her first soda since leaving Lexington, and then she’d have the joy of discovering what Mother and her church friends had sent for the library.
She exited the post office. Sunlight smacked her eyes, and she winced. Most of the time, Boone’s Hollow lay under a cloak of shadows from the mountains rising around it and all the trees surrounding it, but when the sun was high, the wide main street received unfettered sunshine. She cupped her hand above her eyes. A wagon with the same speckled horse that had brought her to Boone’s Hollow three weeks ago waited outside the library. And someone was already on the driver’s seat. Apparently Emmett was ready to go.
Squinting, she jogged straight for the wagon. Halfway across the street, though, she stopped. That wasn’t Emmett sitting up high on the seat. Was Bettina Webber going, too? If she was, maybe it would give them a chance to talk, to find a way around the boulder of resentment seeming to always loom between them. It would be so much nicer at work if she and the other girls were friends.
Hope fluttering in her chest, she hurried across the street.
Bettina
THE BRAKE WAS SET, SO there wasn’t no need to hold on to the reins, but Bettina held ’em anyway and watched Addie out of the corner of her eye. She hid a smirk. Yessir, Addie was for sure and certain jealous to see Bettina ready to go, too.
Addie bustled right up next to the wagon and looked at her all squinty eyed, the way Glory did when Bettina said something that set her teeth on edge. “Hello, Bettina. Are you going with us to Lynch to get the new library books?”
The word us sure rankled. There wasn’t no us except Emmett and Bettina. Why, even their names fit together good. “I can’t. Got chores to tend to.” Pap’d be madder’n hops if he came home from work and didn’t find a hot supper on the table. “But Emmett an’ me bein’ so close an’ all, I couldn’t let the Saturday go by without spendin’ a little time with him for, you know”—she raised her shoulder and giggled all embarrassed-like, the way movie starlets did when they was talking of their fellers—“spoonin’. He’s just so hard to resist first thing in the mornin’, with his shirt undone an’ his cheeks all red from shavin’.”
Pink stained Addie’s cheeks. My, but that flush said a lot. Addie leaned a little sideways and looked toward the library building. “Where is Emmett?”
“Oh, he ran on to his folks’ house. He’s fetchin’ Dusty. Guess his pap stayed home from the mine today—ailin’ in his belly, Emmett said—an’ his maw don’t want Dusty to catch whatever it is, so she asked if Dusty could go along to Lynch.”
Bettina wanted to shout a cheer. But if she did, she’d scare the horse, so she didn’t. Things couldn’t have turned out better. She’d snuck into Nanny Fay’s house through the cellar door and took the story Addie’d started writing last night, thinking maybe that’d keep her home writing it again. ’Course, her standing next to the wagon let Bettina know it hadn’t worked. But it didn’t matter none ’cause Emmett had told her he’d be toting Dusty along to Lynch. There wouldn’t be no us, not with Dusty sitting between ’em and jabbering like a magpie the whole time. He was a cute little feller, but he didn’t never stop talking.
If she had her druthers, though, she’d go along. She wanted to get a soda with Emmett. She wanted to sit next to him on the seat all the way to Lynch and back again. She wanted Addie left behind instead of her. But if she couldn’t have all that, then she’d be happy about Dusty going.
She fluffed her hair with her hand and grinned at Addie. “You don’t mind havin’ Dusty along, do you?”
“Of course not. I like Dusty.”
And Dusty liked Addie. Leastwise, he’d sure seemed to take a shine to her. Why, he’d run right up to her at church last Sunday. Church, yet! Couldn’t Addie stay away from anyplace Bettina went? Yep, Dusty’d pranced right over to her, giggling like he’d swallowed bubbly spring water, and showed off the boots he found in Belcher’s the day Addie bought her overalls. Bettina ground her teeth. She didn’t much care about Dusty liking Addie. But Emmett liking her? That was a different story.
Addie moved closer to the wagon and touched Bettina on