5 Books For Eveline

28

28

Over the next few days, Purdy ignored the warnings of the doctor to rest and allow her hip to settle down. The painkillers performed their function well enough for her to walk into town and to visit nearby locations that she thought may be the ones within the third volume, but her searches came up empty every time. She felt as though she were running out of options. That someone else would find the remaining four copies of the fourth volume.

Sat in a café, she tapped her pen against the list that had far too many locations left to check off. With an absent mind, she pulled out a strip of tablets from her handbag, popped two into her hand and swallowed them, taking a long drink of her tea to wash them down. The other people within the café may as well have drifted by like ghosts. She saw only the list and the list stared right back at her.

Donovan's wife, Celia, ran the café, this afternoon, and she appeared to fuss nearer to Purdy than she did the rest of the customers, wiping Purdy's table too often, adjusting the chairs, checking the plants within pots in the corner, near where Purdy sat. After a while, Celia pulled out a chair and sat in it, twisting the cloth in her hands, that she used to wipe tables.

"Are you alright, duck?" She seemed nervous as Purdy glanced up at her, the cloth twisting and stretching in her hands. "I know, I know, you're not one for talking, but people are worried. You being in hospital and everything, taking so many pills. You look tired, duck."

Purdy looked around as Celia mentioned 'everybody' and noticed several pairs of eyes snap away. No matter how Purdy felt about these people, they had known the other her well. The other her had spent years in this community, had lived among them, as part of them. Even though Purdy, this Purdy, closed herself off from them, they still cared. Even if it was for someone who no longer existed.

"I'm fine. Really." She gave Celia as warm a smile as she could manage and turned that smile to the others that pretended they weren't watching. Purdy fought to stop herself scowling. "Thanks for asking. Just a little pain, you know? I'll live."

A nervous laugh fell from her lips and her resolve faltered. Her eyes fell back to the notebook and the list of locations. Celia, however, didn't move. Ever since the accident, Celia was one of the few that had not pushed Purdy to reconnect with the town. She had, at first, but soon cottoned on to the stress that it imposed upon Purdy and, from then on, had treated Purdy like a passing customer.

Not today, though. She sat across from Purdy, showing no sign that she intended leaving her to her own devices. The way she fiddled and fidgeted with the cleaning cloth showed how nervous the larger woman felt. Fingernails with chipped polish flashed and became hidden by the weave of the cloth. Purdy looked up again and saw the worry in the woman's eyes beneath a fringe of dour, lifeless hair, the price of age and hard work.

"Are you eating? You look thin. I can make a sandwich?" Celia gave a slow nod as Purdy declined, looking at her fingers and the cloth. "I've not seen you with Briar for a few days. It was nice that you two made up. Though, I reckon it wasn't so much making up for you as it was for her."

"They ... we were friends? Before the ... before?" That had made Purdy's ears prick up. Briar had only mentioned that they had barely spoken to each other before the accident.

"Well, at one time you were inseparable. Then you just stopped. She went to college, or something, and we didn't see her until you passed by with her the other day." Stopping, Celia raised her hand to her mouth as though she had let out some big secret. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like talking about things from ... before. I'm being inconsiderate."

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry for being so moody all the time." For once, Purdy didn't lie about that. She did feel guilty for treating people so badly. It wasn't their fault how they acted around her. "Not that I want to talk about the past, it still bothers me, but I should never have taken that out on anyone else. I'm sorry."