Finding the Way Back (19 page)

I saw my mother and Aunt Shelly with new
eyes. I’d heard the story before but it had never been so real and
so close as this time. Hearing it in the house where it happened,
looking at the actual staircase where their mother fell, picturing
them as children huddling in a room upstairs—it made my own
challenges in life pale in comparison.

“Let’s take a break,” my mom said, and we all
agreed. Aunt Shelly and my mom were put on lunch duty. They’d
brought salad fixings and buns with them that morning, which was
lucky for us. They were much better about planning and thinking
things through than I was. If it was left up to me, we might have
just had ketchup on noodles.

Chapter
Twenty

After lunch, I took a load out to the
dumpster and was reminded about the garage. It was probably full of
‘treasures’ also. Walking back into the house I called to my
mother. “Do you know where the key to the garage is?”

She came bustling into the kitchen. “I think
it’s on my key ring.” She reached into her purse on the counter and
pulled out her keys. “I’ll get a copy made in the next few days.
It’s going to be a mess out there, Laney. Are you sure you want to
do this alone?”

“It can’t be any worse than the basement, but
I will bring bug spray with me. I think we need the space. We need
to be able to move some furniture and items we may sell out there.
We’re running out of space in the study.” Grabbing my flashlight, I
left the door to the basement open and ran down to get the bug
spray I left by the shower. I moved quickly and ran back up the
stairs again, grateful for nothing strange happening. I made my way
out to the garage again and unlocked the door, slowly pushing it
open. The light from outside barely made it through the one small,
filthy window. The floor wasn’t paved, just packed dirt. We would
need to get plastic totes to store items in if we thought we would
store anything out here. There was a car parked in the middle and
covered with a dust cloth. Putting the bug spray on the floor, I
grabbed the cloth and started pulling, dropping it in a pile next
to the vehicle. To my surprise, underneath was an adorable vintage,
blue, Mercedes two-seater convertible. Apparently this was one of
the things he’d spent money on. I wondered if my mom had the keys
to this also or if we’d have to find them in the house somewhere. I
couldn’t wait to take it out on a test drive. Continuing to look
around, I was also surprised by the fact that there was hardly
anything else kept in the garage. The car must have been his
baby.

Walking around the garage, I questioned how
structurally sound the building was. I would have to have someone
look at it sooner rather than later, but it seemed okay for now.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t fall in on one of us. I heard a car drive up
and park in the alley. Peeking out the door I saw a bright red
Camaro’s door open, and a long stretch of bare leg ending in an
impractical high heel stepping out. I never understood how women
walked in those things.

Saundra. I couldn’t believe she had the nerve
to show up here. Well, good. We had some business to take care of.
I wondered how she was going to get around the fact she had been in
our house. The door on the opposite side of the car opened and a
man extracted himself from the vehicle. He had sandy hair, a bad
comb over, and jeans that were too tight and a tad short. I stepped
out of the garage, slightly surprising her.

“Why, Laney, how great it is to see you,” she
recovered smoothly.

“Really? It’s too bad I was out the other day
when you came over,” I said walking up to the car.

“When? I did end up seeing you that morning.
Remember? We talked about contractors. I brought mine along for you
to meet. This is Dale Barnard. Dale, this is Laney Hughes.”

“MacKenzie,” I countered.

“Nice to meet you, Laney. I would love to
take a look at your project for you,” he answered, grasping my hand
tightly and compressing all my bones a vise-like grip.

He was one of those. Those men who try to
intimidate with their brute strength. It wasn’t going to work with
me.

“Thank you, but no,” I answered politely,
acting as if my hand didn’t throb. I wasn’t about to give him the
satisfaction. Turning to Saundra I asked, “What were you doing in
the house yesterday?”

My directness startled her. “I wasn’t in the
house,” she began.

“Yes, you were. The neighbors saw you run out
and I want to know what you were doing. Were you looking for
something?”

“I don’t know what they saw, but it wasn’t
me. What would I be doing here?” she drawled innocently.

“Don’t be blowing smoke, Sandy, we both know
you were here. Now what were you looking for?” I retorted, stepping
forward.

Dale stepped in front of me. “Now hang on
there, no need for violence.”

“This is none of your business, and I’d be
careful who I was defending if I were you. I just want some
answers.” My anger and frustration shot up three notches. I stepped
around him and yelled at Saundra, “You’re not welcome here. Get off
my property and don’t come back. If I catch you in this house again
I’m calling the cops. Got it?” Looking at Dale I added, “And if you
think I would do business with any friend of hers, you can think
again.”

They beat a hasty retreat toward Saundra’s
car. My adrenaline was really pumping now. Once they were in her
car I walked up to the window and pointed my finger at her. “I’m
watching you.”

She gasped, staring at my hand and started
the engine. I smiled as they took off, knowing I’d overreacted but
satisfied by the result. No one was going to intimidate me anymore.
Turning around I found Connie, my mother, my aunt and Emmett
standing on the back porch watching me.

I didn’t realize I had an audience. As I was
about to bow, I saw movement on my forearm. A spider at least two
inches long was walking up my arm. I screamed and tried to fling it
off, waving my arms wildly and jumping around like a crazy person.
Tearing my flannel shirt off, I threw it on the ground. Everyone
reacted by running towards me.

“What’s wrong?” Connie yelled.

“There was a huge spider on me!” I exclaimed,
my voice an octave higher than normal. I brushed my hands up and
down my body, making sure there were no other spiders. “Look at my
back—look in my hair—is it still on me?”

Connie looked me over carefully as I
continued to shake. “No, there’s nothing.” Our eyes met and we
broke out laughing. Pretty soon everyone was laughing. Tears
started streaming down my face. “I thought she was scared of me,
but it was probably just the spider.”

“I don’t know, Laney, you sounded pretty
scary to me,” Emmett said.

Great—another absurd episode in front of
Emmett, who was still smiling. “Very funny, Mr. Ghost Hunter. Will
you come check out my shirt?”

“I couldn’t possibly say no to a request like
that,” he said, grinning widely.

“You know what I meant.” I hit him in the arm
and felt my face get hot. “I brought my bug spray with me into the
garage, but I forgot it there. I knew that place was infested and
I’m not going back in until someone fumigates it with Agent Orange,
or napalm, or something.”

“We’re going back to the house if the
excitement is over,” Aunt Shelly said as she and my mother headed
back inside, still laughing and shaking their heads.

“Agent Orange? We can probably find something
a little more environmentally friendly. But first things first—the
checking of the shirt.” Emmett clowned, feigning a deep bow of a
knight to his lady. As he swept his hand down he lifted my shirt
off the ground. An enormous spider ambled across the fabric toward
his hand. Emmett gave a massive yelp and threw the shirt down
again. “You didn’t tell me the spider was ginormous,” he
exclaimed.

Connie and I burst out laughing again. “Not
so funny when the spider’s on the other foot. I think it’s a wolf
spider. It must have been hiding in the dust cloth covering the car
in the garage,” I answered.

He delicately lifted the shirt again and
shook it. The spider flew off the shirt and into the grass, dashing
into a pile of leaves as Connie and I screeched. “Hey, that could
have landed anywhere,” I said bending over, hardly able to catch my
breath. I was laughing so hard, I was lucky I didn’t pee just a
little during the fracas. It was refreshing to know I could laugh
at myself even when I was absurd and that it was okay. Being me was
just enough and if that hadn’t been right for Simon, it might be
right for someone else. I was no longer willing to sacrifice who I
was for anyone.

I caught my breath and raised my head to see
Emmett looking at me with a smile. And this time it didn’t feel
awkward. It just felt right.

“I suppose we should go back in the house,” I
said, smiling right back at him.

“Yes, I suppose we should,” he said, and my
heartbeat sped up once again.

Chapter
Twenty-One

I walked into the kitchen with Connie and
Emmett to find my mother and Aunt Shelly sitting near the table
with their feet up on chairs in front of them, refreshing
themselves with a cup of coffee. A large plate of chocolate chip
cookies sat in the middle of the table.

“This is cozy,” I said, pulling another chair
up to join them. They dropped their feet and offered the chairs to
Emmett and Connie.

“Yum, cookies,” Connie uttered hungrily,
reaching for the plate. “You didn’t say you’d brought cookies.”

“Come sit down, Emmett. Would you like a cup
of tea, a cookie, coffee?” Aunt Shelly asked then winked. “Or
perhaps a beer would be more to your taste?”

“Not yet, thanks. If I have one now, I’m just
going to want a nap. I came to hear about what happened last night
after we left. I will have a cookie, though, and a cup of coffee
wouldn’t be out of line.”

My mother lifted the plate and passed it
around. “Laney, make Emmett a cup of coffee.”

I moved over to the coffee maker and turned
it on. “Anyone else?” All hands rose at the table. Sighing, I
started pulling down cups for everyone.

“Last night was super cool, Emmett,” Connie
started, dribbling cookie all over the table.

“What? Connie, it wasn’t super cool last
night. It was super scary,” I said, delivering cups of coffee to
her and Emmett.

“Come on, Laney. You have to admit when you
think about it now, it was super cool,” she insisted.

“Okay, you’re right, when I think about it
now in broad daylight with a house full of people, it does seem
cool. I still can’t believe we saw our grandmother.” Putting
another cup under the dispenser I hit the brew button. Adding
creamer and sugar I went back to the table.

My mother looked at her sister, tears in her
eyes. “As crazy as it sounds, I would love to believe she’d somehow
been here all these years, trying to keep us safe.”

“Watching out for us.” Aunt Shelly touched my
mother’s hand.

Emmett knitted his brow. “I don’t think you
should automatically assume it was her. It could have been a lot of
things. I know you think you’re sure, but maybe you want so badly
for it to be her that you’re filling in the ending without having
all the facts.”

“She looked just like pictures we have of
her, Emmett. Laney and I both saw her,” Connie said, her voice
getting louder.

“And we’re not just jumping to conclusions.
You weren’t here. What do you know?”

“Hey, hey, no need to get excited.” Emmett
raised his hands in submission. “I just want to slow you down a
little so you don’t get disappointed later. I think we should bring
our equipment back and do some more work. I also think we should do
some research and find out more about this house if we can. Do you
have a picture of your grandmother I can see? What was her
name?”

“Teoline. I always loved her name. It always
sounded like the name of a flower to me.”

“That is a pretty name,” Emmett agreed,
grabbing another cookie. “So, a picture?”

“That brings up a good point,” I said,
puzzled. “Mom, why are there no pictures of her in this house? For
a house so filled with stuff there aren’t any photos around at all.
Why didn’t Grandfather have pictures of your lives surrounding
him?” We all started looking at the walls we could see from our
seats.

“There used to be a wedding photo on the wall
there in the living room but that’s gone now,” my mom said, getting
up to point to a blank spot on the far wall. “It’s probably in a
box somewhere. I suppose he didn’t want it hanging up if he was
going to bring girlfriends around. You know we haven’t been here in
many years. After Mom died our father didn’t take many photos, and
the few we have are probably in an album someplace. We each have
our own photo books but if there are family ones, they are
somewhere in this mess.”

“I’d love to see more photos of our
grandparents. I only have a few pictures,” I said.

“It would be helpful to have more pictures to
use as a reference,” Emmett agreed. “Plus, there might be clues in
old photographs. You’d be surprised what you find sometimes. Could
be a hat, a piece of jewelry, sometimes another picture in the
photograph.”

“Well, we can certainly pull out some old
photographs,” Aunt Shelly added. “But what do you hope to achieve
if you were to come back? Even if Mother’s spirit is here, what can
you do about that?”

“With how many experiences we’ve had here in
the house, I would really like to have more instances of solid
evidence—an apparition on film, voices, footsteps, anything. Then
there’s always the possibility of communication with a spirit.
Sometimes they just want to be heard then they can move on to the
afterlife. Sometimes there’s a riddle or puzzle that has to be
solved before they can rest easily.”