“Hi there.”
“Hey stranger,” Sasha says, chewing something in my ear. “Whatcha doing?”
“I’m sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee,” I reply. “Would you like me to start keeping a journal of my comings and goings for you?”
“Yeah, that would be easier,” she says, not bothered by my bitchiness in the least. “Just e-mail it to me every evening.”
“Smartass.” She chews something else. “What are you eating?”
“Celery.” She swallows and goes quiet, I’m assuming because she’s drinking something. “Dinner of champions.”
“Yes, it is. I’m eating a cookie.” I take a bite.
“Bitch. I haven’t had a cookie in two years.”
I laugh, happy to hear from her. “Life’s too short to not eat cookies.”
“My ass gets too big,” she says. “And then my costumes don’t fit and the seamstress gets catty about it.”
“Easier to not eat the cookies, I guess.”
“Yeah, but I do miss them.”
“Come visit me and I’ll give you all the cookies you want. Also, now is a good time to mention that I can eat all the fucking cookies I want. I’m officially fired.”
“Oh, babe,” she says, and I can hear the sadness in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, it was bound to happen, right? I worked my ass off in therapy today, and I’ve decided that I’ll get back to work and prove everyone wrong.”
“That’s my girl.”
“You really should come out here for a few days. It’s awesome.”
“I’d love to, but I can’t get away for a while. Are you coming to opening night?”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” I assure her. “How’s the weather there?”
“Shitty. It’s been raining like crazy.”
“Here too.” I sigh. “Have you checked on my apartment lately?”
“Yesterday. Everything was fine. I borrowed some shoes too.”
I laugh and take another bite of my cookie. “You best return them if you know what’s good for you.”
“Yes, ma’am. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt them.” She speaks to someone and then returns to me. “I’m sorry, I have to go. We’re having an evening rehearsal. I love you, and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Love you too.”
She hangs up, and I lean my head back, imagining what she’s doing now. Jogging off to her place on the stage, script in hand, ready to get back to work.
I miss it.
More than I thought I would, and that was a lot.
I just fucking miss it.
And I’ll be damned if I won’t do it again. I worked too hard to reach where I was in my career to let this destroy it.
I must have fallen asleep on the porch. It’s dark when I wake up to someone ringing the front doorbell.
I stumble through the house, my leg singing in pain, and open the door to find a drenched Finn on the other side.
“Is she here?” he asks right away.
“Gabby? No.” I step back and let him in out of the weather. “What’s going on?”
“She ran off. Again.” He runs his hand through his wet hair. He’s breathing hard, his chest rising and falling with each breath. “She’s mad at me. Also again.”
“She can’t have gone far,” I reply, and open a closet to reach for a pair of shoes and a flashlight. “I’ll help you look.”
“I’ve already run up and down the beach and didn’t see her,” he says. “London, if she was on the beach in the dark—”
She could be killed.
“I know, but she’s not on the beach. She’s just hiding because she’s mad.” I rub his arm soothingly and check the flashlight for batteries, which thankfully seem to work. “Besides, I think I know where she is.”
“Lead the way.”
We walk through the house to the back door, and I lead him outside to the small replica of the house my father had made for me when I was about Gabby’s age.
“I didn’t know this was back here,” he says.
“Gabby did. She mentioned it to me when I saw her on the beach the other day. A light is on in there.”
I hear him swear under his breath as I open the door and step inside and find Gabby lying on the small bed inside, hugging my old floppy-eared bunny.
“Hi, Gabby.”
She sits up in surprise. “Am I in trouble?”
“Well—” I begin, but Finn cuts me off.
“Hell yes, you’re in trouble. You can’t just run off on me like that, and you can’t break and enter into someone else’s property, Gabby. What in the hell are you thinking?”
“I’m mad and I want to be alone,” she shouts back at him. “You don’t understand me at all!”
And with that, she dramatically throws the bunny on the bed and runs out, toward Finn’s place.
He sighs and rubs his hand down his face. “This is a lot of fun.”
“Why don’t I go back with you and I’ll try to talk to her?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
But he’s looking at me with so much hope I know that I can’t do anything else.
“I’m happy to. Sometimes a girl has to talk to another girl.”
His lips twitch before he leads me out of the playhouse and toward his home. I have to take it slow, limping a bit behind him. He turns back and sees me struggling, so he just picks me up, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, and carries me.
“Hi there, He-Man.”
He laughs. “I don’t like watching you struggle.”
“It seems to be a part of life these days.”
I lean my head on his shoulder as the water falls on us, soaking us both. When we reach his house, he opens the door and sets me inside.
“Where’s her bedroom?”
“Top of the stairs,” he says, pointing up. I cringe inwardly, but I refuse to let him see me struggle any more. Once at the top of the stairs, I take a deep breath and knock on Gabby’s door.
“Go away!”
“Gabby, it’s me.” I crack the door and peek inside. The room is so pretty, with white furniture and pink frilly linens. “Can I come in?”
“Fine,” she says, and sniffles.
I walk in and sit at the edge of her bed as she sits up. I pass her a tissue from her bedside table and wait patiently as she wipes her tears and blows her nose.
“I know you feel grown up, but, Gabby, you can’t run away like that. Something horrible could happen to you, and that would devastate everyone who loves you.”
“I just didn’t want to be here anymore, and the man who usually stays out in the playhouse hasn’t been there in a while, so I decided to go chill out there.”
I still and feel my heart drop into my stomach.
“What man?”
She frowns. “The man that stays in the playhouse,” she repeats. “He’s there all the time.”
I don’t want to freak out in front of her. Actually, I do want to freak out, but I take a deep breath to stay calm. I’ll handle one thing at a time.
“Why didn’t you want to be here anymore?”
She shrugs her slender shoulders and buries her face in her knees.
“I miss my mom,” she says quietly.
Oh, sweet girl, so do I. I know that I haven’t let myself grieve as much as I need to. There are moments when I think that if I give in to the grief, it’ll suck me into the deepest, blackest hole and I’ll never climb my way out.
I blink my own tears away and reach out to smooth her dark curls from her damp face.
“I recently lost both of my parents,” I say, and swallow hard. “So believe me when I say, I sure miss my mom too.”
Her head comes up quickly. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I’m not very nice sometimes.” She sniffs again. “I don’t know why I act like that. London?”
“Yes?”
“Can I tell
you something?”
“Anything.”
She swallows hard. “I started bleeding yesterday, and I don’t know what to do. Uncle Finn doesn’t have anything here for me, so I’ve just been throwing my underwear away.”
“Oh, my goodness, Gabby.” I pull her into my arms and hug her close. “Do you know about your period?”
“Yeah, we had a class about it.”
“Do you have questions?”
She shakes her head no, and I don’t press her.
“Well, you and I need to go get you some things.”
I stand up and hold my hand out for her, which she takes, and she follows me down the stairs, patiently walking next to me when I have to move slowly.
Finn is waiting in the living room and looks genuinely surprised to see Gabby holding my hand.
“Finn, Gabby and I need to run an errand.”
He frowns. “What kind of errand?”
“I’ll explain later—”
“No—” Gabby begins, but I cut her off.
“I’ll explain later, but I need you to trust me right now. Gabby and I need to run out for a few things, but we’ll be back in about thirty minutes.”
“Okay,” he says immediately, and I step to him so I can speak low, out of Gabby’s range.
“I’ll also need to talk to you about someone apparently living in my playhouse. I don’t know if it’s true, Gabby mentioned it, but it spooked the hell out of me.”
“Jesus.” He runs his hand down his face. “I’ll call the police.”
“No, I can deal with it, but—”
“I’ll call the damn police.” His jaw is firm, ticking, and I know I’m not going to win this battle.
“Please wait to call them until we get back. This is important.”
His eyes narrow. He isn’t happy, but he nods once.
“Wait here,” I say to Gabby. “I’ll go get my car and pick you up in ten minutes.”
She smiles and I hurry as fast as I can to my house, gather my bag and keys and lock up, then drive over to pick up the little girl, who jumps right into my car and fastens her seat belt.
I drive us to a nearby drugstore and lead Gabby to the feminine hygiene aisle, where we hem and haw about which products she’d like to try. I end up grabbing two different kinds, along with a heating pad, new underwear for her, and a shitload of chocolate, which makes her happy.
“A girl needs lots of chocolate when it’s that time of the month,” I inform her. “I don’t know why, it just makes you feel better.”
“I like that part,” she says with a smile, and we pay for our things, then go back to Finn’s, where once inside, I take Gabby into the bathroom to show her how to use her new tools.
When we come back to the living room, Gabby hugs me tight and says, “Thank you.”
And then, to Finn’s absolute shock, she launches herself into his arms and hugs him just as tightly. “I’m sorry, Uncle Finn.”
She kisses his cheek and then runs up the stairs to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Finn blinks rapidly and then stares at me. “What just happened?”
“She started her period,” I reply, and cringe when he hangs his head in his hand. “She didn’t know what to do, or who to talk to. So I just got her all set up with everything she needs, and I think she feels better. But it totally explains the mood swings, and her acting out so badly over the past few days.”
“Thank you,” he says, and then reaches out for my hand and tugs me gently into his arms for a firm hug. “Thank you so much for doing that for her. It’s just my luck that this happened when she’s with me.”
“You’ll be fine, just be gentle with her for a day or two.”
Dear God, his chest is hard.
And he smells so damn good.
I could stand here like this forever if my leg wasn’t screaming at me.
“Let me take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
“What about Gabby?”
“She’s going on a Girl Scout overnighter,” he says with a smile.
“You have to say yes!” Gabby yells from upstairs, clearly eavesdropping and making us both laugh.
“Well, sounds like I have to say yes. So, yes. I’d love that.”
“Excellent.” His dark eyes are still pinned on mine when he calls up to Gabby. “Go to bed, Gabs. We have some things to do down here.”
“Okay, good night.”
“Now I call the police,” he says, and pulls his phone out of his pocket. “If someone’s been squatting in that playhouse, you’re not going back over there alone.”
“Hi, I’m London Watson, an adult. I can make those decisions for myself.”
His eyes narrow again just before he speaks into the phone and explains the situation to dispatch. “Thank you. We’ll be waiting.”
“Are they coming?”
“On their way,” he replies. “You should stay here.”
“Hell no, I won’t stay here.” I stand my ground, my hands on my hips, glaring up at him. It seems Finn has a bit of a control-freak side. “It’s my house, Finn.”
He just shakes his head and leads me outside. Two squad cars pull into my driveway, and we meet them on my front porch.
“I’m London Watson, the homeowner,” I announce before Finn can say anything.
“Did you see anyone in your home?” one of the officers asks.
“I didn’t, no, but Finn’s niece says she saw a man living in the playhouse out back.”
The officer frowns and shares a look with his colleague. “So you didn’t actually see him?”
“No.” The officer nods.
“Okay, show us the way.”
I lead them around the house in the dark, thankful that I left several lights on inside to illuminate the way. Once we reach the playhouse, I stand back and gesture toward it. “This is it.”
“Does it have electricity?”
“Yes, the switch is just inside the door.”
They step in and turn on the lights and look around. “Would you know if anything was disturbed?”
“I haven’t been in here in years,” I reply, following them in. The mattress that Gabby was lying on is bare. The furniture is plastic and old, and things are messy, but that’s to be expected with years of neglect. “I should probably go through and clear it out, I just haven’t had time.”
“So, you don’t know if anything is missing, or if anyone has been here?”
I glance around again and hug my arms around my middle. “I don’t think it looks any different than it did the last time I saw it.”
“Gabby could have said it just to scare you,” Finn suggests. “We’ve been having behavioral issues with her lately.”
“Well, if you decide that anything is missing or disturbed, give us a call. Sounds like we’re done for tonight.”
They hand me a business card and then leave, and I’m left standing in my playhouse with Finn.
“It’s so odd.” I shake my head and look around. “It doesn’t look any different. But I don’t think Gabby was telling stories.”
“It’s been her thing lately,” Finn says, and pushes my hair over my shoulder. “I’m sorry that she scared you.”
“I’m just glad that it’s a false alarm.”
“Do you want me to stay?”
I smile and shake my head, ready to get off my aching leg. “I’m okay.”
“Okay, then, I’ll pick you up at seven,” he says, and steps forward to wrap me into a hug once again.
A girl could get used to this.
“Oh, quick question. Is this going to be a fancy dinner? Because I’m afraid I didn’t bring any fancy clothes with me from New York.”
His lips twitch in that way they do when he finds something amusing. Or, you know, when he finds me amusing.
“No, casual is great.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan. I’ll see you at seven.”
He nods and waits for me to open the back door before he starts the wal
k back to his house.
“See you soon, London.”
Chapter Three
~Finn~
“Hey Mom,” I say into the phone, and frown at Gabby when she tries to sneak another chocolate bar from the cabinet I shoved them into this morning.
She’s been stuffing chocolate in her mouth since last night, insisting that it’s her period medicine.
“What are you doing, dear?” Mom asks.
“I’m trying to keep Gabby from going into a sugar coma,” I reply, and shake my head at my niece, who just rolls her eyes and then drops her head in her hand dramatically. “How are you? How is Italy?”
“Oh, I’m just fine. Italy is always glorious, but I’m about to get on a plane home.”
“Why? You’re not supposed to come home for another month.”
“Because I miss my family. I’m coming to your house on Martha’s Vineyard for a few days.”
I stand up straight and frown, staring unseeingly at the ocean.
“Is that a problem?” she asks when I don’t reply right away.
“No, of course not. You know you’re always welcome. I have plenty of space.”
“I’d like to see Gabby,” she says. “I won’t stay long.”
“It’s never an inconvenience to have you here, Mom. When shall I pick you up from the airport?”
Mom rattles off the time. I hang up after wishing her safe travels to find Gabby taking a bite of a Snickers.
“Damn it, Gabby.”
She just offers me a big smile and chews happily.
“Since you’re not feeling well enough to go overnight tonight, I’m going to cancel my date with London.”
“No!” She jumps off her stool and hurries over to me, and takes my hand in hers. “Uncle Finn, you have to go. You just have to.”
“Why?”
“Because you like her, and she’s so nice, and pretty, and you just have to go. You don’t have to worry about me, I can totally stay home by myself. I’ve done it before.”
“I don’t think so.” I shake my head, but Gabby holds on to my hand even more tightly.
“I’ll be totally fine here. You already ordered me a pizza for dinner, and I’m just going to watch a movie on Netflix with my heating pad. Seriously, you can totally trust me.”
This little girl says totally more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life.
All the Way Page 3