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“Oh.” He rips his hands away from my shoulders. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just get out of your way so you can—” I walk past him, gesturing to the bathroom behind me, “do whatever.”
“Right. Wait, Mindy.”
I stop at the door to the den and turn around.
He sizes me up. “Are you tired?”
I shrug. “Not really. I’m still a little wired from that cup of coffee after dinner.”
After a moment of consideration, he asks, “When I’m done here, can I show you something?”
Tell him no.“Yeah. Sure.”
Ten minutes later, he opens up the closet in the den, pushing aside the hanging coats to expose the back wall. He presses against a panel and the bottom slides away, uncovering a dark opening.
I gasp. “What is this?”
“It’s a secret room.”
I stare at him. “Are you serious?”
“Yep.”
“Is this like one of those horror movies and I’m the young ingénue and this is where you keep the bodies?”
He chuckles. “You might be a young ingénue, but as far as I’m aware, it’s body-free. Come on, I’ll show you.” Ducking down, he steps into the black hole. A second later, a faint pink light comes on.
I stoop down to enter the space. It’s not huge, but it’s wide enough to fit four or five full-grown adults comfortably if they were all sitting down.
“I think the kids were in here earlier,” he says.
A cabinet rests in one corner with a pink lamp glowing on top of it. There are a variety of pillows and blankets strewn around along with a couple of seat cushions and a Barbie playhouse against the far wall. “Aha.” He picks up one of the dolls. “There is a body down here. I knew Cassie was a psychopath.”
I chuckle. “Four-year-olds usually are.”
Posters are taped to the walls, The Temptations, The Doors, Weezer, and “Spice Girls?” I point.
He lifts his hands. “Lynn’s contribution. Wait it gets better, lie down.” He stretches out on one of the blankets, grabbing a couple of pillows.
I settle down next to him.
He clicks a button and then shuts off the pink lamp.
Little pinpricks of light scatter across the ceiling like stars.
Surprise and a little bit of wonder spark through me. “This is so cool.”
“I used to love hiding in here when I was a kid.”
I turn my head to look at his profile. “I would have, too. It’s the perfect place to escape from your siblings.”
“Unless they know about it.”
“True.”
We lie in silence for a few long minutes, gazing up at the fake stars and breathing in tandem.
