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“Ha ha. See you soon.”
I hang up and poke my head over the hole to let her know it’s okay, but she’s already scowling up at me.
“What’s wrong now?”
“Why did you ask Cullen to come over?”
“Because some of this stuffisheavy, and I’ll need the extra hands. Can you pass me that one?”
When Grandma tries to lift the tote, I can see that it’s too heavy, and I shake my head.
“No, don’t do it. It’s okay, Cullen will be here in a few minutes.”
“I guess I forgot about Lauren’s room,” she admits after a minute of silence. “I was so caught up in transforming the house for the party, I just forgot.”
“I should have asked about it sooner,” I reply and sit in the opening, letting my feet dangle.
When something rustles behind me, I freeze.
“Grandma?”
“Yes, dear.”
“Are theremiceup here?”
“Shouldn’t be.” She scowls. “Might be a squirrel or two.”
“Oh, shit.” I scramble down the ladder and shiver at the thought of a rodent running up my back. “We need to call an exterminator.”
“That is on my list, too, but—”
“But you forgot,” I finish for her as the front door opens.
“I’m here,” Cullen calls out.
“Upstairs in the hallway,” I call back. And when my brother’s foot hits the top step, I tell him, “There is something crawling up there, so I’m not going back up. Can you put all this stuff up there for us?”
“With whatever’s crawling around,” he says slowly.
“Yes.”
“Mice will chew right through that box.”
“Squirrel,” Grandma oh-so-helpfully corrects.
I rub the area between my eyes with my thumbs. “We don’t have a choice, Cullen. Lauren will be here in a couple of hours, and we have to get that stuff out of her room.”
“Okay.” He shrugs and starts up the ladder, but when he can see into the attic, he pauses. “There might be squirrels, but there are also mice—plural. There are a bunch of nests up here.”
“Shit,” I whisper. “Then this stuff can’t go up there.”
“What do we do with it?” Cullen asks as he climbs back down and pushes the ladder back up into the ceiling.
“Take it out to my truck. I’ll store it at the chapel until after the Halloween party.”
“Good idea,” Grandma says with a wide smile, but I just roll my eyes at her. “Now, don’t you sass me, Juniper Snow.”
“While Cullen and I take care of this, you call an exterminator. Right now. I’m not sleeping another night in this house while rodents are running around above me.”
