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He’d never looked at this photo for too long before. It was too painful. He didn’t get why anyone would take a photo at a funeral anyway. Seemed morbid. But now that he studied the picture, he was shocked by how bad his Aunt Meg looked in the photograph. For someone who wasn’t that close to her brother, she looked sick to the stomach. He always thought she’d have been rubbing her hands together in glee knowing she was about to inherit the ranch.
Ah well. It was all in the past now.
He’d never know that much about his parents’ death.
Just like he’d never know that much about true love.
Chapter Eight
PEACH
“IknowIshouldn’t…”Peach said under her breath. “But… just one more time…”
Peach was having the time of her life. Ever since she’d discovered that her house had an elevator in it, she’d been setting up dumb challenges for herself. Try to race the elevator downstairs to see who got there first. Try to do a handstand in the elevator. Try to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in its entirety before the elevator got to the bottom.
She put Teddy down at the top of the stairs that ran to the elevator.
“Three, two, one, go!” she shouted to Teddy.
She pushed the green button on the elevator just as Teddy started to run down. This was their third race, and so far, she’d lost them all. Maybe Teddy would be tired now so she’d win, but she doubted it. That animal was full of energy.
As the elevator doors pinged open, she looked out hopefully. And then Teddy jumped at her, knocking her off her feet with shock. They both lay on the floor, happily panting.
“Teddy,” she said. “This is it. We hit the big time.”
Teddy licked her face. His mouth smelled of the new expensive dog food that Isaac had stocked up on for her.
“Ew,” she said. “You’ll put me off my second breakfast, doggy.”
It was still early — Peach always woke up stoopid early. This morning it was even earlier because she was so excited to get up and explore all the rooms again. She’d eaten ice-cream for breakfast at five a.m. Her personal chef wasn’t due to come and make her actual breakfast until seven-thirty, which meant she had time for at least one more unofficial breakfast before the official one.
She went over to the freezer, getting the tub of ice-cream back out.
It really was amazing how Isaac had thought of every last thing. Especially since he had, like, no advance warning to sort it all out. Clearly, the man had connections, and a whole team of staff buzzing around to serve him.
As well as filling the kitchen with a range of both healthy and unhealthy foods, Isaac had prepared a doggy room for Teddy, full of squeaky toys and snacks and even an obstacle course for him to play on. Then there was a playroom for Peach, full of games that could be played by just one person. Solitaire. Hopscotch. Puzzle books. Giant Jenga. There was the swimming pool with its own swim-up bar, handily stocked with cartons of milkshake, and there was a movie room with a projector on the wall that played the Disney channel. It. Was. Heaven.
She sat at the kitchen island eating ice-cream straight out of the tub, re-reading the rules Isaac had left out for her.
No parties.
No guests without asking my permission.
Get up at seven and be in bed by ten.
Tidy up after yourself.
Eat a balanced diet.
Exercise for at least an hour every day.
Spend at least two hours in Little Space every day.
She’d never been given rules by anyone other than an employer before. It felt quite exciting to have them. She felt like she was smashing them already. She was up by five, so two hours earlier than he’d told her, which had to be a good thing, right? And she’d played at racing the elevator for the last hour, and that felt like the best exercise she’d had in years.
Okay, so she hadn’t tidied upevery little thingshe’d strewn around the place, but it was impossible to stay completely tidy every single day, wasn’t it? She’d probably just keep on top of the big ticket items on weekdays and then do a big tidy-up for all the itty-bitty things at the weekends.
She looked again at the rules. She didn’t remember Isaac telling her about the balanced diet rule yesterday, but that wasn’t going to be a problem if she had her own personal chef. She ate another big spoonful of ice-cream. Isaac wouldn’t have put all this ice-cream in the freezer if he hadn’t wanted her to eat it, would he?
