Free Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge Page A

let out a peep. I seen grown men make more of a fuss over a black eye. And you were just an itty-bitty thing.” She pulled a crumpled tissue from a sleeve of her blue velour top and used it to dab at her eyes.
    Kerrie Ann had always wondered about that scar. Now she knew. She just wished the rest of those years weren’t a total blank. “I don’t remember that,” she said, frowning. “In fact, I don’t remember much of anything. Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know I had a sister.” She turned to the woman to whom she’d been talking when Miss Honi had descended on her like a blond, perfumed tornado. “So you’re Lindsay.”
    Kerrie Ann took note of how pretty Lindsay was, in a fresh-faced, not-trying-too-hard kind of way, with her smooth olive skin, blunt-cut brown hair that fell to her shoulders, and intelligent gray-green eyes, which at the moment were wide with wonder. Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, a cashmere pullover in a pale, buttery shade of yellow draped over her shoulders with its sleeves tied loosely around her neck, she appeared trim and capable . . . and like no one to whom Kerrie Ann could possibly be related.
    Lindsay seemed equally at a loss. When she finally stepped forward to hug Kerrie Ann, it wasn’t with the unbridled exuberance of Miss Honi’s embrace. At the same time, her delight seemed genuine when she cried, “I can hardly believe it. Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you? Years! I’d just about given up hope.”
    “Seriously? You’ve been looking for me all this time?” In her experience, when someone tried to track you down, it wasn’t a good thing; usually it had to do with a bounced check or unpaid bill. Like the time she’d skipped out without paying her rent, and her landlord had sicced the cops on her. She found it hard to believe anyone would go to such lengths just to be with her and could only hope Lindsay would conclude that she was worth the effort.
    Lindsay nodded, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “You’re not an easy person to find.”
    “I’ve moved around a lot,” Kerrie Ann acknowledged with a shrug.
    “You said you didn’t know you had a sister. How did you find out about me?”
    “Through my . . . a friend.” Kerrie Ann caught herself before she could reveal that it had been her lawyer. Now wasn’t the time to lay all that on her sister. She would have to play her cards right. “He helped me get a copy of my old records. You were listed as the next of kin. So I Googled you, and now here I am.”
    “Thank God for the Internet,” said Lindsay with a teary laugh.
    Kerrie Ann glanced about the shop, at the books lining the blond-wood bookshelves and attractively displayed on the islands. On the walls hung framed illustrations and posters. Mismatched easy chairs were tucked here and there, all of them occupied by customers. In the children’s section, the shelves and benches were scaled to kid-size, and an Elmo-blue plush rug covered the floor, where several young children were busily paging through picture books or playing with toys from the basket in one corner. The aroma of coffee drifted from the back.
    “Nice place you got here,” she commented.
    Lindsay smiled. “Thanks. It’ll never make me rich, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
    Kerrie Ann slowly shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m related to someone who owns a bookstore. I didn’t even pass high school English. Shit, I couldn’t tell you the last book I read cover to cover.”
    Lindsay looked slightly taken aback, and Kerrie Ann made a mental note to watch what she said from now on. Her sister was clearly more educated and . . . well, more of everything she wasn’t. She felt a momentary urge to flee. Then Lindsay’s hand closed gently about her wrist. “Let’s head back to my office,” she suggested. “We’ll have more privacy there.”
    Kerrie Ann bit back her apprehension and forced a smile. Following Lindsay as she wound her way