Claremont by Wiebke von Carolsfeld

Author:Wiebke von Carolsfeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linda Leith Publishing
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

October

Rose’s eyes glided along the row of titles. Death in the Middle Ages, Death and Dying in Central Appalachia, Maori Death Customs. The library where she worked on leafy Palmerston Avenue might be small, but it was still home to tens of thousands of books, a surprising number of them obscure. Re-shelving was technically no longer part of her job, but seeing that her co-worker Vanessa had to bring her kid to the doctor with a suspected case of croup, Rose didn’t mind filling in. Irish Wake Amusements, she read. The American Way of Death. And Rejoice When You Die: The New Orleans Jazz Funerals. Whatever.

“So? Tonight’s the night?”

Rose turned to find Martha, her colleague and friend. Her loose orange dress was somehow flattering, her hair bound into an unruly bun, her lips soft, just like her smile. Martha, who was helpful to a fault, had two delightful kids and a house that was small, but like her, perfectly adorable. Even after five years, Rose had yet to locate Martha’s dark side. And she had tried.

“Oh, come on, Rose. Don’t make that face. It’ll be fun.”

“If you think it’s so much fun to make small talk with a perfect stranger hoping to get lucky, why don’t you go?”

“I’m married, remember?”

“Right. How could I forget?”

Rose liked Evan, Martha’s husband, even though he, too, was too perfect for words. A painter who made money, a loving father, and an inspired cook. Flawless, aside from his penchant for silly facial hair patterns, which Rose, in a pinch, could overlook.

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” said Martha, her face so sweet it was hard to stay grumpy. “And Fred’s a great guy. You’ll have fun.”

Rose shook her head and went back to finding the right spot for the book in her hand. She should not have agreed to a blind date. Being single wasn’t that bad. She could flirt with whoever she wanted, had time to focus on work and Tom and Nick, and if ever there was any time to spare, she could finally tackle In Search of Lost Time.

“I hear that one’s worth reading,” Martha said, as she glanced at the book Rose had been trying to shelve for the past five minutes.

“Thanks,” said Rose, as she dumped After the Darkest Hour: How Suffering Begins the Journey to Wisdom back into the cart. “One set-up a month—make that a year—is enough.”

It was Rose who had suggested Kalendar on College Street, but now she regretted it. She liked this old standby with its quiet European-like charm. How shortsighted to taint a place this dear for a date.

The hostess, a waif barely out of high school, immediately spotted the book in Rose’s hand. “He’s in the back,” she said, “by the window.”

Next time she would pick something less conspicuous, Rose thought. Something more current, less bulky.

Fred, in a polo shirt with khakis and square glasses, was leafing through his own pristine edition of Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro. Way too pristine for him to have actually read it, no matter what he asserted in his admittedly funny emails.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.