Free Summer Friends by Holly Chamberlin Page B

Gregory and I were on the road so much it just didn’t make sense. Kim had a goldfish for a while. Or maybe it was Caitlin, I can’t remember. It went down the toilet after a few weeks.”
    â€œMy husband and I have three dogs,” Jemima said, “all from shelters, and a tame raccoon. They’re no trouble at all. We call them our fur children.”
    â€œA tame raccoon?” Maggie looked horror stricken. “I didn’t think there could be such a thing. Don’t raccoons carry rabies?”
    â€œThey can. But Ben is all right; he’s had his shots.”
    Maggie’s dubious expression betrayed her doubts about Ben the raccoon’s health. She stretched the fingers of the hand Jemima had crunched and surveyed the living room.
    â€œThis room is charming,” she said. “I love the fireplace. It must be so cozy in here in the winter.”
    â€œI mostly use the wood stove to heat the house,” Delphine explained, laying the bouquet on a side table. “It can still be fairly cold upstairs at night, but I have plenty of extra blankets.”
    Jemima pretended to fan herself with her hand. “And it’s as hot as hell in the summer.”
    â€œIt feels cool now,” Maggie commented.
    â€œThat’s because Delphine finally caved and got an air conditioner.”
    Delphine shrugged. “I don’t feel the heat as badly as some people.”
    Jemima smiled. “We make sacrifices for our friends.”
    Jemima, Maggie thought, must spend a fair amount of time at Delphine’s house if Delphine bought an air conditioner for her. She looked between the two women and realized that she felt jealous of their friendship. Once upon a time, she had shared an easy rapport with Delphine. What had gone so wrong? Oh. Right. Delphine had walked away. And after a time, Maggie had ceased to follow. But she was back now and things could be what they once were. She truly believed that. Mostly.
    Maggie’s attention was drawn to the stack of books on the coffee table in front of the couch.
    â€œYou’re still a voracious reader, I see.”
    Delphine smiled. “Yes. And I have to return these books to the library today.”
    â€œI could take them on my way out.”
    â€œThanks, Jemima,” Delphine said. “That would be a help.”
    Maggie peered more closely at the top book in the stack. It was a survey of the English Civil Wars. “I hate using the library,” she said. “Number one, I just don’t have the time to be reading on someone else’s schedule. And the library is hardly ever open when I have the time to run in. And when you take a book out of the library you have no idea who’s been touching it. I’ve found food stains and even dead bugs on the pages of library books.”
    â€œWell,” Delphine said, hating the note of apology she heard in her voice, “new books are so expensive, especially the hardcover ones . . . I’m afraid I’d be lost without the library.”
    â€œAnd people up here are more respectful of public property than people in the city, I’d say,” Jemima added, looking pointedly at Maggie. “We don’t have those sorts of vandalism problems in Ogunquit.”
    Maggie tensed. She didn’t like this woman at all. First she had tried to break her hand and now she was implying that she lived in a den of iniquity? “Then you’re lucky,” she said. “I suppose there are benefits to living in such an out-of-the-way place.”
    â€œCome,” Delphine said a bit too brightly, “let me show you the rest of the house.”
    â€œThat would be great,” Maggie said.
    Jemima followed the other two women to the stairs. Maggie wondered why she was coming along for the tour. Maybe, she thought, Jemima was scared to leave Delphine alone with the woman from the big, bad city.
    Delphine led the way up the stairs and to the smaller, front