just what Annie Rose's pin was doing on that bathroom floor."
"I think it must've fallen out of Otto's pocket when he pulled out his handkerchief." I said. "The police found a handkerchief in his hand…. But why would Otto be carrying around a pin that belonged to somebody who died before any of us were even born?"
Augusta hurried to the car and wrapped herself in her downy cape until only her face peeked out. "Perhaps you and Gatlin should take time to talk," she suggested.
"About what?"
"Arminda, why don't you tell me what's really bothering you?"
"I miss her," I said. No use trying to keep things from Augusta. "Gatlin's always been there for me, and when Jarvis died she was wonderful. Now she doesn't seem to have time anymore. I'm lonely, Augusta. I don't have anybody."
Two sea-blue eyes looked at me over a puff of silvery cloud. The warmth from them zapped me about mid chest.
"I know I have you, Augusta, but you aren't here to stay. You said so yourself. One day you'll leave me, too—just like Jarvis and Mama."
I hated how I sounded. Childish and selfish. And jealous. I was jealous of my own cousin, my best friend, because she had a family to come home to at night and I didn't. I didn't like myself at all.
My head began to throb, and Augusta touched it with the tips of her fingers, leaving my temples cool and refreshed. "It's been a rough few days, Arminda Grace Hobbs, but you've endured it well. And I, for one, think you have true grits."
I giggled all the way home
The light on my answering machine blinked red at me from the table in the hallway, and I almost knocked over a lamp in my rush to push the PLAY button. Maybe the police had found out who had meant to send me tumbling off Water Tower Hill, or it could be Vesta calling to say the errant Mildred had returned at last.
"Arminda, Harrison Ivey. Sorry I missed your call this morning. Just thought I'd check and see how you were…." The young doctor hesitated, as if searching for words. "…Well…I'm glad you suffered no long-lasting effects from your fall. But if you need to get in touch, you can reach me here at the clinic or at home. Just leave a message, and I'll get back to you." And he left his home telephone number.
Augusta stood at the foot of the stairs, listening to every word, and if angels could smirk, her expression would come close. "It does one good to know there are still such caring physicians," she said. "I wonder if he makes house calls."
"For goodness' sake, Augusta, he's only being thorough."
"Of course he is. But aren't you going to call him back?"
"What for? There's nothing wrong with me. My head's just fine."
"I wasn't thinking about your head," she said, and with a flounce of her skirt, she left me standing there.
But Harrison Ivey wasn't my priority just then, and when Augusta disappeared into the attic—to prowl around, she said, and see what might turn up—I did the same downstairs.
The day was gray and misty and did little to lift my spirits. I wandered from room to room trying to shrug off the feeling of something missing, something left undone. Augusta had prevented me from falling into a void in the physical sense, but I would have to be responsible for taking care of the other.
I put on my all-weather jacket with a hood that had survived since college and set out walking for town and Papa's Armchair. It was time for my cousin and me to talk.
I found her sitting at Mildred's desk in the back of the shop with an apple in one hand and a calculator in the other, and if her face drooped any lower, she'd be under the rug.
I nodded toward the apple. "What's the matter? Find half a worm?"
"Worse than that. I can't even afford half a workman at the prices these contractors charge. I've called just about everybody in the area who would even consider the job, and the three who bothered to give me an estimate are out of the ballpark as far as we're concerned."
I sat on the stool across from her. "Exactly what do you need to have done?"
"For starters, an opening in the connecting wall between the bookshop and the tearoom, restrooms installed and a counter to divide the kitchen space from the eating area." Gatlin clicked off the calculator