Sad news...maybe

I can't help but be skeptical and a tad disbelieving of the recent news I had the displeasure of learning. I frequent a used book store regularly. I try to go there at least 3 times a month in search of books of every and any genre. The store seems to specialize, however, in romance novels, and the owners have always been very diligent in keeping them all in strict alphabetical order. I absolutely love the store and I love the owner of the shop, a petite older blonde woman, maybe in her mid-fifties.

Recently, with two deaths in my family and a brief fling which brought back memories of a long lost love, I had no urge or desire to read anything, especially romance novels, so I stopped going to the store. I decided to go back recently, having recovered from my funk, after a trip of a lifetime in Central Europe. I looked everywhere for the owner, was sure she'd ask me about my whereabouts (she was always so very friendly and welcoming). She was never around whenever I stopped by. I finally, last week, decided to ask a man working in the store. What I learned shocked me. She apparently had passed away seven months prior. This was hard to believe because 1) I'd grown attached to her...seeing her smile at me whenever I'd walk in the store and 2) I could have sworn it hadn't been seven months since my last visit.

At this point, I don't know what to think. Why would he lie, unless we're getting people mixed up and the older woman who would often keep the other company in the store is the one who passed...I don't know. I feel horrible for the woman's family and it really just breaks my heart to hear the news.

I'm going to make a stop tomorrow and will make sure to ask again.