Page 131 of The Treasure House

“Sorry. I had to say goodbye to my mom.”

“She’s gone?” Flo brightened. Tina really had made her uneasy.

“She’s gone.” I sighed, my breath hitching. I felt Suni’s hand rubbing comforting circles on my back.

“Hey!” Lance’s disgruntled voice sounded from the stairs. “How come I wasn’t invited to this love-in?”

“You’re always invited,” Suni assured him, holding out her arm to beckon him. “Tash is welcome too if she’s awake.”

“We should get the kittens, like, if this is a whole family thing,” Flo said.

“Or we could go make some hot chocolate and break out those cookies I bought,” Wayne suggested.

“You guys go ahead,” Suni told him. “I’m going to hug Zoe a little longer.”

“You two are weird,” Flo told us, wriggling out of my grasp and heading for the promise of cookies.

When Jake turned up, Suni and I were curled up on the sofa under a blanket and she was stroking my hair. Flo let him in.

“Maybe she’ll tell you she loves you too,” I heard her whisper as she pushed him toward the parlor.

He was blushing when he appeared in the doorway. “Hi,” he said awkwardly. “I know it’s late, but I saw the lights on and just wanted to come say goodnight.”

“You know, Mom,” Flo said, peering around him, “you should go stay at Jake’s tonight and that way I can sleep in your bed instead of on the folding cot.”

“Hey,” Alison protested, on her way upstairs from the kitchen, “who says you get the big bed and not me?”

“It’s my house,” Flo told her blithely.

“I think Zoe might want to be in her own home tonight,” Jake said quietly, meeting my eye. “She’s had quite a day.”

“Why don’t I put Flo to bed and leave you two to talk,” Suni said, pressing a kiss on my forehead as she rose from the couch. She pointed at her empty spot. “There you go, Jake, I kept it warm for you.”

As soon as he lowered himself onto the sofa I leaned into him and his arms wrapped around me. Suni pulled the blanket up around us.

“Kiss your mom goodnight, Flo-bug.”

Flo rolled her eyes. “She’s had enough of that from you.” But she kissed me, a big smacking kiss on the top of my head. “Night, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you more,” I promised her. I smiled as I listened to her and Suni chattering as they climbed the stairs.

I felt Jake’s big hand stroking my hair. The room was quiet except for the pop of the log in the fire and the quiet murmur of Wayne and Lance talking in the kitchen.

“Marly was right,” I said softly. “I assumed the worst. I thought Freddie must be dead. He wasn’t at the play, and you never really talked about him.”

I felt Jake shift beneath me. I could hear his heartbeat under my ear, steady as a drum.

“I guess maybe I’ve been primed to always assume the worst. But he is alive. And they look happy.”

He frowned faintly. “Yeah, they are. I mean, except for being sad about Mom. He stayed with her so she wouldn’t be alone during the play.”

“You seem happy too. Even though you’re sad about your mom.”

“Well, one doesn’t cancel out the other. You can feel both at once.”

I nodded. “I guess I never realized it before.” I bit my lip. “I thought the story of this house must be a sad one. Because it was old and full of junk. But it hasn’t been a sad one, has it?”

“It’s had sad parts,” he said with a shrug. “Like every place.” He looked tired.