by Alie Garnett
Filling in the brown of the donkey’s butt, Agatha felt someone watching her. Hoping it was not her houseguest, but also hoping it was not one of her sisters, she looked up into the blue eyes of Violet. Pulling off her headphone, she smiled at the little girl.
“I brought you muffins!” Violet held up a plate so that Agatha could see them.
“Thank you, Violet. You are the nicest person I know.” Agatha set her brown pencil down and got up to hug her.
“Mom said you would be sleeping in your room, but you were not. I knew you would be up here,” Violet chatted as Agatha took the plate from her.
“Let’s go see Mom. Is anyone else here?” Agatha knew the answer had to be yes. There were muffins, and Sera did not cook breakfast.
Violet scurried down the stairs, and Agatha followed more slowly, not in quite the same hurry to see who had shown up. On the second floor, she saw that Maby’s bedroom door was still closed, which meant he was still there. Yes, she had let that man stay with her, but only for one night. Tonight, he would have to stay somewhere else. Anywhere else.
After leaving him to shower, she’d tried not to listen to the shower running in the quiet house until she had given up on sleep. Her mind was just replaying that night eighteen months ago, and her body was getting all worked up.
When she’d gotten out of bed, she didn’t know if she should join him in the shower or go for a run. She hadn’t run since high school, and they had forced her to do that, so she made herself go up to her studio, a new name for the room, and work. Getting lost in her work always took her mind off life.
But he was still there, and so were three of her sisters and her mom. Not counting Violet.
“Violet said you were drawing. This late?” Harper asked as she slid a pan into the oven.
“Time got away from me,” she admitted. She had planned to sleep last night. Now she would when her family left.
“Have you found a job yet?” Sera asked as she took the paper off a muffin for Violet, even though the nine-year-old was doing the same right next to her.
“No, still looking,” she lied as she set her plate of muffins on the counter.
“Have you tried at the Grog? I hear they’re looking again, and it’s close. And everyone loves the Grog,” Maby jumped in, eyeing the stove. She didn’t like sweets for breakfast.
“No, I haven’t, but I’ll try today.” Agatha wondered when she would tell them she didn’t need a job anymore. But she liked that they were concerned about her, helped her out. It wasn’t as if she thought she could hide it forever; she just didn’t want to say anything yet. Her place in the family was being the mess-up, and she wasn’t ready to be responsible yet.
“I would stay away from the Grog. That place is disgusting. I could see if Jonas has anything at his office. Maybe Mom has something.” Buzz gestured at their stepmom, who was head of HR at a law firm.
Agatha pointed out the obvious to the people who knew her best. “I am not a people person.”
“You just don’t try. And without food to throw on them, you might be okay.” Harper might have meant it as a compliment, but it wasn’t.
Agatha answered her by throwing a muffin at her, hitting her in the face. She decided she should have stayed in sports because she was good.
“Pick it up, Ag,” Sera said in her mom voice.
“She asked for it.” Agatha went around the island and picked up the muffin and tossed it in the garbage.
From this side of the room, she could see Chris standing in the doorway, just watching them. His brown eyes met hers across the room, and he nodded at her with a grin. When she nodded back, he backed away from the doorframe, all without anyone noticing … almost.
“No need to sneak out, sir. We all saw you!” Buzz yelled.
Christ took a step into the kitchen. “I didn’t want to disrupt anything.”
“Did you want something to eat?” Harper asked. “We have muffins, and if you wait long enough, there are stuffed pork chops, red potatoes, and dinner rolls.”
“I want a dinner roll,” Sera said with excitement. It wasn’t an item always on the breakfast menu.
“I’ll have a muffin, but then I’m off.” He looked a little scared of the room full of women.
“Don’t let us chase you off.” Sera looked him up and down. “Okay, so I have to admit it right now, I like knowing which of you he belongs to. Years of guessing who was with who in the morning got old.”
Agatha knew Sera had no idea who Chris was because she was sure her stepmom wouldn’t have been so welcoming if she did. “He doesn’t belong to me. He’s trying to kill himself via his house, and I saved him from himself for a few hours. He didn’t stay in my room.”
“Why not?” Sera questioned, not acting motherly at all.
“How about we not talk about my love life, or lack thereof,” Agatha answered, remembering what she didn’t like about them all living with her—topics like this all the time.
Chris took a muffin and backed slowly from the room. “I’ll leave. Thank you, Agatha.”
When he was gone, all eyes turned to her, and suddenly she was the center of the conversation. With everyone looking at her, she wondered if the floor could swallow her, but since she wasn’t at Chris’s house, she knew it wouldn’t.
Harper couldn’t control her smile. “So, not into sports guys?”
“Agatha’s having sex with Chris Lowell!” Maby said as if he was a movie star.
“Chris Lowell?” Sera questioned from beside Maby. Her voice said all the puzzle pieces were falling into place; she was the only one who knew about high school. “That is not how I ever pictured him,” she added in a mumble.
“I am not having sex with him,” Agatha said again. “He just spent the night, not in my room.”
“Liar. I wouldn’t not tap that,” Buzz stated.
“Me either,” Maby practically moaned.
“Anybody else?” Agatha asked her sisters and stuffed her hands in her pockets.
“Nope, I only have eyes for Harrison,” Sera stated.
“I’m good.” Harper pulled out the pan of pork chops from the oven.
“Okay,” Agatha said and pulled her phone from her pocket. “So, which man am I calling first? Jonas or Cliff? Cliff or Jonas?”
Buzz dove at her, but since the woman was insanely pregnant, she was easily dodged. Maby was quicker, but Agatha got the dining room table between them as she dialed, choice made.
“Hey, Cliff!” She shifted quickly, keeping Maby across the table from her, but Maby was quick. “Christopher Lowell slept in Maby’s bed last night.”
Cliff laughed. “She slept with me, though.”
“She admitted to wanting to have sex with him,” Agatha said as Maby came over the table and grabbed her phone as she pushed her into the wall. Sitting on the floor in a daze, she had forgotten how agile the twins were when they needed to be. It reminded her of their childhood fights in the kitchen.
“Jonas wouldn’t believe you anyway, Ag. I’m carrying his spawn, and I barely want to have sex with him right now. Call him,” Buzz admitted defeat from her stool.
“I don’t know if I can get up,” Agatha admitted from the floor. Maby hit hard.
“Harper, go help Agatha up. Buzz and I can’t anymore,” Sera said before serving herself a pork chop.
Agatha scrambled to her feet before Harper made it over to her. Harper turned back to the food, saying, “At least she didn’t give you a black eye this time.”
“That was Lucy. But I really didn’t want another one of those,” Agatha agreed.
Sitting on the stool that Maby had abandoned, Agatha looked at the pork chops. She wanted one, but she’d already had a muffin. One breakfast was enough. Harper caught her looking, and without saying anything, grabbed a container from the cabinet, put two in, and tossed them into the fridge. Agatha wondered again if they were thinking she was getting fat.
“So, how did you end up with Chris Lowell in your house?” Ser
a asked not so innocently. She was prying.
“He tried to start his house on fire with bad wiring, blew the circuit breaker, and had no idea how to fix it. He came over for a flashlight.”
“What time?” Harper asked with interest.
“Around two, when you texted me. What were you doing up at that time thinking about platters anyway?” Agatha tried to turn the conversation to her sister.
“Having sex with my man, then it hit me I needed those. I keep forgetting them here.”
“Must be great sex if you were thinking about platters,” Agatha teased.
Harper shrugged. “It was. We were in the pantry and knocked a few things down.”
“Back to middle of the night,” Sera said quickly, pointedly ignoring Harper’s story. “What were you doing up at 2 a.m.?”
“Drawing, then getting sex platters.” Agatha folded her arms. “His house is unlivable and might have asbestos everywhere. The dining room ceiling fell in. He’s going somewhere else tonight.”
“Too bad,” Harper said.
“I don’t like him,” Sera stated flatly. “Stay away from him.”
Both sisters looked at their mom. She had never said she didn’t like a man. Over the years, she had obviously not liked some of the guys they brought home, but she had never said it, not once. Agatha knew why. It was the same reason she was staying away from him herself.
“I’m not his biggest fan either,” Agatha admitted quietly.
Maby walked into the room and interrupted the silence. “I had to do a little sex talk on your phone, Ag, but I washed it off.”
Agatha took the wet phone from her sister. Harper immediately took the phone and grabbed a container from the cabinet behind her. Dropping the phone in, she shook it to get the rice to cover it. This was not the first time a phone had been washed in the house over the years.
“I hate you,” Agatha said.
“Don’t tell Cliff I’m sleeping around. He gets jealous.” Maby pushed her off the stool that had been hers earlier.
Agatha didn’t fight back, letting her sister have her stool. It had been a little mean. Cliff was always jealous of men in Maby’s life, though there weren’t many, and she would never stray.
“What time do I have to be where tonight?” she asked Harper, referring to that night’s catering gig.
Harper filled her in, then took her chicken and muffins and went home. Maby helped her to her car and also left. After an hour of chatting with Buzz and Sera about baby preparations, the night started to catch up with her. She should have forced herself to sleep after getting Chris settled.
After Buzz left, taking Violet for the day, Agatha had admitted she was tired. That left Sera alone with Agatha, not what she wanted after having Chris in her house.
“I don’t want to be your mother, Agatha, but I am your mother. Stay away from Chris Lowell. It took you a long time to get over him last time. Too long. From what I hear, his life is not going well. You don’t need that in yours.”
“Don’t worry; I have no intention of anything happening. We’re just neighbors,” she said.
“Keep it that way.” Sera hugged her and left.
Watching her leave, Agatha was happy the lecture wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Maybe Harrison had mellowed the woman.
The house was now empty, and Agatha went up the stairs to her bedroom. After a quick shower, she climbed into bed. Thoughts of Chris floated through her head as she let sleep overtake her. So maybe she was dreaming he was in bed with her. Was that a crime?
Chapter Twelve
Over the weekend, Chris found a hotel close by. Not that he had wanted to; he wanted to stay with Agatha even if the kitchen would be full of women when he woke up. He knew he shouldn’t have stopped to say goodbye, but he couldn’t help himself. He had just needed to see the woman one more time.
Everything that the women had said to him had been worth it to see Agatha throw a muffin at the blonde. Then sarcastically call the other blonde “mom.” Agatha was great at sarcasm.
After he had left her house, he hadn’t seen her again all weekend, not even a glimpse. Not that he had been looking, he just happened to notice that she wasn’t outside. Not when he had spent three hours trying to fix the railings on the porch. Not when he had decided to remove the paint from the wainscoting in the front room, the one with the big window facing her house. Not even when he had sat on his porch as he ate not only lunch but also his supper. Not one glimpse of her.
He would have thought that she wasn’t even home, except there were lights on in her house when it got dark. More lights than he would have thought needed for a woman who lived alone. Or maybe she had company, except there were no extra cars on the street. Not that he was looking.
Today, he should be cleaning the mess in the dining room or even in the bedroom upstairs. At first, he hadn’t cleaned up because he knew how much work it was going to be, then it was due to the fear that just touching anything would kill him from unknown substances, something that he hadn’t once thought of until Agatha said it. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility.
Instead, he had spent his day going from one half-finished project to another, not doing anything substantial to any of them unless it was to make them worse. That had happened more than a few times.
So far, he hadn’t finished a single project he had started in the house. When he had started each project, he had thought it was going to be easy. Then about an hour into it, he would realize he was in over his head. So, he would stop before he completely destroyed whatever it was. After more research, he realized he was missing a tool, or his project wasn’t exactly like the one in the video, or he had just done something completely wrong. Sometimes all of the above.
He tried to not let it bother him. After all, wasn’t there a learning curve on learning home improvement? So he made a few mistakes—it happened.
Stopping his progress on removing the kitchen floors, he headed for the front of his house. It was just after three in the afternoon. Stepping out onto his porch, he watched and waited.
As if on a timer, Agatha opened her door and slipped outside. What was it about this woman that made his heart skip a beat? Chris left his house wanting to talk to her. He wanted to see her up close again.
Once he had made his way across the street, she noticed him and smiled from her spot on the top of the steps. Her mail was at her side, and she was holding a can of pop, just like every day.
Her orange shirt said “Pin” in gold letters, the letters and the shirt clashing horribly.
“Hi, Agatha. Good news. No asbestos, so I’ll live.” He smiled. He had just gotten the call and thought she would be interested, which was why he had hurried over there.
Grinning back at him, she took a sip of pop. “Good, except the rest of the house is trying to kill you for hurting it so bad.”
“I’m cleaning today and reassessing.” If that meant procrastinating, then he wasn’t lying.
“Hiring professionals?”
“If I didn’t know you were joking, I would start taking your question to heart. Except I know that you believe I can complete my renovations on my own,” he said. Ignoring the disbelief on her face, he continued, “Sorry about your friends thinking we slept together.”
“Sisters,” Agatha corrected and wondered if he remembered any of them from high school. “I don’t think they think so anymore. I told them that you are destroying your house, and I am the only neighbor that lets you stay over when needed.” She grinned, and he realized she was the only neighbor who had taken notice of him.
“They were your sisters? You don’t look alike,” he replied and realized he maybe shouldn’t point that out. It wasn’t like he and his siblings looked all that much alike. Okay, they totally did.
“I know. I’m the black sheep of the family, literally and figuratively.” She grinned at her joke and then turned from him. “But I look like this one, don’t I, Violet?”
“You do, we
are sisters,” Violet said and gave Agatha a hug.
“My favorite sister. How was your day today?” Her attention was turned to the little girl.
“Nick J. dumped glitter on me again. He keeps saying I’m sparkly.” Violet didn’t seem happy with the attention from the opposite sex.
“You are sparkly, baby girl. You get that from Mom.” Agatha hugged the little girl to her again.
“Dad calls her bubbly.” The girl didn’t sound convinced but accepted the hug.
“Bubbly, sparkly, it’s the same thing. Don’t let Nick J. take that away from you, Violet. Don’t let anyone take that from you,” Agatha said as she looked over the girl’s head. There was pain in her eyes.
She shook herself and got up to take the little girl into the house as usual. Neither invited him to go with, so he was left on the sidewalk.
He didn’t understand the pain he saw on her face. After the door shut behind the pair, he went back to his house, but he couldn’t get her sad brown eyes out of his mind. Someone had hurt her once, and he hated that person.
Chapter Thirteen
It was close to midnight when Agatha made it home from waitressing with Harper. Lucy was still on maternity leave; despite that she had made most of the food that had been served. Tonight’s crew had been her, Maby, and three strangers. Agatha couldn’t believe Maby showed up to work since her husband was rich, but maybe she still did it for the same reason as Agatha: to spend time with her sisters.
Shutting off the car, she looked up at the house across the street and saw that lights were on. She wondered if he had destroyed anything else in the house since she had last seen it. Probably. It had been five days, and she had noticed him over there every day, so damage had most likely been done.
As long as his focus was on his house and not on her, she was fine. It had taken time, but she was now okay with him never remembering her. After all, once his house was renovated, he would be gone again. Him gone was all that mattered.
Slipping out into the dark warm night, she was glad she had shed the white long-sleeve blouse that Harper demanded the waiters wear. She had pulled on a neon green “File Done” shirt. Yes it was correctly spelled, but nobody knew who would want a shirt that said it. It was more comfortable than what she had been wearing all evening serving to rich snobs, even if Buzz and Jonas were in attendance. They were rich snobs, after all, since Jonas was a tech billionaire.