Words With Fiends Read Free Page B

great that the Thursday Afternoon Book Club is doing this whole retro thing with reading the classics. And I have a feeling you’ll like this one for the very reasons you didn’t appreciate our friend Tess.”
    â€œYeah, maybe so,” he agreed, brightening a bit as he tucked that maligned paperback into the bag with his brand-new purchase. “Anyhow, see you at the dojo tomorrow night. You and Robert should stay late and watch my sparring class.” Robert was Robert Gilmore, an eighteen-year-old goth kid with a love for books who’d been working at the store for the past few months. He and Darla had signed up for the beginner’s martial arts class together. Mark was at a more advanced level.
    â€œI’ll think about it. You know, just for fun, I think I’m going to reread
Tess
myself and see how it compares to when I read it in school.”
    She gave Mark a polite smile and then turned to ring up Martha, who had taken her own copy of Harper Lee’s novel from the stack and stood with credit card in hand.
    Glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Mark was headed toward the door, Martha remarked in a wry tone, “Brava, Darla. You handled our resident complainer like a champ. One minute he’s foaming at the mouth, and the next he’s wagging his tail like a little puppy. You’re not really going to reread
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
, are you?”
    â€œActually, I might,” Darla replied with a grin, taking one of the last copies off the counter and sticking it beneath the register next to her purse. “And as far as diplomacy, I guess James is rubbing off on me. A few months ago, I might have smacked Mark over the head with the darned book.”
    As Martha chuckled, Darla added, “But you’re pretty darned diplomatic, too. We could hear Mark spouting off all the way down here a while ago. I keep wondering why the rest of you book club members just don’t tell him to take a hike.”
    â€œAh, we’re used to him. In fact, I think the other members are always secretly disappointed if a meeting goes by without Mark launching into one of his silly tirades. It’s always so entertaining to watch . . . though I suppose that’s very bad of us to enjoy his little temper fits. And the way he acts sometimes does worry me a bit, like he’s off his meds or something.”
    Then, before Darla could query her as to whether she was being literal about medications, Martha added, “Where did James get off to? As soon as his shift is over, we’re supposed to meet for an early supper over at Thai Me Up.”
    Darla stared at her in pleased surprise. “Meet for supper? You mean, as in a date?”
    She knew that Martha was unattached. In the few months that she’d known James, she had never heard him mention any sort of personal relationship and so assumed there was no woman currently in his life. To be sure, the ex-professor had to be almost thirty years Martha’s senior; still, Darla had no trouble picturing the pair as a couple.
    James, however, apparently had overheard her and Martha’s exchange and came forward, determined to set the record straight. Stepping out from behind a nearby bookshelf and accompanied by two elderly female book club members who trailed him like groupies, the ex-professor paused at the counter.
    â€œDarla, what I proposed to Ms. Washington was simply a few hours of fellowship between two people with a mutual interest in Asian cuisine and fine literature. Of course, since I put forth the invitation, etiquette dictates that our meal be on my dime, so to speak.”
    â€œUh, huh,” was Darla’s unconvinced reply while Martha, standing to one side of him now, shook her head and mouthed,
Yeah, right
.
    James gave Darla the same quelling look that he had likely turned upon any number of impertinent undergraduates over the years; then, with an apologetic look for the restless