AllFreeNovel
Share Us
FOUR
It was 8:30 when I got back to the road. I saw Honeysuckle House first. Its shutters and windows were open. White lace curtains billowed in and out of the open windows, fluttering among the honeysuckle vines. The house looked like it was breathing. The Realtor must have come over early to air it out before showing it to me. I felt a pang of guilt at making her go to the trouble when I had no intention of buying it.
Or was it a pang of regret?
I should, by all rights, have been more determined than ever to get out of here after my mishap of the morning, but even though I was sore and tired—andhungry—I also felt curiously elated. The fall had been painful—but that kiss! When had Paul last—orever—kissed me like that? It had made me feel…alive. The smells of coffee, eggs, and maple syrup coming from across the road nearly made me break into a run—but I restrained myself out of respect for my sore muscles.
Diana Hart’s voice called out from the kitchen as soon as I opened the front door. “Is that you, Callie?” She came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a red-and-white-checked tea cloth. She was wearing a sweatshirt that read:SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED. “I was afraid you’d forgotten the breakfast time…” She faltered to a stop when she saw me. “Oh my, you look like you had a fall. Are you all right? Do you need some ice?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I went running in the woods…”
“In the woods?” The question came from someone who had followed Diana out of the kitchen—a petite woman in herearly thirties with a blond pageboy framing a heart-shaped face and delft blue eyes. She was wearing a denim jumper, white sailor blouse, and navy-and-white spectator pumps. She was adorable enough to have walked off one of the Mary Engelbreit plaques that adorned Diana’s kitchen and dining room.
“Oh, Dory, you were right! She did go running in the woods…Oh, sorry!” Diana waved her hands between me and the blond woman by way of making introductions. “Callie McFay, Dory Browne of Browne Realty. She came by to show you the house and said she thought she saw you heading into the woods earlier. I would have suggested a different route if I’d known you were going running. Those woods…well, they can be tricky.”
“The woods were fine. I was just clumsy. Do I have time for a quick shower before breakfast?”
“Of course!” Diana exclaimed. I had a feeling that if I had asked Diana to serve breakfast on the roof she would have tried her best to accommodate me.
“I’ll be quick,” I promised.
I hobbled up the stairs to my room. Soreness from the fall was setting in, but the hot water helped. I took two Advil as well, dressed in a light cotton dress (Dory’s prim outfit had made me feel underdressed) and sandals, twisted my wet hair into a sloppy bun, and hurried downstairs. The two women were sitting at the dining room table, their heads together, whispering. A floorboard creaked under my foot as I came into the room and Diana lifted her head, her large brown eyes looking startled.
“There you are, you look worlds better. You sit down and help yourself to some coffee while I go get your breakfast. Dory will keep you company.”
I didn’t see why I needed company, but I smiled sociably at the Realtor and sat down across from her. She poured coffee into my cup and offered me the milk pitcher, which I took, and the sugar bowl, which I declined.
“I brought a couple of other listings,” she said, patting a glossy decorative folder that lay by her coffee mug. I noticed that the folder’s paisley design matched the pattern on the quilted tote bag hanging from Dory’s shoulder. “I’ve got a darling little Craftsman bungalow just down the block that might be perfect for you.”
I should have realized that asking a Realtor to show one house in the current housing market was like asking an alcoholic to have an aperitif.
“I don’t even know if I have a job yet,” I replied. “But the house across the street is so striking…”
“Oh yes, Honeysuckle House is one of our grandest old Victorians. The LaMottes were one of the leading Fairwick families back in the days when the railroad made the town an important center of commerce. Silas LaMotte spared no expense in building the house for his wife.”
“It’s a shame she didn’t live to enjoy it for long,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Yes, itwasa shame,” Dory Browne replied, narrowing her piercing blue eyes at me as if I’d just said something original. “I think you might find the bungalow a little more cheerful…”
Dory was interrupted in her sales pitch by the appearance of Diana with a plate of French toast smothered in blueberry preserves, a bowl of fresh strawberries, and a basket of assorted muffins and scones. I was accustomed to having half a toasted bagel for breakfast but my run had made me hungry. I took a bite of the French toast and found that it was so tender it nearly melted in my mouth.
“I was just telling Callie that she might find old Mrs. Ramsay’s bungalow cozier than Honeysuckle House,” Dory said to Diana, who had sat down at the table with us. “Those big old Victorians are hard to keep warm in the winter and some people find all those woods in the back gloomy.”
“I thought the woods in the back were beautiful,” I said between mouthfuls of French toast. “I found a thicket of honeysuckleshrubs. I guess they must have spread from the house.”
“You made it as far as the thicket?” Diana asked, sounding as surprised as if I’d told her that I’d run all the way to New York City. “Most people don’t get that far.”
I glanced up from my plate and caught the two women exchanging a meaningful look. Something clearly bothered them about my foray into the forest. “Are the woods privately owned?” I asked. “I didn’t see any private property signs. Was I trespassing?”
“The woods belong to the LaMotte estate, but they’ve always been open to the whole village,” Dory answered. “It’s just that the thicket is so overgrown.”
“Yes, I noticed. It’s so dense that a bird had gotten stuck in the underbrush. I helped it out.”
I was expecting exclamations of surprise and approbation from Diana—who greeted practically every word out of my mouth with cheerful approval and who had such an outstanding collection of ceramic woodland creatures that I figured she must have a soft spot for all wildlife—but instead my announcement was met with silence. Diana had gone pale beneath her freckles and her brown eyes were fixed on Dory’s wide blue ones.
“You rescued a bird from the honeysuckle thicket,” Dory said slowly and deliberately.
“I guess you could say I rescued it. I suppose it would have gotten out eventually.”
