Free The Change Up by Elley Arden

to change her ways.
    “If you’re going to be in this tent, you have to wear one of these,” Helen Anne said.
    Rachel looked up from the pile of used books she was sifting through to find her sister standing over her holding up a black apron with the Reed’s Re-Readables logo ironed on the bib. “I’m not wearing an apron over a fleece jacket. Besides, I’m not here to talk books. I’m here to sell tickets,” Rachel said, pointing at her royal-blue baseball cap. The newly assembled sales team needed all the help they could get.
    “Well, you’re crashing a festival tent that was paid for by me on behalf of my bookstore, so if you’re staying, then you’re wearing this.”
    Rachel looked at the matronly apron again. “Fine. Then I won’t stay in the tent. I’ll stand outside.”
    “Then you’re going to annoy the festival committee because you didn’t pay to be a legitimate vendor, and”—she crossed her arms and lifted her chin—“you’re going to disappoint your niece when she gets here. She helped Mom make these, and she made one for you.”
    Ooh. There was no graceful way out of that, so Rachel stood and accepted the apron from a smug Helen Anne. In the process, she spied a stack of baseball hats on the table. Never one to miss an opportunity to further her own agenda, Rachel said, “You should advertise both, too.” She fit a cap onto her sister’s head.
    Helen Anne swatted at her. “You’re going to mess up my hair. Besides, I look terrible in hats. Jeremy said so all the time. Trust me, if I looked like you …” Her voice trailed off, her lack of self-confidence pitiful to Rachel’s ears. Helen Anne’s egotistic ex had always required way too much care and feeding and ego stroking. What an awful way to waste a minute of your time, let alone eleven years.
    “You’re better off without him,” Rachel said sincerely.
    But it must not have been what Helen Anne wanted to hear, because she made a face and walked away. So much for being sisterly.
    Rachel squatted and picked up a copy of
Little House in the Big Woods
. A simple flip through the yellowed pages reminded her they actually had been sisterly once. Reading books, riding horses, talking about boys. A long time ago. Before Rachel had left for UPenn and no longer had time for the horses. Before Helen Anne had gotten wrapped up in Jeremy and no longer had time for Rachel. People changed. Whether you wanted them to or not.
    Thoughts of the Alzheimer’s diagnosis reared their ugly heads again, and Rachel dropped the book, preferring to focus on ticket sales rather than her family drama.
    Over the next couple hours, people streamed in and out, talking books and authors with Helen Anne, and occasionally—rarely—baseball with Rachel. A lot of people didn’t seem to recognize her. Not that she could blame them. She’d been a willing stranger in these parts. Maybe that’s why when she saw a familiar face, she pounced.
    “Could I interest you in a limited-time deal on Arlington Aces season tickets, Mr. Jackson?” Rachel’s former high-school health instructor was milling around at the mouth of the tent while his wife went through boxes of paperback thrillers. He still dyed his hair jet black and wore track pants pulled above his navel.
    “Rachel? My goodness! It’s been a long time.”
    “Years,” she said, nodding. “Now, let me tell you about these tickets. Opening Day is May 11. That’s only a little over two months away.”
    He shook his head before she could go on. “I don’t think so. Can’t justify it. The Sandlot League’s not half bad, and it’s free. Besides, my son takes me to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates a couple times a year. That’s enough baseball for me.”
    Rachel didn’t like the sound of that, and she certainly didn’t want the competition. “I don’t know anything about The Sandlot League. You’ll have to fill me in.”
    He told her about the six-team recreational league comprised of local men who