Death & Decluttering

by Nancy McGovern

  Contents

  Sparks & Joy, Book 1: Death & Decluttering

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 26

  One More Thing

  Let's Connect!

  Disclaimer

  SPARKS & JOY

  Book 1:

  Death & Decluttering

  By

  Nancy McGovern

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  At the end of this story there is an offer to join my mailing list, through which you will receive updates, special offers & discounts on my future books as well as information about joining my Street Team. Plus, you will receive a FREE BOOK as a Thank You for signing up! If interested, the link is immediately after this story…

  Chapter 1

  Learning To Share

  Her life was stacked in seventeen cardboard boxes, tucked neatly into the backseat of her car. Aurora Sparks gulped as she parked her Ford at the curb in front of a ramshackle house, half of which was now legally hers.

  The house stood on the crest of a small hill - a rusty crown on this rusty town. Bent River, New York was bounded on three sides by the winding, titular river, (officially named Cayuga Creek, locally referred to as The Bent). The fourth side was closed in by an old railway line that now had yellow-eyed daisies cheerfully poking their heads out from between the rails. Ricci House was like a bullseye in the very center of these boundaries and, from its vantage on the hill, Aurora could see the whole town laid out below.

  Aurora gulped again, her hand working a drumbeat on the dashboard of her car. Presumably, for the next fifty-odd years of her life, this would be her new home.

  The news about the will had come just as she’d been growing desperate for a new job. In an impulsive mood, Aurora had leaped into action. It had seemed so exciting at first. Breaking her lease! Packing all her stuff! Saying goodbye to the city and heading off like a cowboy into the sunset! She’d felt like she was in a movie, and that this was the part with the upbeat rock song in the background.

  Only, the song was over now, and she was standing under a hot sun in front of a house that had once been painted blue and was now a dirty shade of gray-brown.

  Three months ago, Aurora had been told of the surprise inheritance. Ricardo Ricci, a man she’d never even heard of, had passed away and left her half of his house in his will. She hadn’t paused to question it. It had been a perfect storm of needing to break away from her old life, and receiving what had felt like a clear sign from the universe.

  Well, maybe she’d misread the sign. Maybe the sign had been an illusion.

  Aurora gulped a third time, her throat tightening painfully. Part of her was seriously debating turning around and driving all the way back to the city. If she begged enough, surely her old boss would give her the job back? Surely. Then she remembered the way she’d faced off with him when she quit. It had ended with her throwing a stack of papers at his head. Come to think of it, she’d been lucky not to get an assault charge pressed on her. That job was out of the question.

  Besides, the city was a part of her life that no longer existed. This was her new home, and so what if it looked a little…post-apocalyptic right now? She had two hands and a reasonably sharp brain - she’d make something out of it. A few licks of paint and a few screws tightened and it’d be a regular old palace.

  The door swung open and a woman wearing a black tank top appeared on the porch, her hands crossed across her chest like a deadbolt. There were smudges of paint and grease around her hands and a long, red scratch running down the side of one forearm. Her jeans had a tear in them. The woman’s eyes flicked over Aurora and suddenly made her feel out of place in her own clothes - a neat, gray skirt and salmon button-down shirt.

  “Joy Russo? You’re Ricardo’s granddaughter, right?” Aurora held out a hand.

  “He was my Nonno. My maternal grandfather.” Joy nodded.

  “I believe I talked to your lawyer? Mr. Goggins? He let you know what date I’d be arriving, right?”

  Joy’s arms remained crossed, and her face was decidedly un-joyful as she said, “Aurora Sparks. I’ve heard of you.”

  “Great.” Aurora gave her a smile that was two parts desperation and one part relief. “I’ve got all my boxes in the car. It should take me an hour or so to unload them. If you could show me my side of the house—”

  “Your side of the house?” Joy’s eyebrow raised half an inch.

  “Er… yes?” Aurora didn’t know what to say. The lawyer, Mr. Goggins, had assured her that the will was air-tight. No court of law could challenge it. She was being left half the house, and that was that. Naturally, she knew Joy wouldn’t necessarily be happy about it. But she hadn’t accepted Aurora’s offer to purchase her half, nor had she been willing to sell the whole house and split the proceeds. Aurora could have challenged this in court and forced Joy to sell, but the lawyer had warned her that the case could then take years to resolve and end up costing more than the house itself. So that left Aurora with no option but to come and actually live here in Bent River. She didn’t mind. A change of pace would suit her just fine.

  “You know you won’t survive a week here, right? Bent River isn’t your average, everyday town,” Joy said. “It’s definitely not New York City.” She looked Aurora up and down in a fashion that seemed to imply Aurora would drag the city with her wherever she went.

  “I know it’s not NYC. That’s why I’m here. I’d like to be as far away from crowds as possible for a while,” Aurora replied.

  “You won’t last a month,” Joy predicted.

  “That’s up to me now, isn’t it? And I thought it was a week?” Aurora raised an eyebrow right back at her. If Joy thought she could cheat her out of her fair share of the property, she could think again. “Fifty percent of this house is mine by rights and, if you refuse to sell, then I’m here to stay.”

  “Don’t talk to me about rights!” Joy exclaimed. “My Nonna was clearly out of his mind when he willed you this house. You…you took advantage of him somehow.”

  “I never met the man in my life!” Aurora exclaimed, indignant.

  “Exactly!”

  A loud, bleating “CAW!” interrupted them. Joy let out an impatient huff and looked to her right. Aurora’s face turned automatically, too. A fluffy, white face appeared on the curve of the hill, followed by a long, snake-like furry neck.

  Aurora wondered if she was losing it.

  It was a bird. A giant bird with a black body and pink legs. It was an ostrich, as a matter of fact. As though annoyed with her slack-jawed stare, the bird looked right at her and gave another indignant caw. It walked determinedly toward them. It was huge, easily six feet tall, and walked with a comical dignity, bobbing its head as though it were dancing to inaudible music.

  “Ummm...” Aurora looked at Joy, wondering if the stress was making her hallucinate. Joy had her hands on her hips and was shaking her head.

  “Not now!” she exclaimed.

  The ostrich walked over and Aurora could now see that it had a sack on it’s back. No…not a sack. A man, his arms and legs dangling and jerking with every step of the bird’s walk, was slung on the bird’s back.

&
nbsp; “Uncle Beppe!” Joy exclaimed as the bird came to a stop right in front of her. “This isn’t right.”

  The man let out a snore. A glass bottle glistened in his pocket. Aurora subtly looked at her watch. It wasn’t quite noon yet. With practiced movements, the ostrich tilted its body so that the man slid off onto the grass with a crash.

  He hiccuped and looked around him, then smiled up at Joy. “Joy, sweetie. I’ll just take a little nap now. I was just…” he blinked his eyes, “thinking about things. Yes, with a bottle or two. But…this grass is very soft.” He rested his head on it and gave a happy sigh. Shortly thereafter, he was snoring like a distant airplane. Aurora stared at him in dismay. Joy, however, got right to work.

  “Help me, will you?” Joy asked. She grabbed the man by the armpits and motioned her head towards his legs. Aurora glanced at his dirt-stained boots and gave a little shudder. Then, seeing Joy’s expression, she jumped into action.

  Beppe was surprisingly light. He was a short man with a large potbelly and stick-like legs. It still took some effort for them to maneuver him up the porch stairs, through the front door, down the hall and into the living room, but he was soon snoring on the couch with a plaid blanket covering him. Joy grabbed the bottle from his pocket, walked to the kitchen and threw it into the garbage.

  Aurora had an impression of crowded ferns, stacked books and dusty wooden furniture. Cluttered was the kindest word one could use for this house. “Post-avalanche-debris” was probably a more accurate description. Every surface held piles of things, and she thought a hairball or two peeked out from under the sofa.

  “You live here?” Aurora stared at Joy.

  Joy had a hard smile on her face. “Yes. Now are you sure you really want to? You could just leave, you know.”

  Aurora raised her chin. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Joy scoffed.

  “Who is that man anyway?” Aurora cocked a thumb just as Beppe gave an exceptionally-violent snore. “And what’s with the giant bird?”

  “Uncle Beppe is my uncle, genius. My Nonno’s youngest son,” Joy explained. “His farm’s pretty far away so, when he’s too drunk to drive, he just makes Philbert carry him around. It’s called being responsible, apparently.

  “Philbert?”

  “The ostrich? Try and keep up.”

  “But…” There were so many questions in Aurora’s mind. “What’s with the ostrich? Why ostriches?”

  “Uncle Beppe’s a big fan of exotic birds. His house is full of them. He makes his living with chickens and ducks mostly,” Joy said. “Look, you can still leave, you know. There’s no shame in quitting when you know you can’t keep up. I’m never going to sell this house. I’m going to live here forever. That means you’re tied to it, too. You’d have to live here…forever.”

  “I see no problem with that. But I don’t have to live here. I want to,” Aurora lied, straight-faced.

  Joy’s shoulders curved forward. “Whatever. You can have the master bedroom for now. Just go. It’s upstairs to the right.”

  *****

  Chapter 2

  Joy’s Luck

  It was too early in the morning for this.

  Joy had been looking forward to a hard-earned day of doing absolutely nothing. She’d planned to maybe finish that book she kept putting off, or to get out some paints and mess around on canvas. But no. It wasn’t even noon and she already had two guests in her house.

  Well, one guest and one tenant.

  No…not tenant. Co-owner.

  Ugh.

  The words were burning a hole in Joy’s stomach. How dare Aurora just waltz into Bent River and demand half of the house that, by all rights, should belong to Joy and Joy alone!

  What had Nonno been thinking when he made that will? It baffled Joy. The grief of losing him had been terrible, but at least she’d seen it coming for awhile. Losing half the house had been like getting hit from behind with a sledgehammer. Shocking and painful. Plus, of all the people he could have willed the house to, why Aurora? Nobody knew her. Nobody had even heard of her. And she had some nerve, walking in and casting judgemental looks around the place. Joy had had to resist slugging her.

  Ricci House wasn’t just a house to Joy. It was the physical keeper of all her childhood memories, happy and sad. The house was where her cousins and aunts and uncles gathered every Thanksgiving and Christmas. This house was where Joy had learned to ride a bicycle and where she’d learned to love books. This was where she had sobbed after her first heartbreak. This was where she had been taught to cook by her Nonna and to play chess by her Nonno.

  In the aftermath of her Nonna’s death, when her grandfather had been all alone, Joy had moved in to look after him and she’d spent the last five years of her life losing him to a battle with cancer. Her family had helped out, of course, but Joy had always had a special connection with Nonno, and she’d been happy to act as his primary caretaker. So she had been floored when the will was read out and Aurora’s name was mentioned.

  It wasn’t about money. If Nonno had willed the house to one of her many cousins or aunts or uncles, Joy wouldn’t have cared as much. But the thought of some stranger just barging in and declaring that half the house was hers inflamed Joy to no end. No matter what the will said, no matter what the law said, in Joy’s mind, Ricci House could only ever belong to her family - not an outsider.

  Feeling petty, and wanting to make Aurora as miserable as possible, Joy scribbled a hasty note that she was going out and took off. Uncle Beppe wouldn’t move till dinner time, so Aurora could have fun moving into the house all on her own. Joy certainly wasn’t going to stick around and help her. She still couldn’t believe the imposter had actually come all the way from New York City to Bent River. Joy had just been hoping she’d forget all about it.

  Stepping out of the house, Joy knew exactly where her parents would be. This morning was church, followed by lunch at the cafe just across the street.

  Cafe Ricci was run by her large, booming-voiced uncle, Pietro, and his wife, Giulia. They both came out from behind the counter to envelop her in hugs and kisses - a tradition that hadn’t changed since she was a baby. The cafe was a tiny, rectangular room with just ten tables neatly lined up in two rows. The doors were at one end with the register and baked-goods-display at the other. Her parents were sitting right next to the display and Joy drew a chair up to their table and plonked down on it as her uncle and aunt bounced around the room.

  “There’s our pride and joy, Joy.” Joy’s father winked at her and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. He was a large man with a caterpillar mustache that seemed to grow larger as the hair progressively vanished off his head. He had a propensity to make terrible jokes and roar with laughter in public, but stay quiet as a mouse in private.

  “Hi, Dad.” Joy gave him a strong hug and a kiss, cheered by his presence, as always.

  “Are you feeling ok, sweetie? You look a little off.” Joy’s mother leaned forward and put her cheek against Joy’s forehead, making her feel like a toddler again.

  “I’m fine, Mom.” Joy brushed her off, not wanting to get into the whole Aurora thing in public. Things in Bent River never could stay private, really. The town was too small for that. But still, right now, she wanted a few moments where her problems were nobody’s business but her own.

  The attention was taken off her as the door crashed open and Charlie “Chip” Goggins, the attorney who’d handled the splitting up of Ricci House, walked in with his nephew in tow. Chip was the kind of man who would tell you a story as though it had happened to him, forgetting that you were the one who had originally told it. Joy felt her father’s shoulders tense up beside her.

  “Pietro.” Chip studiedly ignored Joy’s parents and clapped her uncle on the back. “How’s the weather in your life, my friend? Come, let’s have a round of your delectable tiramisu for everyone. My treat.”

  “Your treat?” Uncle Pietro’s eyes widened. “What’s the matter, Chip? You win the lott
ery or something?”