Senseless Acts of Beauty by Lisa Verge Higgins Read Free Book Online Page B

was the second time Mrs. Clancy had gotten it wrong since Sadie had finished breakfast in the kitchen and come outside, only to find her sitting on the porch perusing a local newspaper. Now she watched Mrs. Clancy pick up a green elephant and move it forward seven spaces, plus a few more. This was the third time they’d switched colors.
    She gave Mrs. Clancy a look-over as the older woman reached for the dice out of turn. She was wearing only one earring. There was a stain that looked like ketchup on her Camp Kwenback T-shirt. Under the paisley scarf knotted carelessly at her nape, her wispy hair needed a good brushing. It looked soft and cotton ball white, just like Nana’s.
    Sadie felt a sudden ache in her chest, a hollow that no amount of breakfast could fill.
    “Snake eyes!” Mrs. Clancy smiled at the dice on the table. “That’s always lucky you know.”
    “Lucky?” Sadie pushed each of the blue pieces up a space. “It doesn’t get me very far on the board.”
    Then the sliding doors squealed open and Riley edged out, laden with a tray.
    “I made your favorite, Mrs. Clancy, Cape Cod chicken salad.” Riley walked to the wicker seating area and nudged the Parcheesi board to make room. “I thought you might be ready for lunch.”
    “Just one more minute,” Mrs. Clancy said. “I’m beating Susan in parmesan.”
    Riley gave Sadie a smile. “I hope you don’t have money on the game, Sadie. Mrs. Clancy is a shark.”
    “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
    Mrs. Clancy threw the dice again. “Hah!” With a sweep, Mrs. Clancy gathered all the elephants to her side. “Better luck next time, kiddo.”
    “Maybe Sadie will play another game later, but right now I’m stealing her from you.” Riley raised an eyebrow at her. “After that enormous late breakfast, I figured you and I could use a little trail walk.”
    “Sure, I’m game.”
    Sadie spoke the words lightly, but there was nothing calm about her nerves. Riley was looking at her like second period had just ended and it was time to hand over the test. Here comes the grilling. Sadie just wished she’d left her backpack in a safer place than her upstairs room so she could make—if necessary—a quick escape.
    Riley headed down the porch stairs, sweeping up a paintbrush and a small can of paint perched on the rail. “The markers on the red trail need freshening,” she explained, as she headed full stride across the back lawn. “It’s a bit more than a mile, there and back. Are you up for that?”
    “Bring it on.” Sadie put her head down and did her best to keep up with Riley’s athletic pace, waiting until they were out of earshot of Mrs. Clancy before launching into a safe topic in the hope of avoiding a dangerous one. “So,” she said, “is Mrs. Clancy a relative of yours?”
    “No. Why do you ask?”
    “You’re feeding her. That’s a little weird, in a hotel, isn’t it? I mean, do you cook for all your guests?”
    Not that there were many, Sadie noted. In all the time she’d been checking out the place, she’d seen no more than four.
    “Mrs. Clancy is a special case,” Riley said. “Her whole family used to visit Camp Kwenback every summer for the last two weeks in August. The Clancys have been guests for decades. Mrs. Clancy still has good memories of those summers so her family sends her here for a couple of weeks every year. But there was a time,” she added, “when we used to feed breakfast and dinner to more than fifty guests and ten employees. We didn’t bother with lunch because most folks would be canoeing on the lake or hiking through the woods or swimming at Bay Roberts. They’d go into town and get some of Josey’s maple pecan pie or bag a lunch on their own.”
    Riley’s description pretty much synced with what Sadie had supposed long before she’d come here. She’d spent late evenings waiting for her slow computer to upload all those pictures on the Camp Kwenback website: photos of folks eating on tables under the