Free The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan

they had entered The Bookstop, Kyle turned to Ivy and grinned. “Women and their books.”
    “Women?” Ivy said.
    “Women. Believe me, Rowen’s ten going on thirty. Sometimes it freaks me out how fast she’s growing up.”
    Ivy’s attention was suddenly drawn to a sleek black BMW sedan that pulled up along the curb across the street. It was followed by a U-Haul truck, which parked directly behind it.
    “That’ll be Rose and her family,” Ivy said, more to herself than to Kyle. “I
knew
she’d come.” She’d heard from Rose only once since the wake, to offer an apology for her comment about the urn and ask for a copy of Josie’s letter. Her great-niece hadn’t given any indication that she intended to spend the summer in Mill River. Ivy was gratified that her feeling that Rose would show up had proved correct.
    “That’s your niece, right?” Kyle asked. “I think I remember her from Josie’s wake.”
    “Great-niece, yep, one of ’em,” Ivy said. “The other one’s Emily, and I expect her to be along any time.”
    “I’ve heard bits about the situation from Fitz … something about their mom setting up some sort of plan to force them to start talking to each other?”
    “Yes,” Ivy said, and she glanced over at Josie’s quiet house next door. The shades were drawn and the lawn was in desperate need of its weekly mowing. She hadn’t gotten used to seeing the houseso still, with no sign of habitation. She gave Kyle a quick summary of Josie’s plan to explain why the sisters would be spending the next couple of months in Mill River.
    “Well, it’s unusual,” Kyle said. “I don’t know whether you can ever force two people to like each other who don’t, even if they’re related. In fact, some people who don’t get along are best left separated.”
    The sounds of car and truck doors slamming came from across the street. Ivy and Kyle watched as Sheldon, Rose, and Alex filed through the front door of one of the little houses that faced The Bookstop. After a few minutes, they came back out with Sheldon leading the way and Rose’s screeching bringing up the rear.
    “Sheldon, can you really not grasp how bad this is? Or, maybe it just doesn’t matter to you, since you’re not the one who has to spend the next two months in a shoe box with no air-conditioning!”
    Sheldon seemed to be doing his best to ignore Rose’s ranting. He kept his back to her as he unlocked the U-Haul, slid up the metal door, and began unloading boxes. Even though she didn’t have a great view from across the street, Ivy could have sworn she saw Sheldon flinch when Rose started up again.
    “So what if the truck’s due back tomorrow? You could stay the night and still get it back in plenty of time. It’s not like you have a job or anything else to get back to.”
    Ivy sat up a little straighter. Rose’s comment was worrisome. If it were true, it might explain the reason behind Rose’s return.
    Kyle whistled low under his breath. “Sounds like one happy family. Fitz told me what happened with Rose at the wake … you know, with the ashes … and I sort of thought he was exaggerating. But now …”
    “He wasn’t,” Ivy said. “Rose is one hot mess, that’s for sure.”
    At that moment, Claudia and Rowen came back outside with a few books apiece.
    “How’d you make out?” Ivy asked. “Find everything all right?”
    “Oh, definitely,” Claudia said. “I think we could spend hours in there.”
    “I could
live
in there,” Rowen said. “Miss Ivy, I got the Percy Jackson book you told me about and the first one in the
Wimpy Kid
series. A lot of my friends at school are reading those.”
    “I know you’ll love both of ’em,” Ivy said as she got out of the swing and slid her feet back into her sandals. “Let me ring you up.”
    After she had completed the purchases, Ivy grabbed her cane. “Since my bum knee seems to be behaving today and I haven’t taken a lunch break yet, I’m going to walk