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No, I had something else in mind.
“My house is pretty far outside town,” I said. “And while I know my husband Calvin would love to meet you, I have a better idea. A friend of mine has an Airbnb about five minutes from here, and I’m pretty sure it’s available. Do you mind if I give her a quick call and make sure?”
“That would be great,” Chloe replied. “The town looks kind of cute, so it would be fun to stay someplace where I could check things out.”
“Then just give me a minute. You can go ahead and take a look around if you want.”
She seemed amenable to that idea and headed toward the shelves that held my collection of Tarot cards for sale. Good timing, too, because the door opened right then, and a couple of customers came in. They went straight for the candles, though, and since it looked as if everyone was ready to browse in peace for a while, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for texting Hazel.
Hey, I just had an unexpected family member show up. Is your Airbnb available?
After I sent the message, I realized that Hazel might be in the middle of her doctor’s appointment and wouldn’t be able to respond right away. To my relief, though, her answer popped up only a moment later.
It’s available. I have someone coming on the 21st, but that’s a ways off.
Nearly three weeks from now. I could only hope that Chloe would have gotten her itch scratched by then and headed back to the San Fernando Valley, because I would definitely have my hands full by that point.
Perfect. Can you meet us there after 5:30?
I’ll just put the key under the mat. It’ll be easier.
Right, because I realized Hazel probably wouldn’t want to hang around in Globe, waiting for me to get off work. No, I was sure she’d already planned to go home with Chuck to their ranch after her doctor’s appointment.
That’s fine. Thanks so much.
No problem. You can fill me in later.
And that meant she wanted to know who I was putting up in the Airbnb, which made perfect sense. Although I’d told Hazel that I had half-siblings out there in the world, I doubted she would ever imagine either of them was my unexpected guest. The only relatives who were truly part of my life were my mother and Tom, and since they owned a large Victorian mansion on the edge of town, it wasn’t as if they had any need to crash in someone’s Airbnb. True, there were Tom’s kids and their spouses, but the mansion was big enough to hold all of them if necessary.
Luckily, though, none of that group had any desire to be present in Globe for the birth of my child. We managed to be civil to one another on the few occasions when we were forced to spend time together, but I had nothing in common with them and they had nothing in common with me and my husband, and I was more than happy to have them safely several hundred miles away the vast majority of the time. Tom himself was a different matter — I often wondered how such a wonderful man had managed to have such irritating children, and guessed they took after his ex-wife — but even he probably wasn’t going to stay in Globe the entire time my mother planned to be here. Instead, he’d go back to SoCal as necessary if any important concerns came up regarding his plumbing supply business, then would return to Arizona once anything pressing had been handled.
Chloe came wandering back from the crystal display, her gaze inquiring, and I said, “It’s all settled — Hazel’s leaving us the key for her Airbnb, but I won’t be able to take you over there until after I close up at five. Think you can hang on until then?”
“Oh, sure,” she replied at once. “I’ll just wander around and take a look at things. I passed a cute coffee shop on the way in, and maybe I’ll grab something to drink there.”
That would have been a good idea, except….
“I’m afraid that Cloud Coffee closed at three,” I told her. “But you should be able to get an iced tea or something at Olamendi’s. It’s the Mexican restaurant at the end of the block.”
To my relief, Chloe didn’t look too dismayed at being deprived of a latte, or whatever she’d been hoping to order at the coffee shop. “That works,” she said. “I’ll come back a little after five.”
“See you then.”
She nodded, then hoisted her fringed black purse a little higher on her shoulder as she headed out the door. As she left, Olivia came in, looking cheerful as usual.
Perfect timing.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to say anything to my assistant about the unexpected arrival of my half-sister; word would probably get around town soon enough, but I didn’t see any reason to speed up the spread of that information. Olivia was a great girl and had really helped me out over the past couple of months, and yet I could tell she was already half-checked out of Globe, ready to get away and start college and see more of the wider world.
Somehow, I got the feeling she was one of those who wouldn’t see any need to return to her hometown and would instead set her sights on a future that provided many more opportunities.
But she was here now, and I had to be happy about that.
“Hi, Olivia,” I said, glad I sounded completely normal and not as though I’d just had my long-lost half-sister walk through the shop door, “that new shipment from Llewellyn Press came in this morning. Do you think you could unpack it for me?”
Chloe came back a few minutes after five. I’d told Olivia she could leave right on the hour since there wasn’t any real tidying up that needed to be done, and she headed out, obviously happy that she’d still get paid for time she could now use for homework, or maybe just hanging out. After all, she’d already been accepted to her school of choice and was probably trying to skate by this last semester without having to exert herself too much.
And although I knew that having Chloe stay at the house wasn’t an option, not with the baby so close to greeting the world, I also knew I needed to do my best to still be a gracious hostess, despite the way she’d appeared out of nowhere. That meant bringing her to the house for dinner, even though I certainly hadn’t planned to have any guests. Luckily, I had a big batch of chili going in the crockpot, which would be plenty to feed all of us.
