Summer Shadows (10 page)

“It’s really good,” she said, proudly. “You’ll like it – are you staying for lunch?”

“Oh, sure!” Amelia replied enthusiastically. “My dad said I could stay all day, as long as you guys needed help.”

The two girls chattered on, tugging Jack into the hallway, while Julia stood rooted in place. Robert Wilde wouldn’t have told Amelia both that she could and couldn’t stay for lunch. And if Amelia was lying about that, then there was a good chance that he didn’t even know she was there. Amelia could have told him that she was going to hang out with the dog lady who, Julia had gathered, was a frequent babysitter as well as dog sitter.

Julia checked her watch: 11:30 a.m. Time for a little tattling before lunch.

She went to the foot of the stairs and called for Ron. He didn’t respond, but she could hear the soft scraping sounds of the sandpaper at work. He probably had his ear buds on.

She took the stairs two at a time and found him in the boys’ room, his iPod in his pocket, working the sandpaper like a pro. He spotted her and pulled a bud out of his ear.

“I have to go next door for a minute,” she said. “Could you keep an ear out for the kids downstairs?”

He nodded and pulled the other bud out. “No problem. What do we do after I sand?”

“Wipe the walls with a damp rag,” she said. “Not too wet, but just enough to remove most of the dust. I’ll be back in a second, though, so don’t worry too much about it.”

Julia left the house with the side door propped open and hurried down the driveway. One of the lawn mowers had gone quiet, and the members of J. C.’s crew were wrestling with large bags of seed and mulch. She had a momentary doubt about leaving the kids alone with them, but shoved it aside – she wouldn’t be gone long and there was a cop next door, for heaven’s sake. They would be safe.

The Wildes’ driveway led right up to the attached garage. The doors were open, and she could hear the soft sounds of classic rock playing on an old radio while tools clinked methodically. An avocado-green two-door car from the 1970s sat on blocks in the center of the garage. There were patches of white on the body and doors, spare parts on the bench and scattered around on the cement floor, and the hood was raised. The owner was nowhere to be seen.

Julia stepped in and rapped on the side of the door. “Hello? Mr. Wilde?”

He popped up like a jack in the box from behind the car. His clothes were worn and grease-streaked. His face and hands were dirty and he rubbed a tool in a filthy rag as his face creased in a friendly smile.

“Oh, hi!” he said.

Julia said, “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m the woman who just moved in next door. We met on Saturday.”

He came from around the back of the car. “I remember. Julia Lamontaigne, right?”

“Yes. You have a good memory.”

He shrugged with a self-deprecating grin. “Sometimes.” He bobbed his head in the direction of her house. In the clear midday air, they could hear J. C. issuing orders to Mitch and the others. “I hear that you hired Irwin’s son to do the lawns.”

Some of Julia’s self-righteousness slipped away. He seemed so nice and unconcerned that she hated to spoil his day by telling him that his daughter had probably lied to him.

“Yes,” she smiled. “There were ticks in the lawn and, well, I’m kind of squeamish about bugs.”

“I don’t blame you there. We’ve had a few cases of Lyme disease in the area and it’s not an easy thing to get rid of. But J. C.’s a good kid – you won’t have any complaints.”

“He seems very efficient. I am impressed.”

“The Irwins are a good family. They’ve been around here a long time.”

“Have they?”

“At least for three generations. Franklin’s a pretty old city, and quite a few of the founding families are still here.”

“You sound like an expert. Are you a founding family?”

He grinned and leaned against the car. “Nope. I’m a recent immigrant.”

Julia nodded. “Well, that makes me feel better. I was starting to feel strange around all the natives here. Are you from Massachusetts?”

“No, Manchester, but I went to school in Mass. Boston University.”

“Good school.”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Don’t remember much?”

“I remember being overwhelmed a lot. I’m not much of a scholar.”

She waved a hand at the car. “You have to know quite a bit to restore one of these things.”

He turned and smiled at the car. “Yeah, it can be tricky, but finding parts is the most difficult thing.”

“Ah.”

There was a moment of silence. Julia was still trying to figure out how to bring up Amelia when he said, “So, do you like the new place? Are things working out for you?”

She saw an opening. “It’s going very well,” she said. “It’s tight for the four of us, but we’re managing. There’s been so much cleaning and arranging that I haven’t had time to decide whether or not I really like it.”

“It’s been empty a long time. You must be finding a lot of things to repair.”

“Actually, no. So far we’ve been lucky. The cabinets in the kitchen are shot, but that’s it. What it really needs is a face-lift and, to be honest with you, I’m not sure how Ron and I are going to get it all done before school starts again. There’s a lot to do.”

“Well, if ever you need an extra hand, be sure to let me know. I like doing handyman work – I worked as a painter and handyman during summer breaks when I was a kid.”

“Oh, really?” she said, and saw an opening. “Well, I’ll be sure to call on you sometime, when we need an expert opinion. Right now, we’re doing well. And thank you so much for sending Amelia over – she’s been a real help, and I think Dana’s been a little lost for female company right now.”

Wilde straightened up and looked at her, confused.

“Amelia?” he said. “Amelia’s at your place? My Amelia?”

“Yes. She’s helping Dana with lunch. Actually, that’s why I came over here – she told me you’d given her permission to stay for lunch, and I wanted to check with you. We don’t really know each other very well, and I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with that.”

Robert was looking toward her house, tapping the wrench into the palm of his hand. His frown deepened.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

He looked at her. “It’s just that she was supposed to be with Mrs. Jurta and her dogs today. I had no idea that she was over at your house.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m glad that your daughter and her get along, but…”

“I understand,” Julia said quickly. “She’s more than welcome to stay, but I’ll understand if you need to, you know, lay down the law and all that.” She blushed when she remembered that she was talking to a cop.

He regarded her sympathetically. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve… well, Amelia’s been getting a little difficult to handle lately. She’ll agree to do one thing, then go out and do another without telling me. I don’t get it – she never told a lie her entire life.”

Julia hastened to reassure him. “I think all kids go through that. You know, testing and trying to see how much they can get away with. I did it when I was young. I drove my poor mother crazy.”

“You’re probably right,” he said. She could tell that he didn’t believe it. Or if he did, he thought it little help.

He continued, “But I can’t always be here, obviously. Today, when I thought she was with Mrs. Jurta, I really had no idea where she was. I’m relieved that she’s with you and safe, but she could have been anywhere and I would have no idea.”

Julia shifted uncomfortably. She was new to this whole parenting thing and had no experience to offer him.

“Should I send her home?” she asked.

At that moment, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air. It was like being doused with icy water.

Julia froze.

“Dana!” she gasped.

Another scream followed, and the two of them went racing down the driveway, their hearts in their throats.

12

T
hey found the children huddled in a group around the side door with J. C.’s boys moving around them in a protective, if confused, circle. Julia’s relief at seeing them whole and apparently unharmed quickly reverted to panic when she realized that the two little girls were crying, and Jack’s face was smeared with blood.

She raced over and scooped Jack up. He clutched at her, burying his face into her shirt. It was only with difficulty that she managed to pull his face up and see that he had a split lip. The two girls ran over to her as she examined Jack’s head for further damage.

“What happened?” she demanded. “Jack, tell me what happened.”

“I fall down!” he cried.

“The girls found an animal inside,” Ron said. He looked scared. “It’s still in there.”

“We heard the shouts and came over to see what was happening,” J. C. added.

“Did it bite anyone?” Julia asked, and relief rolled over her when everyone shook their heads. “What is it?”

“A wolf!” Amelia shouted.

“A wolf?” J. C. sounded skeptical.

“Amelia,” Wilde said. There was a warning note in his tone that caused the girl to fall silent.

“Dana, what happened?” Julia adjusted her grip on Jack.

“We…” Dana gulped back tears. She was barely able to talk. “We were playing by the fireplace and then a
fox
came down it! He tried to bite us!”

She burst into tears and buried her face into Julia’s jeans. Amelia was quick to follow suit, and Jack was already soaking her collar. It was a comical and embarrassing scene.

“They must have loosened the damper,” J. C. said.

“What’s a damper?” Ron asked. He had his back plastered to the screen door, as though he expected claws and teeth to shred the metal mesh at any moment.

“It’s a sort of door in the chimney that keeps stuff from coming down it when you’re not using it,” Wilde said.

“But a
fox
? In the fireplace?” Julia said.

“More likely a squirrel,” Wilde said.

“Yeah,” J. C. agreed. “They nest in unused chimneys, like bats and birds. You haven’t had this chimney cleaned out yet, have you?”

“Er, no,” Julia answered. “I wasn’t expecting to use it. Should we call animal control?”

Wilde shook his head. “Why bother them? The boys and I can chase it out, can’t we, boys?”

“Count me in,” Connor said. “Beats weed whacking!”

“What if it has rabies?” Derval asked anxiously.

“Bring it,” Mitch said, snapping his shears with mock ferocity.

Arming themselves with gloves and rakes, Wilde, J. C., Mitch, Connor, and Ron went into the house in search of the squirrel. Outside, all Julia could hear were the faint sounds of battle. After a few moments, the squeaking rodent fled out the front door and they returned triumphant, singing Ron’s praises.

“He was able to slip right past the squirrel and open the door,” J. C. said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Slick work.”

Wilde nodded, the grin reaching his eyes. “I think he was smarter than the rest of us combined.”

“Ron’s the smartest guy I know,” Dana said proudly.

Ron shrugged. “Oh, it wasn’t anything.”

But he looked very pleased, and even swaggered a little under the praise.

Wilde and the boys searched the house and declared it rodent free. The crisis was over, but the living room was a mess. Sticks, soot, and indistinguishable garbage spilled out from the fireplace, and there was a fine layer of darkened dust over everything, disturbed by human and squirrel feet. Small, dark brown pellets were scattered all around, even in the hall.

To Julia’s surprise, J. C. , Billy, and Connor were already cleaning up the nest and the pellets while Mitch made huge gestures with his arms, giving a detailed and exaggerated blow-by-blow of the great squirrel hunt to the two gaping little girls. Ron and Wilde joined the cleanup crew and started to help.

“Dude, so disgusting,” Connor said, making a face as he accidentally smeared something he was cleaning.

“That’s what they do when they’re panicked,” J. C. said.

“Do you have any bleach or disinfectant?” Wilde asked Julia. “This will smell if we don’t clean it up right now.”

“I’ll get it!” Ron hopped up and raced out of the room.

Feeling unnecessary, Julia took Jack into the kitchen, washed him up, and soothed his wounds. When she came back into the living room, everything was cleaned: the damper was put back in place, the soiled bedclothes were in the laundry basket, and the boys were standing around chatting.

J. C. was leaning on his broom, surveying the room. “When I came here this morning, I wasn’t figuring on this much excitement,” he said.

“Neither was I,” Wilde laughed. He turned to Julia, and the talk died down as everyone looked at her expectantly.

Jack turned and buried his face in her neck, and Julia had to adjust her grip on him before she spoke.

“I just want to thank you all so much,” she said. “For pitching in like that, helping us get rid of the squirrel, cleaning up the mess – I just don’t know how to thank you.”

“You could buy us lunch!” Mitch offered, raising his hand.

Billy clipped him playfully with his hat, but Julia smiled. “I’d really be pleased to offer you all lunch. It’ll just be hot dogs and salad, but you are welcome to it.”

To Ron’s evident delight, they accepted. Amelia offered the cookies she’d baked the day before, and J. C. volunteered the soda he had packed in coolers in his truck. Wilde offered to help cook the hotdogs. When they discovered that the old grill in the shed had no charcoal, he and Amelia cheerfully wheeled their own over from their back porch.

Julia was almost overwhelmed with offers of help. She fussed with the salad while Amelia and Dana swept the porch and spread a picnic cloth on it. Before long, dogs and buns were grilling on the flames.

It turned out to be an unexpected party. J. C. and his friends tried to outdo each other in stuffing their mouths. Amelia and Dana huddled together giggling, while Derval and Julia chatted. Ron discussed the renovations with Wilde. Julia, sitting nearby, overheard some of it.

“You’re both doing nice work. You did those rooms in just two days?”

“Aunt Julia did most of it. I’ve been helping.”

“It’s a big job. What colors are you using?”

Ron told him and Wilde approved. They talked for a few minutes about application and drying times, and matte finish compared to gloss. Wilde told Ron about redoing his old house and all the trouble he’d had removing the wallpaper.

“That’s a mess,” he said. He spoke comfortably, man-to-man, as though they were almost the same age. “Trying to get that guck off the wall made me never want to use wallpaper again. Give me paint any day.”

“A whole bunch of the rooms downstairs are wallpapered,” Ron sounded worried. “I guess we’ll have the same trouble.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot of work. If you two decide you need a hand, let me know. It’s been pretty slow around here lately and I’ll be glad to have a project to help with.”

Julia saw Ron look up at Robert with new interest. The officer, busy helping Amelia with her food, didn’t seem to notice the boy’s burgeoning hero-worship.

By the time the food was gone, an hour had passed and J. C.’s crew had to go to their next appointment. Before leaving, Derval made a deal with Julia to watch Jack a few times a week while they worked on the house. Wilde and Amelia left too, having made plans to go see a movie.

After cleaning up the picnic, Julia set Dana and Jack up to watch a movie in the living room while she and Ron went upstairs to finish the sanding.

When they were upstairs, donning their masks, Julia said, “Well! That was exciting.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice when you make friends at a new place, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it sure is.”

They worked with the sandpaper for a few minutes, then Ron said, “Aunt Julia? Do you think I’ll be as tall as Robert?”

Julia was glad that the mask hid her grin. “You’ll probably be taller. Your dad was.”

She regretted the comment instantly. Ron’s expression, so open and innocent, closed again into his usual stoicism, and he didn’t mention Wilde again that afternoon.