Page 11 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“Stevie—”

He held up a hand. “Go have supper with Jake and Luce. Have fun. I’m good. I have to do some research on the Harlequins anyway, and then inventory them.”

“I don’t like leaving you alone so much.”

“I’m not alone. I have…” He glanced around the kitchen. “This place. Wilma?”

The kitchen lights abruptly went out, leaving them with just the light of the fan over the stove.

“She doesn’t like Wilma,” Stephanie whispered.

“You think?” Steven chuckled. “Sorry,” he said louder. “I’ll find something better.”

The lights came back on.

Stephanie pushed to her feet, picking up the deposit bag as she did. “It’s weird, isn’t it? You’d think we could figure out her name. We’ve only lived here our whole lives.”

“That’s just the thing, though. We’ve been here our whole lives. To her, we might as well be part of the walls. And we never noticed her antics until Kreed and Lucky started talking about how Mildred reacted to them.”

“The Oaks seems nicer,” Stephanie said.

“She feels listened to,” Steven pointed out. “Kreed bows to her every whim.”

The lights flickered out again.

“Clearly our house does not feel heard.”

For a few seconds, the kitchen was bathed in a hard strobe, light and dark, flickering from brilliant to black over and over.

“She never acted like this when we were little,” Stephanie said.

“She had a whole family then.”

“And Dad.”

He nodded. “And Dad.” He gazed up at the ceiling. “We miss him too, House.”

The lights evened to a soft glow.

“You should go, though,” Steven said. “You know how Jake gets if you don’t keep to the schedule.” He glanced at the clock. “Supper’s in ten minutes.”

“You sure you won’t come?”

“I don’t want to leave her alone. The last time she froze the pipes and almost flooded the Labyrinth.”

“It was January and minus thirty-six out. I don’t think the pipes were her fault.”

“If she didn’t freeze them, she also didn’t keep them unfrozen. She doesn’t like to be alone.”

“Steven—”

He stared at her, daring her to contradict him.

“Whatever.” She heaved out a breath and turned to the back door. “We’ll be all the way across the backyard if you change your mind.”

“I know.”

“Fine.”