The Double Wedding Ring by Clare O' Donohue Page B

one was too smart to eat it.”
    She wasn’t a lost kitten, she was an orphan. I had assumed it, but now it was for sure. Smart enough to avoid poison, survive for a month on her own, and find shelter in a quilt shop on a bitterly cold night. It was a lot to go through for such a tiny little thing; I loved her already.
    â€œHas your car been in front of the park all day?” I asked Dru after I’d tucked the cat treats in my purse.
    â€œSince last night. After I closed up, I walked over and the car wouldn’t start. So frustrating. Luckily Greg was driving by, and he offered me a ride home.”
    â€œThat was nice.”
    â€œIt was. He’s very nice.”
    â€œGreg didn’t look to see what was wrong with the car?”
    â€œHe was going to, but I told him I was meeting Charlie Lofton at Moran’s Pub and I was running late, so Greg dropped me there and Charlie gave me a ride home instead.”
    â€œCharlie?” I smiled a little but tried to squash it. If there was a romance starting between the librarian and the third-grade teacher, it wasn’t my place to gossip about it. Dru blushed, which saved me the trouble of asking questions. “Did you try to start your car this morning?”
    â€œNo, I walked to the library this morning. I meant to call Larry over at the garage to come look at it, but I forgot.”
    â€œYou never park it there, do you? That’s a no-parking zone.”
    â€œI did the monthly reports last night, so I was leaving later than usual. And when I do the reports, I’m the last one to leave the library,” she said. “The parking lot in back is so dark, especially in the winter. It just doesn’t feel safe. So yesterday I asked Jesse if it was okay if I left my car in front of the park, where it would be under a streetlight, and he said it was. He’s so understanding. You’re very lucky.”
    â€œI am.” My one small hope that Jesse was giving out far more parking tickets than usual as some revenue-raising scheme fell away. Jesse was, apparently, only giving tickets to strangers.
    â€œThis has to do with my car being used for cover for that crazy shooter, doesn’t it?” Dru asked.
    â€œDid you see anything?”
    She shook her head. “You can’t see Main Street very well from here, so I didn’t see anything. But Greg came over and got my keys about ten minutes ago. He told me that the shooter may have been hiding behind my car.”
    That made me want to ask Greg what he’d found, but knowing how sweet and eager to please Greg was, he’d tell me, and that would just get him into trouble with Jesse again. I was out of ideas. I turned to leave, but something nagged at me.
    â€œDidn’t you just get that car?” I asked.
    â€œAbout eight months ago. Brand-new.”
    â€œAnd it’s already not starting?”
    She shrugged. “I guess I got a lemon.”
    â€œHad it ever happened before?”
    â€œNo, first time. It’s actually been a great car, but last night, it just wouldn’t start. Wouldn’t even turn on.”
    â€œLike a dead battery?”
    â€œI guess. It was pretty cold last night. Maybe it just couldn’t handle it.”
    â€œMaybe. Did Charlie try to jump it?”
    â€œNo. It was just easier to give me a ride to my place than stand around in the cold trying to get it to start. We were both heading in the same direction.” Another blush punctuated that sentence. “I told him it would keep until today.”
    Charlie, an exceptionally tall, exceptionally thin man with kind eyes and a good heart walked into the library at that moment, his entire class of giggling nine-year-olds trailing after him. He smiled when he saw me and nodded hello, but his eyes went quickly to Dru.
    â€œI’m doing story time for Charlie . . . for the kids,” Dru explained.
    Then before I had a chance to tell her what a great idea