Housewarming

by Jennifer Bowen

  Margaret jerked her head toward Kara, demanding, “Is this what you want? Do you think you’re making the right choice?”

  How dare she, mother or not, forcefully try to stop their wedding? John had never been anything but supportive to Kara and Jack. Why did Margaret want her to be unhappy like her?

  The courtroom door opened and the bailiff waved them in. The couple entered the room, leaving Margaret alone in the hallway.

  They hadn’t completely shut her out of their lives; they joined Margaret every year for Christmas lunch, no matter how awkward it was, and Kara still spoke with her every so often.

  There was no fixing their relationship. Kara certainly didn’t have to invite her to the housewarming party. She set down her phone and looked out the backdoor. Spotting the hawk circling low over the trees reminded her of Blacky, the dog she wished she’d never heard of. She shivered, noticing now there were two turkey vultures circling. Imagine if she had discovered them on her porch devouring the opossum?

  She frowned, troubled. How much longer would she have had to wait to see them on her front porch, digging into the wretched, deceased creature? She was thankful the kids hadn’t seen the opossum. She had made sure they hadn’t used the front door that day.

  Chapter Eleven

  “It’s beautiful, Kara. When do I get to move in?” was Tracy’s greeting when Kara opened the front door on Saturday.

  “I guess we can put you in the bonus room. You’ve got to bring a bed, though. Oh, and your hammer and probably some walls. Oh, and did I mention that it’s more of a storage room than a guestroom? Well, more of a construction site.”

  “Sounds like my kinda place!” Tracy laughed as Kara led her inside the house. “You definitely have the perfect place for a party.”

  “I love it. It’s just so peaceful out here. It even smells different.”

  “Like what? Manure? I think I could pass on living in the country if I had to smell cow poop all day.”

  “No, not that. There’s a farm across the road, but I haven’t even smelled anything like that. Maybe we’re upwind.” As they crossed the foyer, Kara explained, “It’s like a sweet smell. I don’t remember smelling it when we lived in the city. It’s just different. You’d have to smell it.”

  Kara led her through the kitchen. “I hope you don’t mind going back outside. I promised John we’d relieve him. The kids are swimming.” She introduced Tracy to the small group chatting in the great room before they went outside to the deck.

  Tracy said hi to John, who was leaning against the railing, and joked, “I see you’ve brainwashed Kara into being a country girl. A month in and she’s already picking her teeth with hay.”

  “Straw,” John corrected with a smile.

  “Oh, sorry. Straw. We city girls don’t know any better.”

  “We’ll forgive you this time.”

  “And we say ‘gal’ out in these parts,” Kara quipped before telling John he could go inside.

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Yeah, go ahead. One of the hosts should be mingling with the guests.”

  “These kids have it nice,” Tracy commented when he had gone inside. “Big house, a pool, deck…”

  “It’s not what I had growing up,” Kara replied, seeing Lilah drifting lazily over the water in her inner tube. Jack, in dry swimming trunks, was perched on the deck steps, staring at the water. “Jack, why aren’t you swimming?”

  “I don’t feel like it.”

  Tracy combed her fingers through her auburn bangs. “Are there many kids in the neighborhood?”

  “I haven’t seen any kids on our road, but Jack’s got a new friend at school. He wasn’t able to come.”

  “None of the guests brought kids?”

  “They don’t have any!”

  “Oh,” Tracy laughed. “You started young. I’m sure pretty soon they’ll start having them.”

  “But by then, mine will be adults!”

  “They’ll be the ones wishing they’d started sooner, because you’ll have the rest of your lives to do what you want.”

  “That’s true, except then we’ll be dealing with grandchildren.”

  “I hear that’s the best part of having kids. You only see the grandkids for a day, spoil them, and then ship them back home.” Tracy looked out over the yard. “Is all of this yours, Kara?”

  “Yeah. Who would’ve thought a year ago I’d be living here?”

  “I’m jealous. Do you own the woods too?”

  “Some of it. There are boundary pins somewhere in the woods marking the property line. They’re probably in nondescript tree trunks somewhere.” They looked out to the wooded area to the west and gazed for a moment in quietude. Lilah’s splashing mingled with the hum of buzzing locusts.

  “Have you met your neighbors yet?” Tracy asked after a short while.

  “Just the older couple next door. Marvin’s here today. His wife couldn’t come.” Marvin had excused Diane, telling Kara and John she was feeling ill and thought it best to stay home. Kara was disappointed John wouldn’t be meeting her. She was curious if Diane acted with the same air of suspicion toward him as she did with her. Or, if it wasn’t suspicion, whether the older woman would make him feel awkward like Kara had felt around her.

  Kara adjusted the angle of her patio chair. “I didn’t think it’d be so hot today.” The sun was high overhead and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She wiped her brow, watching Lilah, whose face was turned upward. Strands of her dark hair draped into the water.

  Tracy murmured, “Ooh, a fire pit.”

  Kara reached over and touched the steel cauldron by their feet. “We might make s’mores tonight.”

  “Nice.” Tracy eased onto a chaise lounge, pulling a beer from the cooler beside them. She looked down at the floor. “What’s this? A garden statue?” She picked up Lilah’s masking tape-wrapped doll, which had been peeking out from under a beach towel. “She’s kinda spooky.”

  “You think? Lilah loves that statue. John dug it up in the front yard.”

  Setting it down and covering it with the towel entirely, Tracy said, frowning, “There was probably a reason why it was buried…”

  Kara shifted in her seat, wondering why Jack was now standing, arrow-straight, staring at the water.

  “Have you heard from your mom?” Tracy asked, breaking into her thoughts.

  “Next question.”

  “Has she been to the house yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  “When my mom’s in town, we hang out, go sightseeing. I don’t know if it’d be different if she lived closer to me. Maybe I’d be irritated by the things she did or said. Maybe that’s why I don’t mind your mom, like I’m just tolerating Margaret, trying to make up for missing mine.”

  Kara scoffed. “You don’t just tolerate her. You’re BFFs.”

  Tracy crossed her arms. “We’re definitely not BFFs. I don’t know. I kind of feel sorry for her. But I hate saying that because I really don’t mind spending time with her. Your relationship with your mom is nothing like mine. We never really get into it.”

  “Yeah, it’s different.”

  Tracy was saying, “I don’t want to meddle, but I—” when screaming erupted from the pool. She and Kara jumped to their feet, seeing Lilah’s arms wrapped around the inside pool ladder. The inner tube had floated away.

  Kara scrambled to pull her out. “Lilah, what happened?”

  Sobbing, Lilah clung onto Kara.

  Kara tried to pull her away to check for injuries, but Lilah held tight. “Are you hurt?”

  “Where’s Jack?” Tracy asked.

  Kara turned around and scanned the pool, then the yard. He was gone.

  “Lilah, where’d Jack go?” Tracy asked urgently.

  Lilah buried her face into Kara’s neck.

  “Kara?” Tracy prompted.

  Kara pulled back Lilah’s hair to see the side of her face. “Lilah, where did Jack go?”

  Lilah sniffed, her sobbing
ceasing.

  “Hey, there you are!”

  Kara and Tracy whirled around. It was Shannon, huge sunglasses covering half of her face, walking from the side of the house toward them.

  “I thought I heard voices back here,” Shannon said, smiling.

  “Hi, Shannon,” Kara said breathlessly. “We’ve had a bit of a crisis. We don’t know where Jack is.”

  “He’s over there with the hose.”

  “What?” Tracy jumped off the deck and jogged past her.

  Kara shifted Lilah in her arms. She whispered, “What’s the matter, Lilah?”

  “He’s over here!” They heard Tracy call from out of sight.

  “Oh! Thanks, Tracy! Crisis averted!” Kara rested her head against Lilah’s, whispering, “Jack’s okay, Sophie. Is that what scared you?” Kara didn’t notice she had used the wrong name. Lilah tightened her hold on Kara.

  Tracy called over, “Jack and I are going in to get some food!”

  “Okay, we’ll be in soon!” Kara called back.

  Shannon asked, “Is everything okay?”

  Kara nodded. “Have a seat. We just had some confusion.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Shannon looked at Lilah sympathetically as she stepped onto the deck.

  Kara asked, “Lilah, did you fall in the water?”

  Lilah flipped her head the other way and stared at Shannon.

  “Are you tired?” Shannon asked her, but Lilah didn’t respond. “I think this one’s all tuckered out for the day, mama.”

  “That makes both of us. I don’t know what happened. You missed the whole thing. She was floating in the pool and then the next thing we know she’s screaming her head off and Jack’s missing.”

  “Maybe she should take a nap.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Kara sighed.

  “She just closed her eyes,” Shannon whispered. “I’ll join the others while you put her to bed.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you in a bit. Is Tom here?”

  “Yeah. He’s inside fending for himself.”

  “Okay, so I won’t call the police if I see some strange dude walking through my house.”

  Shannon laughed, going in through the backdoor.

  Kara leaned down carefully, cradling Lilah against her, and picked up the statue, an item she would’ve rather have kept baking in the sun. She handed it to Lilah and straightened, turning toward the house. She hesitated when she caught a face looking back from the closed kitchen window. The reflection of the trees over the pane distorted the image, making it unclear who it was. She could just make out blonde hair, but it seemed yellower than Shannon’s and was parted down the middle, unlike anyone else’s at the party.

  Kara went inside, her eyes on the kitchen. No one was there. She glanced in the great room. The guests, all of them invited people she recognized, were laughing, their faces turned to the TV screen. She moved into the dining room and then her bedroom and bathroom, but didn’t turn up anyone. She went down the hallway and into the foyer. No stranger with blonde hair anywhere.

  The lady with the yellow hair like the dolly used to have.

  Kara looked over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs, and looked in the rooms upstairs. She frowned.

  “Mommy,” Lilah whined, pulling away.

  Kara eased her into bed, watching as Lilah rolled to her side, smothering the crude faces of the statue against her. A chill coursed through Kara, sudden and quick. Something crackled, making her turn around, her eyes zeroing in on the baby monitor. Its green “on” light blinked and the crackling stopped abruptly. The bedroom returned to quiet. She stood for several seconds staring at the steady light before leaving the room.

  She returned downstairs, remembering the face in the kitchen window. Had she truly seen someone? Had it been a trick of the sunlight?

  The lady in the woods.

  Kara walked into the kitchen, expecting to see her. She stopped short. Someone was at the window.

  But it wasn’t a blonde.

  It took her a second to realize it was Jack. He looked up at her, turning off the faucet. She glanced at the great room—no blonde there—and crossed her arms, changing course. “What happened in the pool?” she asked him.

  “I dunno.”

  “Did you push Lilah off her innertube?”

  “No.”

  “Did you?”

  “No!”

  “Why weren’t you swimming?”

  He broke eye contact to look at his feet. “I just didn’t want to. Lilah’s boring in the pool.”

  Kara looked past him out the window; the water rippled slightly because of the filtration system.

  “Can I have ice cream?” he asked.

  She sighed, frustrated. “Sure, but you have to make your own bowl.” She turned to the great room, ignoring the murmur of the room.

  “Did you hear there’s wine that tastes like coffee?”

  “Ugh. No thanks.”

  “It’s not bad actually.”

  “Did you hear there’s an apple that tastes like a tomato?”

  “Ugh. No thanks.”

  “What?”

  There was laughter as Kara joined the guests, who spoke gibberish. She sank onto the armrest of the couch, perching beside John, who sat next to Marvin and Dolph on the couch.

  “I’m losing my mind,” she told John.

  “What’s up?”

  “I’m just seeing people who aren’t there…”

  “Okay…” He raised an eyebrow and looked around the room.

  She laughed. “It was the sun’s reflection, I’m sure.”

  “Okay…Yeah, happens all the time.” He made a face, teasing her.

  “I’m serious. I thought I saw someone with blonde hair looking out the kitchen window.”

  He glanced around the room and nodded toward Shannon. “Was it her?”

  Kara shook her head. “It was the sun.” Time had passed and she was beginning to believe that’s what it had been. “I must’ve hallucinated it.”

  “Well.” He leaned back, crossing his legs. “That settles it, Sherlock Jones. We’re all here and accounted for. No one at the window. Hallucination confirmed.”

  “Yup, me and those hallucinations,” she said sarcastically. She slapped his hand. “Who’s Sherlock Jones?”

  A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “What? What’s his name?”

  “Holmes!”

  They laughed, grabbing Marvin’s attention.

  “Whatcha been up to?”

  “Dealing with kids,” she sighed. She gave him a tired smile. “I just took Lilah to bed. She had a scare in the pool and went right to sleep.”

  “What happened?” John asked.

  “She fell out of her inner tube. It was nothing. She’s fine.” The image of Jack watching her in the water fluttered into her thoughts.

  “Gotta get her some swimming lessons,” Dolph said before downing the rest of his beer.

  “Yeah, probably need to do that…” Suddenly remembering, she asked John’s co-worker, “Hey, I hope you didn’t want your blanket back. I threw it away.”

  Dolph’s expression went blank. “Blanket?”

  “You helped John with the deck before we moved in.”

  Laughing he said, “I don’t know about ‘helping.’ I think I did pretty much all of it.”

  John jumped in, “I think you’ve got something wrong with your brain there. I remember you drinking and sitting on your butt most of the time.”

  “Oh, that’s right!” Dolph drained his beer and grinned, displaying crooked teeth.

  “Well, anyway,” Kara continued, “John said to throw it out. I hope you didn’t want it back.”

  Dolph’s smile lessened a degree. “I don’t know what blanket you mean.”

  “You didn’t bring a blanket as a drop cloth or something? It was a green, wool blanket with orange paint splotches on it.”

  Dolph flexed his jaw and shook his head. “I didn’t drink that much. I think I would’ve remembere
d bringing my blankie. I just brought beer that day.”

  She looked questioningly at John, but he just raised his eyebrows and said, “I don’t know then. I thought it was Dolph’s.”

  She couldn’t dwell on it, though, because Shannon and a bearded guy approached them. “Kara, this is Tom. We met John while you were tucking Lilah in.”

  “Hey, how are you?” Tom shook Kara’s hand. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come out sooner. The job I’ve been on went longer than expected, but it’s just about to wrap up. Shannon said you’ve got a few different jobs that need done.”

  “We have a few things,” John spoke up. “The house is new, but there are a couple rooms that need to be completed. It was a foreclosure. I guess the builder ran out of money.”

  Tom gazed around the room, surveying the custom fireplace and wainscoting. “You get a good deal on this place? Gracie Town’s not real cheap and with a nice place like this, and on wooded acreage…”

  John replied vaguely, “We came out alright.”

  Tom smiled good-naturedly. “Well, man, let me know when you need me to start. My prices are fair and I do a damn fine job. Got references too, if you need ’em.”

  “Okay, great. Marvin’s been helping me out too.”

  Marvin barked, “It’s a lot of work, but I’m sure we’ll manage. I’m used to getting my hands dirty.” His cool blue eyes met Tom’s green ones in what Kara read as a silent challenge.

  “John and Marvin fixed the playroom door,” Kara said, gesturing. Her arm faltered, seeing the door was open slightly. “I thought it was fixed.”

  “Me too.” John got up and closed it, opened and closed it again. It stayed shut.

  “Could be the frame,” Tom said. “How’d you fix it?”

  John replied, “I tightened the hinge screws. They were loose, so I thought that was the issue.”

  Tom nodded. “I don’t mind taking a look. Seriously, any job, big or small.”

  Shannon turned to Kara, “He’s basically freelance. He goes from job to job.”

  John told Tom, “We have two rooms that need work. They’re down to the studs. I’ll show you.”

  After a while, Kara slipped away to check on Lilah, still in bed, her blanket covering her legs. She faced the wall, snoring lightly. Kara sought out the baby monitor. It was silent, but its green light quivered. As she reached for it, Lilah whimpered, making her draw her arm back.