Page 81 of Cain

But I found her sitting there, peering over at Briggs’s book as he sat and read it.

“One second,” she demanded when he went to flip a page. “Okay. Sorry, is this annoying?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“You’re sure?”

“I had little brothers growing up. Someone was always leaning over my arm to read what I was reading. I’d say I’d buy you a copy, but this has been out of print since the forties.

“That’s a shame. You’d think the publishers would want to digitize them.”

“I don’t think any of these publishers are still in business. Pulp fiction doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Why do they call it that?”

“Because of the paper. It’s cheap pulp paper. They used to sell these for a quarter each, believe it or not,” Briggs said, showing her the cover. “They’re short. Fifty thousand words, give or take. So some of the greats churned out fifteen to eighteen of them a year.”

“Wow. No way. Do you collect them?”

“When I can find them, yeah. That’s one of my goals while I’m here: I’m hitting up all the used and vintage bookstores in the tristate area to add to my collection.”

“What do you mean while you’re here?”

“I live in Michigan. I’m just here temporarily.”

“Are you family?”

“Not in the traditional sense, no. But I’m hoping to be something like an extended family of the club.”

“This has something to do with the inner workings of club life, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“Need to know.”

“Something like that.”

“I won’t push then. I love your bookstore mission. I’ve never really been a reader.”

“No? You seem into this book.”

“I guess maybe I’ve never really tried to read outside of school.”

“And school fiction books tend to be as dry as the paper they’re printed on.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I should be done with this one later today.”

“Today?”

“I’m a quick reader, and these are short books. I will loan it to you to give a try. If you don’t like it, no biggie. If you love it, amazing. But you still have to give it back.”

“I’d love that. Thanks for—oh, hey,” she said, spotting me.

The smile she shot me made my fucking heart feel too big for my chest. “I was annoying Briggs about books.”

“No such thing as annoying me about books,” Briggs clarified. “But I’m gonna go sit outside while the sun is warm and get some reading in.”