Page 77

Phoebe told her.

“Nice to meet you, Phoebe. I’m Tina, and my sister is Wanda.”

Tina parked in front of a sweet little house that took Phoebe by surprise. She wasn’t sure what she had expected—maybe some combination of the abandoned house and the farmhouse that she’d passed—but it wasn’t this. This was a small, bright red house with white shutters, a huge wraparound porch, and a white front door hung with an old-fashioned Stars and Stripes banner in the shape of a heart. There was also a white picket fence, a green lawn out front, and an honest-to-goodness pigpen off to one side.

“Are those pigs?”

Tina nodded, just one jut of her chin. “We’ve also got a couple of horses in the back.”

Phoebe let out a disbelieving breath.

As she followed Tina through the front door, Tina called out, “Slap some more bacon in the pan, Wanda; I found a stray.”

“Another barn cat?” A voice that was, if possible, even more gravelly than Tina’s came from the back half of the house.

“Nah. This girl right here. She was out on the road like a lost puppy.”

Tina’s sister had the same leathery skin, but her face was peppered with freckles and sunspots, her frizzy hair a coppery shade of red. Instantly calmed by the scents of coffee and bacon, Phoebe greeted Wanda and took in her surroundings. The small kitchen looked straight out of the ’90s, with oak cabinets with white knobs, laminate countertops made to look like a light gray granite, a rounded breakfast bar with two red-velvet-topped barstools, and a blue valance hanging over the large picture window behind the sink. Mismatched mugs hung from hooks under one cabinet, and bunches of dried herbs and flowers hung upside down over the kitchen sink. There were also pots and pans hanging over the electric stove, where Wanda was currently frying bacon. The kitchen was cheerfully cluttered, but it appeared spotlessly clean and well cared for.

A white toaster in the corner pinged, sending two slices of toast flying. Wanda slid them onto a plate and put two more pieces of bread in.

“You like eggs sunny-side up? Over easy?” Wanda pushed some eggs around in a frying pan.

“Whatever you’re having.” Phoebe eyed the coffee pot, which looked exactly like the one her parents had had when she was a kid. Wanda noticed.

“Help yourself. Mugs are there, sugar’s there, milk is in the fridge.”

“Thank you so much.” Phoebe selected a mug with a rooster on it and fixed herself a cup of sweet, creamy coffee, then perched on one of the barstools. Tina extracted jam and butter from the fridge and started preparing the toast.

Five minutes later, they were all seated at the breakfast counter—Wanda had pulled up a dining chair from the other room—with plates of eggs, bacon, and toast with homemade peach jam in front of them. There was literally no way Phoebe was going to mention that she didn’t eat bacon, so she left it to one side of her plate and devoured the rest. She wondered if Wanda and Tina were going to start some sort of conversation.

“This is delicious. Thank you for having me.”

“’Course. Wanda loves feeding people.”

Wanda grunted her agreement.

“Now, what were you doing wandering around on our road?”

Phoebe cradled her coffee mug under her chin. “You know, where I live, it’s normal for people to walk around.”

“Where’s that?” Wanda asked.

“Seattle.”

At this, Tina let out a snort and Wanda rolled her eyes. Phoebe chose not to pry into their opinion of her city.

“So is it just you two living here?”

“Yep. Always been just us since our dad passed many years ago.”

“Neither of you ever…” Phoebe didn’t want to be nosy, but she also didn’t not want to be. “Got married?”

“Wasn’t in the cards for me.” Tina slurped the last of her coffee and went to the pot to refill it. “Wanda did, though.”

Phoebe looked to Wanda in surprise. Wanda sopped up the last of her eggs with a corner of toast, ate it, then nodded.

“I was married for…” She looked up at the ceiling, apparently trying to remember. “Three years.”