Instead, she offered to make tea for her aunt and while the water was heating, she finished putting away the dishes.Everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay,she repeated. But she only half-believed herself—which seemed fair, considering she could only half-believe what anyone else told her lately, either.
* * *
Zoey figured she’d start anew with her niece in the morning, but Gabi didn’t come downstairs for breakfast and she left the house without saying goodbye. Nick had come by the previous evening—looking as handsome as ever, in a shirt which showed off his biceps even more than usual—to discuss the new kitchen design, and had confirmed that Zoey could begin painting the cupboards and drawers. So Zoey turned her attention to emptying the cabinets and carrying their contents to the dining room so she could clean, prime and prep. Since Ivy hadn’t commented about being cold for a while and she no longer wore a long-sleeved sweater, Zoey decided she could open the windows and start painting on Monday.
She slid a box of dry goods under the living room table and noticed crumbs beneath one of the chairs.That was where Connor sat,she thought, smiling. As nervous as he’d been, there was something about him that was as loveable as an overgrown puppy dog.
Suddenly, she recalled what he’d said about Gabi being in his group on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Zoey had assumed he meant she was in his group in band, but now she realized he meant she was in the group of kids who hung out together after school. That made Zoey feel a little more at ease. Maybe it was because he’d refused to let Aidan pressure him into going up to the attic, but Connor didn’t seem like the type of kid to be easily influenced by peer pressure or to pressure someone else.Of course, I didn’t think Erik was the type to lose my life’s savings in a shady deal, either,she reminded herself.
She still had three cupboards left to clean when Gabi returned from school, otherwise Zoey would have suggested they take a walk so she could broach the subject of where she’d been going after school again. But Gabi went straight upstairs and by the time Zoey was ready to put away her supplies, Ivy was up from her nap. Yawning, she said she was going to relax in the living room until she was a little more awake.
Then Gabi came down and Zoey overhead her asking their aunt, “Do you want to play cribbage?”
“That’s okay, dear. I know you have other things you’d rather do.”
“No, I don’t. Please, Aunt Ivy?”
Zoey didn’t hear what her aunt said next, but a few minutes later their giggling floated down the hall. Zoey was so relieved that any discord between her aunt and niece had been resolved that she didn’t even mind that Gabi still gaveherthe cold shoulder during supper.Now I understand how Kathleen feels when Gabi only talks to Scott, she thought.
That didn’t mean Zoey intended to let her keep it up, however. So the next morning when Gabi came into the dining room to look for a box of cereal, Zoey told her, “Before you leave for school today, there are a couple of things I’d like to talk about.”
Gabi’s eyes were steely as she crossed her arms. “I’m not telling you anything else about what I’ve been doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you might as well not ask me again.”
That wasn’t how Zoey had hoped their conversation would go, but she nodded slowly. “Okay. If you’d rather continue coming right home from school on those days, that’s up to you. But whatIwant to tellyouis that I’m very sorry I didn’t visit you this past Christmas. I’d just gotten laid off and I was really stressed. More importantly, I thought you were going to be busy with symphony and I figured it would be better if I came during your February break so we could spend more time together. But by then, Aunt Sylvia had pneumonia so I had to help her and Aunt Ivy… Anyway, I just want you to know that visiting you has always been a highlight of my year and I don’t intend to miss spending another Christmas with you again.”
Gabi’s features expression remained impassive, but Zoey noticed the tiniest flicker of emotion in her eyes before she said, “Can I go now?”
Zoey inhaled deeply.She’s only fourteen,she reminded herself and then she exhaled. “Yes. You can go.”
Gabi turned to leave without taking the cereal box. “See you later,” she said, which wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing.
* * *
“Zoey!” Ivy called urgently when Zoey entered the house on Monday morning.
On Saturday, she’d gone to the hardware store and brought home several paint sample cards in various shades of white. So this morning she went back to buy two gallons of the color Ivy selected. She set them down and rushed into the living room where her aunt was sitting with one hand on her chest. Her face was flushed and she appeared dazed.
“My heart’s aflutter,” she said.
“Did you take a nitro pill already or should I go get you one?”
“No. I mean my heart is aflutter because I finally did it. I mended a fence I should have mended a long time ago.”
Zoey couldn’t imagine her aunt swinging a hammer and she wondered if she was… if she waslosing it. “What fence?”
“The broken one between me and Mr. Witherell.”
Zoey dropped onto the couch, relieved.That makes more sense,she thought.Sort of.“When did you see him?”
“On his daily excursion past the house this morning. See, last night I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about how Gabi said I spend too much time in the past.”
“She didn’t saythat.Besides—”
“It’s okay. It’s true that I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about people from the past; people in my life who have died. I have my reasons for doing that, but today I decided I was going to talk to someone from the past who can talk back to me—Mr. Witherell. So I waited on the front steps and when I saw him, I called him over. ‘Phin,’ I said, ‘This is a long time in coming, but I want you to know I’m sorry for speaking so harshly to you when we were young. If you haven’t already, will you forgive me now?’ Guess what he said?”
“That he’d be glad to?”
“No. He said, ‘Uhn.’” Ivy imitated his grunting noise, delighted. “Which was as good as sayingyes. And I told him, ‘The next time I bake a rhubarb pie, I hope you’ll stop in and have a piece with me.’ And he nodded and then he doddered away.”
