Tree of Life and Death Read Online Free

bathroom break and hadn't returned yet, so I couldn't ask her to watch over his quilt for me. I stayed at the appraisal desk, sorting the forms I'd collected so far. Several were for the registry of locally made quilts, and I needed to hand them off to the museum's director. I surveyed the room, but Gil must have left, perhaps to deal with something in the exhibit halls, which were open today until 8:00 p.m. Saturdays were a relatively busy day for the museum, after all, even apart from the special events like today's in the boardroom.
    Alan returned a few minutes later to reclaim his grandmother's quilt and thank me again.
    "Did you reach your friend?" I asked.
    He nodded. "He's busy and can't leave for about half an hour, but waiting is better than walking home." He glanced at the older man who'd confronted him earlier and was glowering at him now. "Don't worry. I'll wait outside. I know when I'm not wanted."
    Alan wouldn't literally freeze to death out there, but he wouldn't be comfortable in his light clothes. Still, it was probably best if he didn't linger here in the boardroom. When Alan had left to make his call, the older man in the denim shirt had claimed a sewing machine near the front of the room, but now he was turned around, making good on his promise to keep an eye on Alan. "Do you want a box to put the quilt in to make it easier to carry? I'm sure the quilt guild can spare one for you."
    "Probably a good idea, huh?" he said. "So it doesn't lose any more value from wear and tear."
    I was running out of time to get a snack before I needed to return to do the last few appraisals, so I couldn't help him with the box. I knew who could though. I pointed him in the direction of Emma Quinn, who was still hovering beside her friend Dee at the table closest to me. "Emma can help you. Just tell her I sent you, and she'll take care of it."
    Alan headed over to talk to Emma, the quilt tucked under one arm and the appraisal paperwork safely secured inside a buttoned pocket of his cargo shorts. He passed Stefan, who was being dragged over to my corner of the room by the stocky, black-haired woman who'd been lecturing him earlier. Stefan stopped halfway to my table and turned to watch Alan until the woman at Stefan's side snapped something in a tone too low for me to hear.
    "Sorry," Stefan said to the woman, and they continued over to my desk. "Was that Alan Miller with a raggedy Tree of Life quilt?"
    I nodded. "He was getting it appraised for his grandmother. Do you know him?"
    "A little," Stefan said. "Mostly just by reputation. His family has lived here forever, and they have a long history of underachievement. Judging by the way he's dressed today, I'm guessing he's living down to the family reputation. Too bad, really. I thought he was going to be the one to break the family curse. Got a scholarship to the University of Washington, Tacoma, did well there, and then I don't know what happened, but it doesn't look like he's made anything of himself."
    The woman at Stefan's side finally spoke, in a fierce whisper addressed to Stefan. "Introduce us."
    "Oh, sorry," he said. "Keely Fairchild, this is my girlfriend, Sunny Kunik."
    I hesitated. Everyone I'd ever discussed it with believed that Stefan's girlfriend was largely a figment of his imagination. We knew she was a real person—Dee and Emma had told me about her plans to open a quilt shop here in Danger Cove—but it seemed unlikely that Stefan actually had a relationship with her. No one could be as perfect as he'd described her, and if he'd spent more than ten minutes with her, he'd know she was as human as the rest of us.
    But here she was, standing next to Stefan and acting very much like a girlfriend. Sunny was about the same height as Stefan, who was shorter than the average man, but she was stockier than his slight build. Her expression was more cloudy than her name would suggest, and her round face, coupled with her last name, suggested she had Inuit blood. Her