The Librarian of Boone's Hollow - Kim Vogel Sawyer Page 0,43
Ann scurried from behind the desk and gave Addie a little push toward the door. “The bank will close before you get there. Now go. I’ll see you later.”
Addie obeyed, mostly because she didn’t want to miss getting her check cashed. She followed Mill Street to downtown Lexington and reached the bank with a half hour to spare. She tucked the bills and coins into a secret pocket of her purse, then set off for Griselda Ann’s at a leisurely pace. While she walked, she admired the storefronts and peeked into windows.
Mrs. Hunt had said Boone’s Hollow was a small town. Would it have a sweets shop or a drugstore with a soda fountain? Perhaps a little café where she could get together in the evenings with the friends she was sure to make? A dress shop, even if it had only a few offerings, would make a fine meeting place as well. She and Felicity had spent many cheerful hours browsing the racks at Appel’s department store and trying on hats and scarves and gloves until the salesladies’ disapproving frowns sent them out to the sidewalk, where they broke into bouts of giggles.
At least she knew for sure Boone’s Hollow had a library, albeit a small one. She mustn’t get her hopes up that it would be as large as Lexington’s Carnegie Library or even have as many books as she’d found in the stately brick building that served as the Scott County Library in Georgetown. But a town with a library was a good town. She’d be happy there. In time, she’d feel right at home.
Georgetown
Addie
ADDIE STEPPED FROM THE TRAIN car onto the wooden boardwalk and scuttled away from the other disembarking passengers, who blocked her view. The midmorning sun, beaming from a cloudless sky, almost blinded her after her being in the enclosed car. She cupped her hand above her eyes and searched the length of the wooden walkway, heart thrumming in eagerness.
“Addie! Addie, honey!”
She spun in the direction of the call, and a little gasp of joy left her throat. She was a mature young lady of twenty-one wearing a dress and heels instead of a seven-year-old in a romper with sturdy Mary Janes on her feet, but she broke into a run toward the couple waiting beneath the depot’s overhang. Daddy moved forward a step, and she threw herself into his arms with the same enthusiasm she had when she was a child and he’d returned home from a day at the bank. His arms closed around her, and she breathed in his familiar scents—peppermint, cherry tobacco, and bay rum. The scents that represented security.
He kissed her cheek and delivered her to Mother’s embrace. Mother didn’t hug as tightly as Daddy, but she rocked Addie gently side to side, her warm, soft cheek pressed to Addie’s. While Mother hugged her, Daddy rubbed her back and said, “Welcome home, sugar dumplin’.”
Addie laughed and pulled loose. “Funny you should call me that. The lady who boarded me this past week fixed sugar dumplings for supper last night. But she used raisins instead of pecans and store-bought syrup, so they weren’t as good as yours, Mother.”
Mother laughed and cupped Addie’s face in her hands. “Honey, if I had my own kitchen, I’d fix you a pan of your favorite treat.” She kissed Addie’s forehead and released her. “I can’t make them for you this visit, but you wait. When we’re in a house again, I’ll bake so many sugar dumplin’s you’ll make yourself sick eating them.”
How could her independent, self-sufficient parents bear to live in a single room under someone else’s roof, eating someone else’s cooking? Linking elbows with them, Addie secretly vowed to save every penny possible and send it to her parents. They walked to the baggage dock, where Addie’s suitcases waited at the edge. Temptation struck hard to pop the larger one open and show Mother what Griselda Ann had given her yesterday after supper, but the many people milling around didn’t need to receive a glimpse of her personal belongings. She’d have to wait until they reached the boardinghouse.
Daddy grabbed the handle on the big suitcase, and Addie took the small one. Mother pointed to a black coupe with a leather bonnet parked nearby. “Preacher Finley loaned us his Plymouth.”
Addie had expected to walk to the boardinghouse. Riding in Preacher Finley’s coupe, even though it was much smaller than Daddy’s Model A, would be a treat compared to carrying her suitcases so