The Secret Book Club by Ann M. Martin Page A

Tricky,” said Olivia.
    â€œI like a good mystery,” proclaimed Flora. “It’s not every day one comes your way. Unless you’re Nancy Drew.”
    Ruby clasped her hands together and gazed thoughtfully into the distance. “I wonder what’s going to happen next,” she said.

Three days a week, Robby Edwards worked as a clerk at Sincerely Yours. His shift started at ten in the morning, when either his mother or his father dropped him off at the store, and ended at three in the afternoon, when someone arrived to pick him up. In between, Robby waited on customers, stocked shelves, made coffee, and occasionally manned the cash register.
    By the middle of July, Robby had been working for almost a month. He was pleased with the way his bank account was growing. But he was even more pleased by something that had happened the previous week: Olivia Walter had decided that four times a year, Sincerely Yours should honor a particularly hardworking employee and post that person’s picture bythe cash register. Robby had been selected as the Employee of the Summer.
    â€œDad! Dad!” he had cried when his father collected him that afternoon. “Look! I’m the Employee of the Summer! It says so right over there.” He grabbed his father by the hand and tugged him inside the store. “See the sign? That makes it official.”
    â€œRobby, that’s wonderful!” his father had exclaimed. And that night the Edwards family had celebrated with ice cream at Dutch Haus.
    One sultry morning, when the July humidity had settled oppressively over Camden Falls, making Robby feel as if he were wearing a damp winter coat, Mr. Edwards walked along Main Street with his son.
    â€œWhat does today hold for you?” he asked.
    â€œAlways the same,” Robby replied with satisfaction. “First I will check the coffeepot, and if it is empty, I’ll make more coffee. Then I’ll straighten the merchandise. On the shelves. Maybe there will be new items to stock. But if any customers arrive and they need help, then I stop what I’m doing and help. The customers always come first.”
    Robby and his father passed Needle and Thread and peered through the windows. Gigi waved to them from the cutting counter. Robby waved back, then said, “Oh, there’s Flora. She’s going to teach a class, Dad. To grown-ups .”
    The Edwardses passed Zack’s and Heaven and then they were standing outside Sincerely Yours. “Dad, don’t hug me, okay?” Robby said urgently. “Tell me good-bye like a man.”
    Mr. Edwards looked gravely at his son. “Good-bye,” he said. “Have a good day at work. This afternoon Margaret Malone is going to pick you up.”
    â€œGood-bye,” replied Robby seriously. “You have a good day, too.”
    As Robby opened the door to Sincerely Yours he wished, as he often did, that he was allowed to walk to Main Street on his own. But then he reminded himself that he had a job . And he was earning a paycheck . He had already taken huge steps toward independence.
    â€œWell! If it isn’t the Employee of the Summer!” declared Mr. Walter, who was carrying a tray of cookies that Mrs. Walter had just made.
    â€œI’m ready to check the coffee,” was Robby’s reply. He made his way to the coffee machine, reached for one of the pots, and knocked over a newly filled pot of milk. “Uh-oh! Uh-oh!” exclaimed Robby as milk pooled on the counter and dripped to the floor.
    â€œNever mind,” said Mrs. Walter. She bustled out of the kitchen with a dish towel and handed it to him.
    Wordlessly, Robby cleaned up the mess. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered when he had finished, and a memory flashed through his mind, quick as a snake, thememory of another summer day and of a girl — had she been a friend of Lydia Malone’s? — whispering loudly that he was a retard.
    This day,