The Bookshop on Autumn Lane Read Online Free

made me understand why. Who wanted to suffer from accidental mummification under thousands of dusty books?
    I was left sitting on my tuffet, curious to hear what Reeba Sweeney thought about selling the place. I pulled the wrapper over the remaining portion of my fruit leather and tucked it back in my pocket. My four-legged friend found the only bare spot on the floor and lay down with an ooomph .
    Reeba Sweeney cleared her throat and stepped around me, careful not to trip on the magazines at her feet. “I hope you understand. Clients won’t want to pay top dollar for this store. This place needs a lot of work.”
    â€œMmm-hmmm.” A lot of work was an understatement. I thought about the travel brochure tucked in my car’s visor and prepared to bargain. I was forming a loose plan in my head. I needed to do some homework to figure out if it would work out. There were plenty of refuse-collection companies in business these days.
    â€œYou’ll be happy to hear that I have a potential buyer who may be willing to give you cash.”
    I was taller sitting than she was standing, even in her heels. “Cash?”
    â€œCash. But first you’ll need to clean the place out. He will want to know the floor and walls are structurally sound. The way it is now, no one would know if there were a hole straight through to the cellar. After that, you can be on your merry way to—wherever you came from?”
    That wasn’t going to happen. I rarely returned to the same place twice. Except Truhart, unfortunately.
    â€œHow much is this buyer willing to pay?”
    She named a disappointing price. “I can barely get to Ohio with that amount. I was hoping to get more.”
    She blinked. “You’re surprised?”
    â€œI’m hoping for at least double.”
    â€œMaybe it’s been too long since you were in this town, Trudy. This place isn’t worth that kind of money. Look at the vacant grocery next door and all the buildings that are empty on Main Street. You can’t be too picky about prices in this market. Even when it is cleaned up, no one will pay double. The paint is peeling, the shutters are hanging off. And you haven’t even seen the upstairs apartment yet. You think this is bad, just wait!”
    I thought about the plans I had made. Plans I had nurtured ever since Aunt Gertrude’s lawyers had caught up to me. I needed that money. My dreams weren’t going to change in a few short weeks. I had time to clean up and get a good price.
    â€œI’ll let you know when and if I decide to list the property with you. In the meantime, I appreciate your meeting me with the key.”
    â€œ If you’ll list with me?”
    Before I left California, I had asked my friends how things were done. “Reeba, I hope you understand. I’m not going to make any decisions until I talk to a few other Realtors and get a feel for the market.”
    Reeba Sweeney’s face no longer displayed a sales-pitch smile. In fact, her expression reminded me a lot of Aunt Gertrude’s when she first found out I didn’t like to read. She pulled a card out of her purse and handed it to me. “Office hours are from nine to five. Leave a message if you don’t reach me,” she said pointedly. I guess I was no longer a valued customer who could call her in the middle of the night.
    â€œWhere are you located?” I flipped the card over.
    â€œHarrisburg!” she said. And she brushed a speck of dust off her coat and walked away.

Chapter 2
    I sat on my nest of books. Echoes of Aunt Gertrude’s voice drifted around me the same way tiny dust motes caught the light and floated around the room.
    The last afternoon I had been here, Aunt Gertrude pointed her bony finger at me and called me lazy. If she’d stopped there, I would have made my usual escape to the woods or the shore of the lake. But she kept going. The words stupid and lying exploded from her