AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maggie said, “Driftwood is bordered with nature reserves on its east and west sides. There’re miles of trails if you’re of a mind to explore, though keep a careful eye out for alligators and snakes—they’re around but just as afraid of people as people are of them.”
I wasn’t afraid—I was intrigued. The trails sounded like quite an adventure—the perfect place for me to stretch my wings.
Above us, I heard a door open and footsteps on the porch boards. “Hello down there!”
A man peered down at us over the porch railing. He had shoulder-length white hair, a thick white beard, dark-brown eyes that sparkled with vitality, full cheeks, and a deep tan.
“I’m preparing refreshments,” he said. “Meet me out back and let me hear this ghost story. I’m about to pop with curiosity!”
His footsteps faded away. The door squeaked open, then closed. The sound of the surf rolled through the air, a constant repetitive rumble of soft, loud, soft, loud as the water ebbed and flowed.
Maggie climbed the stairs. “Like I said. Excitable.”
I followed her up. On the porch, high above the dunes, I stopped short. Even with the milky remnants of the morning fog, the sight stole my breath. Beyond a stretch of sandy white beach, the gulf reached far and wide, the water a deep gray blue capped with spots of white where waves broke along its choppy surface. A pelican, with its long beak leading the way, patrolled the surface of the water, its wings skimming the spray. Dozens of smaller birds scurried along the beach, dipping in and out of the swash.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” Maggie stepped up next to me. She lifted her chin into the wind. The loose hairs framing her face danced with wild abandon.
I clutched the railing tightly, my knuckles white. My heart fluttered in my chest as I breathed in the salty air. “It’s…”
I searched and searched but couldn’t find the right word. Abigenough word.
Something had shifted within me at the sight before me, something that stirred my soul and told me Ibelongedhere, near the water. “It’s incredible,” I finally said, settling for a word that hardly mined the depth of emotion I felt.
“Sometimes I forget exactly how beautiful it is until someone like you reminds me, so thank you for that.” She gave me a smile, then waved for me to follow her along the narrow side porch.
I could barely take my eyes off the water as we made our way to the back deck, where there was an assortment of chairs, loungers, and end tables. All were coated with a fine layer of dirt and dried-on salt, obviously not used often.
A screen room filled the right half of the wide deck. Maggiepulled open its thin wooden door and stepped aside to let me pass. Inside the room, two French doors led into the house, and both stood open wide, revealing a mid-century-style dining table piled high with cardboard boxes, its thin legs somehow bearing the load. Somewhere farther inside, a drawer opened, then closed.
“Daddy?” Maggie called into the house. “Do you need any help?”
“No, no! I’ll be right there. Make yourselves at home.”
I tried to take it all in. In each corner of the screen room, gauzy white curtains floated in the breeze. A fuchsia rug anchored a round iron-and-wood table and four cushioned chairs. In the center of the table stood a green folk art face vase, complete with buck teeth and bulging eyes, that held three pink dahlias.
Peculiar,I reminded myself.
Three place settings had been put out, each holding a dessert plate with a colorful chameleon pattern, a cloth napkin, and golden flatware. A pitcher of iced tea sat on a round tray along with three glasses—blue, green, and yellow. Large pillows were strewn about, and a telescope was aimed at the water.
On the wide threshold between the house and the screen room sat a fat cat, its tail swishing rhythmically. Left, right, pause, left, right, pause. The pause, I noticed, matched the ebbing of the waves.
I assumed this was the spoiled she-devil cat Maggie had mentioned in the job description.
She was the biggest cat I’d ever seen. Fluffy and cream-colored, she had a pale tangerine nose and ears that twitched as she watched me. I wanted to scoop her up and snuggle, but the look in her pale blue eyes warned me that would be a mistake. A huge mistake. If I was being completely honest, she kind of looked like a miniature lion eyeing its prey.
My parents hadn’t been pet people and my pleas for a dog or cat oranythingcuddly and furry had been answered with only books upon books about animals, both fictional and non. On my ninth birthday, Bunny had taken pity on me and gifted me ahamster. Mr. Whiskers. But he was only around a few months before he escaped his cage and disappeared.
The experience had traumatized my mom, who freaked out about a rodent being loose in the house, and subsequently forbade any gifts of living creatures. I’d always told myself that once I moved out on my own, I would march myself straight to the nearest shelter and adopt, but life hadn’t quite cooperated. The little apartment I rented didn’t allow pets either, so I was still left longing.
I was fairly giddy at the thought of finally having a pet to care for, even though this kitty didn’t belong to me. By that look in her eyes, I suspected she didn’t belong to Desmond, either. In fact, she might possibly be the one who was running this house.
“Welcome, welcome!” a voice boomed as Maggie’s father swept out of the kitchen, taking care to step over the cat. He carried a platter of cellophane-wrapped chocolate cakes that he set on the table before kissing Maggie’s cheek, then mine, as if he’d known me all his life. He smelled of sawdust and coconut, old books and mischief.
“Daddy, this is Ava Harrison. Ava, my father, Desmond Brightwell.”
From the ankles up, he was dressed in what I could only describe as upscale cruise wear. Loose off-white linen pants and an oversized white button-down silk shirt. But his feet were clad in black Converse sneakers, the tongues slightly frayed, the canvas faded, the laces finessed to make the shoe a slip-on.
He had a heavy build, nearly perfectly spherical, and with his snow-white hair and dark eyes he reminded me of a harp seal pup, which made me smile.
