Crowned and Moldering (16 page)

“Hey, you’ll like it here,” Mac said. “Everyone is friendly. It’s no big deal. You’ll
go to school, you’ll meet some nice new kids. Might even learn something.”

“Kids aren’t nice,” she muttered darkly.

I frowned at Mac and saw him clench his jaw. “They’d better be nice to you, or I’ll
kick their butts.”

“Oh, Uncle Mac,” she droned, drawing his name out to four syllables. “You just don’t
understand.”

“Oh, Ca-a-a-al-lie,” Mac replied in a high-pitched falsetto. “I feel your pain.”

She giggled and the tension was broken. For now.

“Let’s take a walk to the pier for dinner,” Mac suggested, and gave his niece’s cheek
an affectionate tweak. “And you can fill us in on how you managed to get suspended.”

*   *   *

While Callie used my powder room to wash her hands and freshen up after her long trip,
Mac paced the kitchen. He looked a lot more worried than he had a minute ago when
Callie was sitting in the room.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I had no idea she was on her way up here.”

“That’s obvious. You don’t have to apologize.”

“What am I going to do with her?” he muttered.

“If you’d like her to stay in the second garage apartment, I have no problem with
that.”

“But she won’t have any supervision.”

“I hate to say it, Mac, but I doubt she has much of it at home, either.”

“It’s that obvious, huh?” He rubbed his forehead, clearly puzzled as to his next move.
“At least if she’s in the other garage apartment, she’ll be right next to me. I can
keep an eye on her. Probably.”

“If you want to supervise her more closely, you could both move into Jane’s bed-and-breakfast.
She has a couple of suites with two bedrooms attached to a sitting room. But that
seems like a drastic move.”

“Yeah, it does. Callie’s basically a good kid,” he said, sounding a little desperate
to convince me. “She’ll probably be okay here.”

“Of course she’s a good kid,” I said, patting his arm. He seemed so discombobulated,
and I couldn’t blame him. “She’s smart, too. Made it all the way here, didn’t she?
She came to you because she doesn’t want to be on her own, Mac. So, let’s just move
her into the second apartment. She’ll appreciate having her own space, and she’s not
going to sneak out and go anywhere. She loves you, so she’ll comply with your rules.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

I hesitated, then added, “And if she wants to spread out a little, she’s welcome to
use my kitchen or the rest of the house, for that matter. That goes for you, too.
I know this is stressful for you.”

“That’s generous of you, Irish.” He wrapped his arms around me and held on. “I’m not
sure what to say.”

“Just say you’ll buy me a yacht when this is all done. And maybe something with diamonds.”

He laughed, just as I’d hoped he would. “I’ve got to tell you, this is about the weirdest
thing that’s happened to me in a long time. My niece doesn’t usually track me down
and show up unannounced.”

I gazed up at him and smiled. “I believe it. You looked pretty shocked to see her.”
I wasn’t about to mention my own reaction when I first saw Callie at the gate.

“
Shocked
is putting it mildly,” he said, then chuckled sheepishly. “You know, I’ve faced down
enemy gunfire and been ambushed by insurgents, but none of that ever stunned me as
much as Callie did this afternoon. I love her, but what do I know about taking care
of a teenager? Nothing.”

I believed it.

*   *   *

On the short walk to the pier, Callie began to sound more and more like a normal teenager
as she bounced from one topic to another. “I can’t believe I’m actually feeling excited
about starting school in a new place. Okay, I wasn’t, but now it’s sort of like an
adventure, right? I mean, nobody knows me here. I can be whoever I want to be.”

With her arms open wide, she spun around in a circle.

Mac shook his head and laughed at her antics. “I’ve got an idea, kiddo. Why don’t
you just be Callie?”

She lifted her chin proudly. “That’s exactly who I intend to be, Uncle Mac.”

“Good.” He grabbed her in a one-armed hug. “I like her the best.”

We turned at the corner and headed west toward the pier. From here we could see the
sun turning into a hot orange ball on the horizon. The deep blue sky was splashed
with streaks of coral and fuchsia as the earth moved toward sunset.

“That sunset is so cool—wow. And isn’t it cool how we can just walk to the pier? What’ll
we get? Pizza? No. Fish? That’ll be better, because riding my bike all that way made
me really hungry and protein would probably be best for me. So, fish.” Callie turned
to me. “I totally love your hair. Do you color it? Are those extensions? Do you curl
it?”

I smiled at the mile-a-minute conversation and the abrupt change of subject. “No.
It’s all real and all mine.”

“You’re so lucky,” she said. “My hair is so boring. Maybe I’ll dye it red while I’m
here.”

My chin dropped.
Is she kidding?
“Don’t you dare dye it another color. Your hair is beautiful.”

“You sound like my mom,” she said amiably.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Oh, you should,” Callie assured me. “She’s really smart and pretty. Don’t you think,
Uncle Mac?”

“She’s a knockout,” Mac agreed, “and so are you.”

Callie studied me until I began to feel like a smear on a microscope slide. Finally,
she said, “I can tell you’re really smart.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I like to think so.”

“She is,” Mac said, but Callie ignored him.

“What do you do for a living?”

She was making my head spin with her rapid-fire switching of subjects, but my job
description rolled off my tongue with little effort. “I’m a building contractor specializing
in Victorian-home renovation and repair.”

She stopped walking and stared at me. “Wait. You build stuff? Like houses and stuff?”

“Yes.”

Her mouth hung open. “That’s the coolest thing. I’ve never met anyone who does that.
Like on the DIY Network? I totally love those shows. I, like, watch them all the time.
You could do a show on their channel, I bet. Can I watch you work sometime?”

“Uh, sure. Maybe on the weekend.”

“Oh, my God. I would love that.”

“Keep moving, kids.” Mac nudged her forward and we continued to stroll toward the
pier.

I hesitated to mention it, but finally said, “My sister has a show on the DIY Network.
It’s called
Concrete Facts
.”

“Are you kidding?” she shrieked. “With Chloe Hammer and Dirk Bodette, right? I love
that show! Is Chloe your sister?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, wow. She’s so smart and funny, and they’re so cute together.”

“Aren’t they?” Everyone loved Chloe and Dirk. Everyone except Dirk’s wife.

“Their show is a real public service,” Callie said earnestly. “I mean, they actually
help people avert disaster.”

“That’s sort of the point of the show.” My sister, Chloe, had been trained by our
father, just like me. Her television show was important to her. She felt as if it
gave her the opportunity to really help people.

“But wait,” Callie said, frowning. “Chloe has blond hair. How come?”

I would’ve considered the question rude coming from anyone else. “Her hair was strawberry
blond when she was young, but the red faded away and she’s been a blonde ever since.”
I used to be really jealous of my sister’s hair, but I liked mine just fine now.

“She’s beautiful.”

I smiled. “I think so.”

“So are you.” Callie laced her arm through mine. “I’m so glad you’re my uncle’s girlfriend.”

“Oh.” I frowned, unsure of how to respond. What in the world was I to Mac? I was a
friend, for sure, but what else? “I’m really not his—”

“We’re going to a fish restaurant, right, Uncle Mac?” she asked, completely ignoring
my hesitation.

“Yeah.”

“I hope they have scallops.”

“They do.”

“I love scallops,” she confided happily, and squeezed my arm. “Isn’t this the best
day ever?”

*   *   *

I offered to call Ms. Barney over the weekend to let her know that Callie would be
enrolling in the high school temporarily on Monday. Mac was uncharacteristically nervous
about the whole procedure and I couldn’t say I blamed him. So I agreed to go along
with him and Callie on Monday morning. That’s how I found myself once again walking
down the hall of Lighthouse Cove High toward the principal’s office.

Ms. Barney had already contacted Callie’s principal in Bel Air to let him know she
would be attending here for the next two weeks or so. I had warned her that Callie
had been suspended, so it wasn’t a surprise. We’d managed to squeeze the truth out
of Callie over dinner the night before. She’d been suspended because she’d locked
another girl in a gym locker after the girl snapped a picture of Callie taking a shower
and posted it on a social-media site.

Once the shock and horror wore off, Mac and I both agreed that the world was a much
different place than when we were in high school.

Ms. Barney gathered up all the forms Mac had filled out and stuck a big paper clip
on them to keep them together. “Callie, I’m assigning you to Mr. Jones’s homeroom
class. I’ll take you there now, if you’d like me to.”

“Yes, please, ma’am,” Callie said, clearly nervous. She shifted her backpack that
I’d filled with various office supplies the night before.

“I guess we’ll be going,” Mac said, “unless you need anything else from me.”

“No,” the principal said. “I think we’ve got all the forms and information we require.”

She and Mac shook hands and Ms. Barney said, “Thank you so much for coming in with
Callie. And if you ever want to be a guest lecturer, our creative writing students
would love to hear all about the life of a thriller author.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Mac said. “Maybe when my next book comes out.”

“Wonderful,” she said, winking at me.

I grinned at Ms. Barney, who was too sharp to ever let an opportunity pass her by.

“And thank you so much for bringing Callie to Lighthouse Cove High,” she added. “We’re
lucky to have her.”

Callie beamed, and I wanted to hug the older woman for making the teenager feel welcome.

“Behave yourself,” Mac said, giving Callie a tight hug. “Play well with the other
kids.”

“Uncle Mac,” Callie said. “You’re so silly.”

“I love you, kiddo,” he whispered. “Call me for a ride home.”

“Okay.”

“See you later, Callie,” I said, giving her a hug.

She hugged me back. “Thanks, Shannon.”

Mac grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the principal’s office before we both burst
into tears. As we walked down the hall to the exit, he exhaled heavily. “Jeez, why
do I feel like I’m deserting my five-year-old at her first kindergarten class?”

“I feel the same way.” He pushed open the door and I walked outside onto the steps.
“But she’s in good hands with Ms. Barney and especially with Mr. Jones. I should warn
you that she’ll be in love with him by the end of the day.”

“Oh, great.” We crossed to the quad and walked toward the parking lot. “I’m not having
the birds-and-bees talk with her.”

I laughed out loud. “Something tells me she’s way ahead of you there.”

“Yeah. And that’s just sad.”

*   *   *

Mac had decided to let Callie stay in the second garage apartment, but, strangely
enough, Callie wasn’t all that thrilled to have her own private space.

Earlier that evening, the three of us had spent an hour in my kitchen, talking about
Callie’s first day at school. She could barely stop talking about Mr. Jones, just
as I’d warned Mac. Then uncle and niece went off to dinner at the pub and I stayed
home to get some paperwork done.

My kitchen doorbell rang about nine o’clock. I was already in my pajamas and about
to bundle up on the couch and watch a couple of shows before going to bed. I checked
through the window to see who it was, then opened the door.

“Do you mind if I watch television with you?” Callie said. “I mean, unless you’re
going to bed.”

“Not yet,” I said. “Come on in.”

“It weird,” she said as she curled up in the opposite corner of the couch from me.
“I’m always alone at home and it doesn’t bother me. But here I’d rather be with other
people.”

“That’s not weird. You’re in a strange place, and the garage apartment is basically
set up to be a hotel room. It’s not the coziest place in the world.”

“Oh, it’s wonderful—I don’t mean that. I guess after going to all this trouble to
be with Uncle Mac, I kind of want to . . . well.”

“You want to be with Uncle Mac.”

“Yeah. And you, too. Do I sound like a big baby?”

I felt bad for her. Callie was hungry for family and the kind of cozy home I had growing
up. I didn’t know enough about Mac’s sister to make any judgments, but it sounded
like her career was high pressure. With that stress and the traveling she had to do,
it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t make it home often. And two bodyguards didn’t
make for much of a warm family setting.

“Not at all,” I said. “You sound like you want your family around.”

“I guess so.”

The show began, and we were quiet until the commercial break. I muted the TV and turned
to Callie. “So, tell me more about school. Did you like your classes?”

“Yeah. I did. And Mr. Jones is amazing, as I already mentioned.”

“More than once.”

She laughed. “And I had lunch with a couple of girls. Ms. Barney asked them to hang
out with me, but they didn’t seem to mind. They were nice. Normal.”

I smiled. “We’re pretty normal around here.”

She pulled the blanket tighter around herself. “They told me something creepy, though.”

I frowned, hoping they hadn’t told Callie something that might have offended her.
“What’d they say?”

“They said that there was some girl who died a bunch of years ago and that they just
found her bones in my uncle’s new house.”