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I didn’t say anything else as Daniel descended the stairs, the evil gnome in his arms, but I had a feeling I couldn’t quite shake—like the house had an opinion of us, of what we’d done here, what we’d said. Like maybe if we stayed here any longer as the place was subsumed by evening shadow, it might share its opinions with us—and I didn’t want that.
Addison pressed a button on the wall in the room that held the attic stairs—the light switches were all the old two button kind—but it didn’t do anything.
“We’ll get the power back on,” I mumbled, heading for the stairway with a bit more focus and speed than that with which we’d initially explored. I didn’t think any of us wanted to be here after dark.
When we finally stood on the sidewalk once again, outside the gates of the big house, we all paused, looking back.
“Did you see the garage, Dad? We didn’t get a chance to look inside.” Daniel’s voice was colored with the kind of hope only a kid that age can hang onto.
“I don’t think Mrs. Easter had a Corvette, kid,” I told him. I felt like I would have remembered Mrs. Easter zipping around town in a sports car.
Addison laughed. “The lawyer said there is a car in there though.”
“We’ll save that surprise for another day,” I suggested. I was curious, but it was almost full dark in the wild jungle of a yard, and I didn’t want to risk anyone tripping into poison ivy or falling over Thaddius’s abandoned evil sister out there.
“So...” Addison trailed off, her eyes studying my face in a way that sent a self-conscious wave through me. “Are you really considering doing this?”
I sighed. This was the most interesting thing that had happened to me in about twelve years, and selling this place would generate money that would allow me to finally have the means to pursue the tiny dream I’d been holding onto. I would expand the store, sell things that mattered to me, things I’d made.
“Yeah, I’d like to.”
Daniel let out a whoop and lifted the hideous Thaddius up in the air. I shot him a look, worried he might be too excited too soon. There was a lot to figure out.
“You up for it?” I wanted her to say yes. We’d work out the details later—including how members of two feuding families could renovate a huge old house without killing each other.
Addison looked uncertain, and glanced between me, Daniel and the old house. “I don’t know,” she said. “Can I sleep on it?”
“Yeah, of course.”
We walked back to the square slowly, and I had the sense we were all lost in our thoughts. Except Thaddius, whose expression suggested his thoughts were pure evil. I shuddered and insisted Daniel put him in the trunk on the way home.
Sisterly Sarcasm
Addison
Ididn’t want to discuss the house with my mother. She would have four million ideas and thoughts and emotions she would insist on sharing, and I had too many of my own to handle at the moment. And so after I said goodbye to Michael and Daniel in the square, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called my sister Paige instead. I needed to talk to someone.
“Hey,” I said, my eyes lingering on the darkened Muffin Tin across the square. I wrapped my free arm around myself and shivered. Fall had definitely arrived even though it was only the beginning of September. “You guys busy tonight?”
“No, actually. The girls are running around with the dogs and I’m just sitting here having a drink with Cormac.”
“Oh,” I said, immediately feeling like an intruder. Compared to my planned evening of avoiding Lottie and maybe watchingUploadorYoungeragain on my laptop, Paige did sound pretty busy.
“Come over for a drink?” she suggested.
“I really don’t want to intrude.” I totally wanted to intrude. And I needed to talk to someone rational. But Paige and Cormac were the illustration of everything I wished I had, and getting an up-close view of the life I thought I’d been heading for with Luke—but clearly had missed by miles—might be a little hard to take. Still, I couldn’t avoid going over to see Paige the whole time I was here just because she had a family I envied. I swallowed hard. “But I’d love to,” I added.
“Good! Come whenever. It’s open. We’re out back.” I hung up, relieved. I had somewhere to go, for now, and someone to bounce this off. I thrived on having a plan. A car would have been nice too.
Living in New York City for years meant I’d lived without things most people took for granted. A car, for instance. And while my mother was generous with her aging Toyota, she’d left the bakery and driven it home already. I hugged myself a little tighter and set out for Paige’s place. The nice thing about a very small town, I guessed, was that nothing was ever too far away. Depending on what the “thing” was. We didn’t have a lot of the big stores and restaurants in Singletree that other places had. We weren’t really a suburb of anything, so the town was really a self-contained collection of smaller versions of all the things people near bigger cities were used to. And while it was quiet and quaint, I missed a restaurant on every corner, a bodega around the block, and I missed my old life.
Anger flared in me as I thought again about how my old life had come to a screeching halt. It hadn’t been much of a life after all, I guessed. More of an illusion. The thought left me cold and tired, and I felt more thankful than before that I was about to see someone who loved me.
An early fall breeze was picking up as I walked and the streets were nearly dark by the time I reached Paige’s door. I didn’t bother knocking, but let myself into the sweet little cottage and tried hard to avert my gaze from all the signs of Paige’s perfect family life as I made my way back to the patio. The two pairs of little galoshes lined up by the door. The kid-sized armchairs positioned next to the couch. The life-sized kangaroo standing in the corner of the living room. Wait, the—?
I screamed, and that brought a furious round of barking and scrabbling as the the dogs raced inside to see what the noise was about. They were followed by a tall, dark-haired man with friendly eyes and a worried expression on his face who found me still standing face to face with a very large marsupial.
“Hey, Addie,” Cormac said, looking me up and down as if he might be able to figure out why I’d walked into my sister’s house and screamed. The dogs were leaping around me now, and I felt like I’d activated a circus. “Settle down, Luke. Bobo, quit it.” Both dogs quit jumping and exchanged a look, as if agreeing that they would resume immediately if the moment seemed to call for it again. They sauntered back outside. “You okay?” Cormac asked me.
