There was a book featuring a beach and a middle-aged woman staring thoughtfully off into the sunset. Myrtle made a face. That accurately depicted eighty-percent of the books that the book club had chosen over the past eighteen months. She shouldn’t take this one over to Sybil’s because it might be one of the books she was supposed to have read for the club and hadn’t.Then Myrtle spotted it. Life Is a Soap Opera. She opened the book and saw some similarity between her favorite soap, Tomorrow’s Promise, and some woman experiencing midlife crisis. Perfect. She chucked it into her tote bag and fished her library card out of her pocketbook. Myrtle raised her eyebrows when she saw who was standing in the checkout line in front of her: Joan. She had a stack of children’s picture books that the librarian was quickly checking out. Noah stood next to her and he turned and smiled at Myrtle in recognition. “Mama,” he said, pulling at Joan’s pants leg. Joan took the books and turned around. “Hi, Miss Myrtle!”“Well, hi there!
