Chasing Abby(69)

She lets out a heavy sigh and nods. “Fine. But if they try to push her to do something she doesn’t want to do, they’re the only ones who can be blamed for alienating her. If I want to offer her comfort or a place to stay when they push her away, you can’t fault me for that.”
I kiss the corner of her mouth then turn her around so we can both watch Abby and Ryder as they nap on Jimi’s bed. At first it worried me when I found Abby taking a nap. But Caleb assured me that it’s common for her. It’s only natural that Ryder, my little night owl and Abby’s biggest admirer, would eventually work his way into the bed with Abby for the most adorable nap time ever.
“Can you imagine what it would be like to see Abby performing for a crowd of ten thousand screaming fans?”
Claire chuckles. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You still have to see if that’s what she’s interested in.”
“I’ve only known her for eight weeks, but I can honestly say it’s what she was born to do. We just have to convince the Jensens that Abby knows herself better than they do.”



PART III: ABBY

Chapter 29 - Abby

CALEB WAS NOT too thrilled about the prospect of going shopping with Jimi and me. But when I told him it was August 9th, Claire’s birthday, he decided he would brave the experience so he could get her a gift.
Caleb was lucky that his boss at the tire shop needed to give his teenage son a job for the summer. It worked out great for both him and Caleb, so he agreed to let Caleb take the summer off to come with me to the beach house. Of course, without the extra income, we needed to work something out with Caleb’s roommate, Greg. And Caleb was very grateful that Chris and Claire offered to pay his half of the rent while he’s been staying with us at the beach house.
So Caleb was actually happy for the opportunity to go shopping with Jimi and me today. He’s been wanting to get something for Claire that would show his appreciation before we leave on Tuesday.
“Do you think she’ll like these?” Caleb asks, holding up a pair of four-inch-long turquoise earrings over his earlobes.
“I don’t know if she’ll like them, but I sure do.” I growl at him and he shakes his head to make the earrings wiggle.
He sets the earrings back into a basket of accessories on the counter in The Blue Fedora and we continue toward the gray velvet sofa where Jimi is talking to Chris on my phone.
“Why do we have to be back so soon? Dinner isn’t until seven.”
She rolls her eyes as Chris speaks. Though we can’t hear what he’s saying, I’m sure he’s given her a perfectly acceptable reason. Finally, she ends the call and hands me the phone.
“He said we have to be back in forty-five minutes.”
“But we just got here,” I reply, tucking the phone in my purse.
“Yeah, but he said he has his reasons and not to question him. Ugh. He’s probably planning some kind of surprise for my mom or something.”
I sit down on the sofa next to her. “Well, you know your mom better than any of us. What do you think she’d want?”
“Our mom.”
“Right. Still getting used to it.”
“Honestly, she hates this store. But there’s a used bookstore just a few miles north of here that she goes to sometimes. That’s where she got a lot of the books in the library. Maybe we can find something there.”
“Let’s go.”
It takes a little less than ten minutes for us to make it to The Bookery on Market Street, but there’s no parking. Caleb agrees to drop us off in front of the shop and he sets off down the street to look for a space. The frantic short drive across town combined with the sticky August humidity has me feeling a bit woozy and overheated. When we enter the cool interior of The Bookery, I grab the edge of a wooden table and draw in a long breath.