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“How so?”

“The woman adores you.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well, first off, you are adorable. So there’s that. She was also very interested in our dating history.”

“She’s just curious.”

“Hmm. I think she has the hots for her son’s teacher.”

“Don’t try to play matchmaker, Rachel. You’re terrible at it. The woman is not ready to date.”

“Screw dating. She wants to be the mother of your future children. I think I’m a little bit jealous.”

“You never wanted to be the mother of my future children.”

“No, I didn’t. But the process—”

He took her arm. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, boss. Oh wait, I’m your boss.”

They went upstairs and stopped beneath the trapdoor in the hallway ceiling. The short rope dangling from the door was too high to reach. Milo jumped, grabbed it, and pulled the door down, allowing a ladder to descend from the opening.

Rachel peered up through the hole. “Is there a light up there?”

“Yes.”

“And no spiders, right?”

“Sure. No spiders.”

She swung an arm and hit him on the shoulder. “Humor me.”

“Always, Rach.”

Wilda and Caleb came down the hallway and looked up at the opening. “Okay. That’s not spooky at all.” Caleb took her hand. “Honey, you can stay down here if you want.”

He shook his head and pointed at the opening.

Milo put a hand on the ladder. “Okay, let’s do this. I’ll go up, then you can send Caleb up so I can help him.” He started up the ladder, and when he reached the attic floor, he climbed the rest of the way in and went to the light switch on the wall. He flipped on the lights, which were barely adequate, then returned to the opening and sat with his legs dangling through it.

“Okay, Caleb, come on up. It’s pretty cool up here.”

Caleb started up the ladder, with Wilda holding on as long as she could. Milo reached for him and helped him the rest of the way. “Okay, here you go. You made it.” Caleb moved away from the opening and looked around the dusty room, filled with furniture, boxes, and shelves full of interesting objects.

Milo looked down at Wilda. “I think he likes it. Who’s next?”

Wilda put a foot on the bottom step. “Me. But I don’t think I need help.”

“I’ll get out of your way.”

Milo moved, and Wilda came up, followed by Rachel. Both women were intrigued. Rachel nudged Milo. “I told you it was a treasure chest up here.”

Milo went to the small window at the end of the space, opened the blind to let in more light, then took Caleb over to a shelf with old metal toys. Caleb picked up a horse-drawn fire wagon, sat on the floor, and began playing with it.

“Okay, he’s happy.”