Blush - Jamie Brenner Page 0,38
you’re reading was one of their selections,” Leah said. “I snuck Gran’s copy when she wasn’t around.”
“Mom. You rebel.”
Leah flipped through the pages and laughed. “No wonder you’re not getting any work done.”
Sadie felt herself blush. No, she wasn’t getting any work done. But only partly because of the book. How much longer could she pretend that she was making progress on her paper? She hated to admit her failure—even to herself. It was definitely not something she wanted to share with Leah, but at the same time, she didn’t want to lie. Her parents believed she had a job to get back to. “I wasn’t getting work done before.”
Leah put the book down and focused on her. “Hon, then maybe you shouldn’t have stayed out here. Get back to school. I don’t want this stuff to distract you.”
Sadie shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I wasn’t getting any work done at school, either. I seriously hate to say this but . . . I’m a little frozen on my thesis.”
“Since when?”
Sadie hesitated. “Months.”
“What’s wrong?”
The distressed look on her mother’s face was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid.
“I don’t know,” Sadie said. “I kept thinking it was just temporary. But for the first time, I just can’t get a handle on what I’m supposed to be writing.”
“Why don’t you take the summer off and focus on your work for Dr. Moore?”
“Well, that’s another thing: since I’ve missed deadlines for my thesis, my status in the honors program is in jeopardy. Dr. Moore . . .” Sadie swallowed. “She fired me.”
“Fired you?”
“Not in a punitive way. But she doesn’t want me spending time working for her when I should be focused on my academics.”
Leah frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess I didn’t want to let you down.”
“You could never let me down.”
“I thought the change in scenery out here would help. But for the past few days I’ve just been reading this crazy novel. I can’t believe that Gran—”
“You can’t believe Gran what?” Vivian said from behind them.
Sadie and her mother turned to find Vivian standing in the doorway along with Peternelle, who held cardboard boxes. Sadie slipped the copy of Lace back into her bag.
“Mom!” Leah said. “I’m so happy to see you out and about.”
“Not a moment too soon, from what I just heard in here,” Vivian said. “What are you two gossiping about?”
“Nothing,” Sadie said quickly. “Just . . . it’s such a great collection here.”
“Yes, well, I’m glad you’re enjoying it while you still can. Those awful buyers are here today. I suggest you both lock your bedroom doors. I can’t prevent them from traipsing through here, unfortunately, so Peternelle is going to help me gather a few things.”
“We can help, too,” Leah said.
“Fine. I need the family photo albums from the upper level. That staircase is treacherous, so I’m hoping you more agile beings can get the job done. Peternelle and I will start down here.”
Sadie followed her mother up the stairs, feeling paranoid. Was her grandmother really collecting the photo albums because of people visiting the winery, or did she suspect Sadie had been snooping around? Did Vivian even remember that the journal was up there?
Her mother bent down and began piling albums into her arms. “I’ll get this row. If we can each pack up half a shelf, I think we can make it in just a few trips.”
What if her grandmother had forgotten about the journal and mistakenly left it behind for the new owners to discover? She had to confide in her mother; Leah would know what to do.
“Mom,” Sadie whispered. “Did you know that Gran had a book club journal?”
“What do you mean, a journal?”
“She wrote down all this stuff about starting a book club. How she’d tried to keep a journal before but didn’t stick with it, so instead she was going to write about this one specific thing: the books they read, who was there . . . that kind of thing.”
“How do you know?”
“I found it hidden away in a compartment behind this shelf.”
Sadie, one arm full of photo albums, pointed to the spot at the back of the shelf. Her mother crouched down on her knees to get a better look.
“It’s locked,” Leah whispered.
“It’s not—I sprung the lock last time. We can pull it open.”
“Do you need another set of hands?” Vivian called from below. “Should I summon Asher?”
“No, Mom—we’ve got it,” Leah yelled back. She turned to Sadie. “We really shouldn’t invade her privacy.”
“I