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“Because you’re being ridiculous,” I shot back. “Gunther and Camryn aren’t troublemakers. If anything, they’re professional problem solvers.”
“Can they professionally solve the problem of your broken radiators?” Nana Pratt asked.
I looked at her. “That’s not the kind of problem they solve.” The skin on my arms prickled. “I have a visitor. Canyou see who it is? If it’s a salesperson, feel free to haunt them.”
Ray rushed straight through the walls and back again. “It’s Alicia and two friends.”
I got up from the table to look out the foyer window. “Are you sure those are friends?” Two boys were pulling her in a sled across the bridge. They didn’t look a day older than eleven.
“Look at that girl,” Nana Pratt said. “She’s as regal as a queen.”
Alicia hopped off the sled and waved at the boys, who turned and left.
I opened the door and met her on the front porch. “Leave your boots outside. I don’t need the snow melting and leaving water marks on my hardwood floors.”
Alicia sat on the step and dutifully removed her boots.
“Your friends didn’t want to come in with you?” I asked.
She tipped her back to peer at me. “Would you have let them?”
“No, but it seems rude to make them pull you all the way here and then force them to leave.”
“It’s cool. I paid them to pull me.” She climbed to her feet and skipped over the threshold into the house. “Today’s a good day for hot cocoa. Do you have any of those little marshmallows?” She paused halfway through the foyer. “Is Grampa here? Tell him I said hi.”
“He says hi.” I held out my hand. “Let’s hang up your coat.”
She shrugged out of her coat and hung it on the rack. “Somebody’s in a bossy mood today. What’s wrong? Your boyfriend still out of town?”
I shot Ray a menacing look. Of course, there was no way Ray was responsible for spreading gossip, not when Nana Pratt and I were the only ones who could hear him.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Maybe that’s your problem then. You should get out more. Live a little.” She continued into the kitchen.
“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s a little difficult to get out these days. Not all of us have access to a sled team.”
“I’ll give you their number. They’re brothers. Twenty bucks will get you all the way to the river. Cost me twenty-five because you’re uphill.” She opened the cupboard and scanned the contents. “Where’s the cocoa?”
I stood behind her and pointed to the lower shelf.
“I don’t like that brand. What happened to the other kind?”
“I drank it. The store didn’t have any in stock the last time I went shopping.”
Begrudgingly, she stood on her tiptoes and pulled the tin off the shelf. “Can you make it with milk? Tastes better.”
“Ask her if the milk is going to aggravate her IBS,” Ray said.
I glared at the ghost. I was not about to interrogate the teenager about her gastrointestinal issues. That was her mother’s job.
Alicia made herself at home at the table while I prepared the hot cocoa.
“I heard a lion tore a guy to pieces right in his own driveway.” She gave her head a sad shake. “What’s this world coming to?”
News traveled fast in Fairhaven. I opened the bag of marshmallows. “Where did you hear that?”
“One of the kids that pulled the sled told me. Tim’s best friend’s uncle lives over on Hedge Row, and he found the guy’s pinky finger on his front step.”
