Read Online Death of an Irish Diva by Mollie Cox Bryan - Free Book Online

anybody who did, so they took off on foot and hitchhiked all the way from the other side of West Virginia.”
    â€œBackpacking hippies parading around town can’t be kept a secret for long,” Vera said, grinning.
    DeeAnn laughed. “I had no idea what they were,” she said. “They came into the bakery yesterday, and at first, I thought they were from some cult. It was kind of scary.”
    â€œI have an aunt who dresses like that, and she lives outside of Bethesda and doesn’t even belong to commune,” Annie said and laughed. “That branch of the family has always freaked me out a bit.” She stood and walked over to the snack table, surveying the food.
    â€œSpeaking of being freaked out,” Paige said. “How is the sleepwalking?”
    â€œWell, the doctor gave me some sleeping pills, and I’ve been sleeping very deeply,” Vera replied. “I guess he thinks I may have a sleep disorder. In the meantime, the sleeping pills seem to be working.”
    â€œThen what?” Sheila said, clicking on her computer screen. “I mean, you can’t stay on sleeping pills forever.”
    Vera sighed. “I don’t know. There will be more tests. But you know as long as the pills work, I don’t really know why I should bother.”
    â€œYou should bother because those pills are just covering your problem up, not getting to the root of it,” Annie said.
    Vera looked over Sheila’s shoulder. “Oh, I love that,” she said to Sheila. “You are getting so good with this digital stuff.”
    â€œIt’s so easy,” Sheila said. “I wouldn’t want all my scrapbooking done this way. But it’s so easy to keep up with the school pictures and day-to-day pictures because everything is digital. You don’t really even need to get the pictures developed.”
    â€œI love that idea,” Annie said, “but I’m so sick of being at my computer all the time. I can see it being a great space saver.”
    â€œThat’s what I was thinking. I don’t have the space anymore,” Vera said. Her heart sank. She missed her home. But she supposed she should be grateful for what she did have.
    â€œYou don’t have to be at your computer long,” Sheila said. “You could sort of do a hybrid scrapbooking. You know it sort of combines the tools and techniques of both. You could, for example, print your photos out on a scrapbook page and then embellish it.”
    â€œI’ve used some fonts I found on the computer,” DeeAnn said. “I printed them off on good paper, cut it out, and used it for my pages. I didn’t know I was doing hybrid scrapbooking. Humph. I guess I’m ahead of my time.”
    The women were all quiet as they worked on their individual projects. Annie and Vera hovered over Sheila.
    â€œAnd look at this. I’ve actually designed some digital elements,” Sheila said. “I met this man at the last conference who said he’d take a look at anything I gave him. . . .”
    â€œWhat?” Paige squealed. “Oh my, Sheila! You better be careful what you show a strange man!”
    Sheila’s face turned red, but she joined her friends in laughing.
    Annie sat back down in her chair and took a long drink of her beer. “I can’t believe my parents are remarried,” she said, looking over the scrapbook she was making them. “I think if I got divorced, I’d not want to remarry that same person. Or anybody, really.”
    â€œIs that how you feel, Vera?” Paige asked.
    â€œWell,” Vera said after a moment. “There was a time I thought the Bill and I might get back together. But too much has happened. For a while, you know, there was Tony. And now Bill is with that woman in Charlottesville. Even though I miss certain parts of my life, like my house, I don’t think I’d want to go backward. I sort of like being