreed to do it for a month.” Ella had to fight off another heavy sigh. “I’m already regretting it. I didn’t expect her to plan daily trips. One or two a week, great. But every day is a bit much.”
“So that’s where you’ve been. Ava and I thought you might have a secret boyfriend.”
“More like a secret witch.”
Sarah had to smile at that. “I take it driving Ms. Angela isn’t working out well.”
Ella slid another tea cake onto her plate. “It’s not great. I’m still having the dream, so… I thought that once I’d told Angela I hadn’t taken that book, she’d realize her error and the dreams would disappear.”
“She’s a dodgy old lady.” Sarah started to add something, but then she tilted her head to one side, her eyebrows drawn. “Didn’t Mark say Angela is too ill to leave her house?”
“She’s not as ill as all that,” Ella said cautiously. She shot a glance at her sister and wondered how much she should share. It won’t hurt her to know Angela’s not a shut-in. I’ll just skip the part about the lies she’s been telling about her health. That’s Angela’s secret to tell, not mine. “We’ve been running a few errands here and there, but nothing too physical. Jules and Mark don’t know about it.”
“Or Gray?”
“I haven’t seen Gray since I came to town.” Which had taken some doing, to be honest. More than once, she’d had to slip into any of a variety of stores, and once the post office, to avoid meeting him on the street. “I haven’t told any of them I’m driving her around, and I doubt Angela has, either. Jules would hate knowing I’m spending time with anyone in her family. Angela is aware of that, and we’ve been visiting other towns so we don’t run into her.”
Sarah gave a silent whistle. “You’re sort of stuck, aren’t you? Be-tween an Angela rock and a Jules hard place.”
“Exactly. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about this. Angela is determined to get out of the house, but Jules is super protective of her mom.” Which was laughable. The last person who needed to be “protected” was Angela. That woman is fearless. I sort of admire that, even while, on some level, it horrifies me.
“Momma used to say Angela was both the strongest and the weakest person she’d ever met. Funny how often Momma was right about people.” Sarah glanced at her phone. “Oops. I’m late. I’d better get to the library.” She got up and carried her plate to the sink, then scooped up her stack of books. “If you get bored hanging with Angela, feel free to stop by the library. We have a really nice selection of cookbooks now.”
“Thanks. I’ll remember that.” Ella waved goodbye to her sister and then finished the dishes. Afterward, she was just putting on her mascara when her phone started ringing with CeeLo Green’s “Forget You.” “The perfect ringtone for Angela,” Ella said under her breath as she picked it up. “Good morning, this is your friendly courtesy shuttle. What will it be today? A foot massage? A dozen pink roses? Or maybe you’ve discovered a deep and endless yearning for a frozen yogurt shop four counties away?”
“You’re so funny,” Angela said. “Ever heard of a book called The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel? I saw it on a list of best book club reads, and I’m a book club of one.”
“I bet there’s a copy in the library. Sarah would be more than happy to look.”
“I want my own copy. That way, if I decide to underline something, no one fines me for it.”
Of course Angela was an underliner. “Is there no rule you won’t break?”
“Very few. Pick me up at noon. The bookstore in Swannanoa will have it. Oh, and on the way here, I need you to stop at the Piggly Wiggly and get me a few things.”
Great. The grocery store. Ella was not only driving Ms. Dying all over the county, but now she’d become the old lady’s personal shopper. Could this situation get any worse?
“Ella, get a pen and some paper. I don’t want you to forget anything.”
Grumbling, Ella dug into her purse for a notepad and a pen. As she expected, the list wasn’t short, and it consisted mainly of various types of candies and cookies. “No ice cream?”
“I can’t hide that in my nightstand.”
That made sense. Ella was momentarily glad she wasn’t living a secret life. It seemed very inconvenient. “If you’re nice to me, I might bring you a scone. I just made some.”
“Bring more than one and I’ll give you the day off tomorrow.”
She’ll give me a day off. How nice of her. Ella thought of about twenty sharp, but not entirely polite, replies. Don’t do it, she told herself. Instead, she hung up and got ready to leave.