by Kristie Cook
“Sort of,” I said, tucking a strand of hair that kept blowing across my face from the wind behind my ear.
“Addison here inherited a house just over there. I’m only here for two weeks, but she’s here for the summer,” Vera informed him. I was learning she’d never fully outgrown the bad habit of giving away too much information to strangers from when we were kids.
“Awesome. Which place?” Kace asked with interest.
Dibs nudged my hand again, and I reached down to pet him for a second time. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Umm, it’s that white one over there.”
Kace glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, that’s old lady Avery’s house.”
My stomach flipped and I stood up once again, abandoning petting Dibs. “Old lady Avery’s house?” Why was my grandmother’s name my middle name?
Dibs jumped up on me to gain my attention back and nearly knocked me over. Kace tugged on his leash. “Leave her alone, buddy. She doesn’t want to pet you anymore,” he said, pulling Dibs away. “Yeah, old lady Avery lived there for like forever. She was real sweet. Made the best peanut butter cookies ever. I don’t remember much about her, because I was so little when she passed away, but I do remember those cookies.” A severe gleam entered his eyes, making them appear a bit brighter. “Were you related to her or something?”
“Yeah, she was my grandmother,” I said, the words feeling odd to my lips, as questions I’d rather not think about entered my mind.
If she was so nice, then why didn’t she take me when my biological mom didn’t want me?
“Enough with the depressing talk,” Vera interrupted my thoughts, and honestly I was grateful. “Are there any clubs or cool places to party around here that I missed seeing on the drive in?”
Kace laughed and it was beautiful sounding. “Clubs? No. Not in this little town.”
Vera frowned. “So what do you guys do for fun, then?”
“You’re looking at it, really. We all hang out on the beach, go to the movies, typical small town stuff,” he said.
“Oh,” Vera muttered, and I knew exactly what she was thinking, how Soul Harbor was just like Linfrank, but with a beach. To me, that was fine, but to her it was disappointing.
“There is a little get-together going on tomorrow night. A bonfire down there.” Kace pointed to the way he’d come. I shifted to gaze where he was looking, but couldn’t see anything in particular besides a big burn barrel. “You guys should come. We could have a few drinks, and I could introduce you to some people. It’ll be fun.”
“All right, we’ll be there.” Vera beamed. “What time?”
“Say … nine-ish?” Kace smiled.
“Sounds great!” Vera shouted.
“How about you? You in?” Kace asked me as his warm hand clasped my elbow gently.
I raised my eyes to meet his, planning on answering with a smile and confirmation that I would come … but something happened upon our skin-to-skin contact.
From the look in Kace’s eyes, he’d felt it too. Something stirred inside of me … inside of him. A reaction to our touch. Something I couldn’t name, nor could I describe, but it was there. A sigh of something unfurling within us both. My eyes locked on his face, taking in his reaction, because I had no clue what was going on.
Kace released my elbow. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with the force of it. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand without meeting my stare again. “Yeah, I have to go, but I’ll see you guys tomorrow night, right?”
I grimaced as the sensation of whatever was unfurling inside of us—inside of me—receded back into nothing.
“Definitely!” Vera answered with more enthusiasm than necessary, her loudness startling me.
“Uh, sure,” I said just as Kace started to walk away, leading Dibs alongside of him.
My throat suddenly became dry, and I rubbed the area where his hand had been. I blinked away the shock from what I’d just felt. The area was warm, incredibly warm.
“Woohoo, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. I see you all googly-eyed, staring at that piece of ass. There you go … a hot fisherman fling!” Vera said, pulling my attention back from the strange sensation that had begun to course through me moments before and to the here and now. “Told you I’d find you a rebound guy before I left … and it just looks like I did. He was into you, totally into you. Now I just need to find someone at this party tomorrow night for myself,” she said, pressing a manicured nail to her lips in thought as she started back toward the house.
I shook my head. This girl was hell-bent on both of us getting some action.
CHAPTER FOUR - The Red Door
The next morning was spent making a list of all the cleaning supplies we’d need to seriously clean the house from top to bottom. All I’d found beneath the kitchen sink yesterday had been a couple of trash bags and a nearly empty can of Pledge, which was not even close to being all we would need to get a house that had been sealed off for so long up to par.
“Well, at least they have an Ingles,” Vera said as we pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot.
I laughed. “God, you make it sound like we’re in the middle of freaking nowhere or something.”
“You have to admit … we pretty much are.”
I pursed my lips together and cocked my head to the side. “This is true.”
***
The Ingles was the same as any other grocery store—and by that I meant it held the power to get me lost within it even with the help of clearly labeled aisles. Even so, we still managed to load our cart down with stuff.
“Oh, here we go … cat food,” I said, finally finding the stuff. “Should I get him the canned kind or some regular dry food?”
“Which one’s cheaper?” Vera asked. “And which one will last longer?”
“Good point.” I scrunched up my nose in concentration. “I guess I’ll just go with the dry stuff.”
After grabbing a big bag of Meow Mix—like I’d promised Binks I’d get him—we headed to check out. One hundred and sixty dollars later we were loading the groceries into the back of my Jeep, and I realized the savings I’d come with was dwindling fast.
“I really need to get a summer job if I’m planning on staying here,” I confessed as I backed out of the parking space.
“Pull up front. There’s a newspaper machine. Grab one,” Vera suggested as she untied her ponytail and began pulling her hair up higher on top of her head. “God, I swear this heat is like inescapable. How are you not roasting? Oh wait, I forgot how you weirdly enjoy the heat and like freaking never sweat.”
“Newspaper, good idea,” I said, ignoring her last statement and pulling up in front of the store where there was a Soul Harbor Times stand. Seventy-five cents later, I held my hope for a prolonged stay in my hand. There had to be at least someplace hiring.
***
I stood in the kitchen, unloading a plastic bag filled with the cleaning supplies we’d just bought and neatly lining them up along the counter. Opening the cabinet, I bent down and grabbed the old can of Pledge and crumpled trash bags. As I cleared everything out, I noticed the bags had been covering a blue ceramic bowl. I reached in and pulled it out, realizing quickly that it was a cat dish. Flipping it on its side in my hands, I examined it—the name Binks was painted on it in large white letters.
“Binks,” I whispered as my heart began pounding hard in my chest.
This was too crazy of a coincidence. The tiny hairs at the back of my neck stood on end as I had the eerie sensation of someone watching me crawl across my skin. I glanced over my shoulder, and there sat Binks near the threshold, staring at me fixedly. What the hell? Maybe Vera was right, cats were sort of creepy.
“Your name was Binks after all, huh?” I asked him. My response was a soft meow just before he lost interest in me and began licking his front paw.
“Okay, so how about I dust down here while you head upstairs and remove all the dust-catching cloths from the furnitur
e, because I just can’t do that again. I’ve seen too many scary movies with scenes like that in them,” Vera said as she bounded around the corner.
I held the bowl in my hand out to her. “Did you see this in there yesterday?”
“No, what is it?”
“A cat dish with the name Binks painted on it.”
She crossed the room, her sandals slapping against the linoleum floor, and took it from my hands. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Creepy,” she said as a visible shiver ran along her spine, like the whole scenario gave her the heebie-jeebies. I could relate.
“I know.” I took the bowl back from her hands and sat it on the floor beside the pantry door. “Are you sure you aren’t just messing with me?”
Vera had been known to pull a prank or two in the past. One time, after watching the first Paranormal Activity movie, she had me honestly believing my house was haunted, because she kept moving stuff when I wasn’t looking and then freaking out just like me about it. She even went so far as to tie dental floss to the doorknob of my bedroom door and slam it closed when we were both sitting on my bed talking. Turns out, she’s a really good actress too, because I had no idea it had been her until later.
“I’m not, I swear,” she said. “When would I have had time to do anything like that?”
I glared at her suspiciously. She had a point. “Fine, you’re right. It’s just weird, don’t you think? I mean, you heard what Kace said, old lady Avery died when he was little. How is this cat not ancient? There was food still in the pantry, so I know she had a cat.”
“Stop it. You’re freaking me out,” she said, her eyes dropping to Binks. He still sat in the threshold, giving himself a bath. “Maybe it isn’t the same cat. Maybe hers had kittens and this is one that, for whatever reason, decided to hang around.”
I put my hand on my hips and stared at him. “Yeah, you could be right. He doesn’t look all that old, maybe two or three years.”
“Tops,” Vera said, but it sounded strangled. She really was freaked out.
“All right, I’ll do the unveiling of the furniture, if you start a load of laundry. We need some towels washed because I am in desperate need of a shower,” I said, stepping over Binks on my way out of the kitchen.
I heard Vera sigh before she replied, “Fine …”
I smiled, knowing laundry was her archenemy.
***
Upstairs, I went to my room first and tossed all the drop cloths that had been crumpled up against the wall since I’d first come with my parents into the hall. I did the same with every room after. Once I was finished, there was a dusty mountain resting in the hall at the top of the stairs, and I was sneezing like crazy. Crumpling some of them up in my arms to carry downstairs and wash, I caught sight of the door that led to the attic stairs. Curiosity piqued my interest. I wanted to see what was up there when I came with my parents, but it seemed like any digging around I did was disrespectful to my mother. Or at least she made it feel that way by her unease at being here.
Leaving all the dusty sheets behind, I headed to the door. The handle was cool to the touch and turned in my hand with ease. For whatever reason, I’d expected it to be locked. I flicked on the light switch and looked at the intimidatingly steep steps in front of me with unease. Another door, this one painted a fire engine red, stood at the top.
I’d never been one to be afraid of confined spaces, but the narrow stairway made me understand the panic those who suffered from that fear went through. It was so narrow, in fact, that I only had to extend my arms at my sides the tiniest bit to be able to touch the walls on either side of me as I went. Once I reached the top, I gripped the metal doorknob of the red door and turned. There was a clicking noise, but the door didn’t open. I tried again, but had the same result—the doorknob turned, but the door wouldn’t open.
“Maybe it needs a key,” I muttered under my breath as I eyeballed it.
It was then that I realized this doorknob was different than all the others in the house. It was an oval shape and made of a dark metal. The keyhole was like nothing I’d ever seen in real life and only on TV—it was a skeleton key.
I remembered there had been one dark skeleton key on my chain that came with the house. Carefully descending the stairs again, I thought of where I’d left my keys. Bypassing the mountain of laundry at the top of the stairs, I headed to the first floor to scoop my keys off the kitchen counter.
“Laundry is in, living room is dusted, and now I’m off to dust the hideous dining room. I’m all for the vintage look, but that room needs some major work,” Vera said to me as I brushed past her. “Where are you going? You’ve got the ‘I’m on a mission’ gleam in your eyes.”
“I need my keys. The only place I haven’t been yet in this house is the attic and it’s locked. But I think the key is on my chain,” I said, already climbing the stairs again with my keys in hand.
“Oooh, a locked door. Interesting,” she said as she followed me up the steps.
I was a little less cautious this go-around with the steep steps. Vera wasn’t.
“Dang, these are some break-your-ankle stairs.”
“I know,” I said. “And look at this door. It’s the only one painted in the entire house. Even the front door is a dingy white.”
There was something in there, I knew there was. I could feel it. I didn’t know how to explain it, but it was the same sensation that spread through my blood when Kace had touched me—that was the feeling I got when I thought about what could be behind the red door.
“I wonder what’s inside. Hopefully it’s something a little more interesting than what we found in the basement … well, that and not another animal.”
“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out … here’s the key,” I said, holding up the skeleton key between us.
“Classic,” Vera said wide-eyed.
I put the key in the door and turned it. The same clicking from before filled the narrow stairway.
“Crap, it made that noise when I turned the knob before,” I said as I attempted to turn it now that the key was inserted.
Nothing happened.
“Push a little, maybe it’s just stuck,” Vera suggested.
I pushed with my shoulder while still holding the knob, but again got no result. The damn door was jammed.
“Let me try,” Vera insisted.
“It’s stuck,” I said as I shifted out of the way so she could try, even though I knew it would be pointless. She slammed herself into the door like cops do on TV and nearly fell down the steps backward, I caught her and laughed. “Don’t get yourself killed, please.”
She shook me off and smoothed her hands along her shorts, raising her chin in the air. “Yeah. It’s stuck. Either that or the doorknob is broken.”
We turned and started back down the stairs.
“Guess I’ll have to see if Dad or someone can get it open next time they come,” I said.
“Look who heard the commotion and decided to come check it out,” Vera said, pointing at the bottom of the stairs.
Binks sat perched at the bottom, his head cocked to the side as he glared at us with his all-knowing greenish-yellow eyes. I couldn’t explain how I knew, but I was certain Binks knew what was behind the door and he was waiting for me to see it.
CHAPTER FIVE - The Missing Avery Kid
I sat at the edge of a large piece of driftwood, watching Vera dance with some guy she’d met upon arriving to the party. His name was Darren and he had beer, which was all she’d needed to know. I took a sip of my beer and nearly spit it all over the place as I stifled a laugh while watching her begin to bob her head visibly out of sync with the song playing. She was good at many things, but dancing was not one of them.
“So your friend seems to be having a good time, what about you?” a seductively familiar voice asked from behind me, startling me slightly.
I turned to meet the stunning blue eyes of Kace. “Hey, yeah, I’m h
aving fun. We actually just got here a little bit ago, but from the looks of my friend you’d never guess.” I smiled, gesturing to Vera.
“Ha, so she’s a lightweight, huh?” He grinned as his eyes flickered to Vera and then back to me in an instant.
“Guess so.”
“And you’re not?” A cocky grin splayed on his face, and I noticed he had just one dimple—on the right side. It was perfect, just like everything else about him.
“Probably, but I don’t drink enough to really find out. One and done, as they say.” God, I sounded like an idiot.
Kace’s head tipped back as he chuckled at my statement, and the rest of the world completely faded away. I was captivated by him once again. “Right? I’m not much of a drinker either. It dulls the senses.”
“My thoughts exactly—uh, as I take another sip of my beer.” I grinned and took another sip.
He moved to sit beside me. “No judging here.” He tipped his cup back and took a long swig of whatever was in it to prove his point, and I found my eyes zeroing in on his Adam’s apple, watching it bob up and down as he swallowed. “So how are you liking Soul Harbor so far?”
I cocked my head to the side and glanced back at Vera again. “It’s not too bad … I’m not sure about the people at Fisherman’s Brew though.” I crinkled my nose and then wondered why I’d singled someone out. Why couldn’t I have just left it at it’s not too bad?
“Fisherman’s Brew? Why not?” he asked with genuine concern lacing his words.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. They just didn’t seem to like the idea of me being here for some reason. Then again, I could have just been tired from the drive and slightly paranoid.” I smiled and shook my head like I’d been being crazy.
“Well, I like the idea of you being here, for what it’s worth,” he said in a low tone as he leaned into me a little.
I turned to look at him. “Thanks.”
“You have gorgeous eyes, has anyone ever told you that? It’s like they can’t decide if they want to be green or brown.”
I grinned like a fool. “Actually no, no one’s ever told me that before.”