Marissa waved enthusiastically to the kids in Teddy’s car, then bounced up to the front door. She smiled at Teddy. “Hello, Mr. Ryerson.”
“Hi, Marissa,” he said.
Marissa looked at Serena. “Oh, hi, Miss . . . Ms. . . .” Marissa stumbled on her greeting to Serena. “You’re Mr. Ryerson’s sister.”
“I’m Serena,” she said with a bit of a bite.
“That’s right. You told me to call you by your first name. Serena.” She dazzled both the Ryersons with a smile, though it landed on Teddy with a little more wattage.
“Marissa babysits for me,” Teddy explained.
“We live in the same neighborhood,” said Marissa. “Well, until Mom makes us leave. Ugh. I hate looking at houses. It’s really boring.”
“You babysit for Teddy?”
Jamie turned back at the sound of Harley’s voice. She’d come down the stairs and heard Marissa’s voice.
“Oh, yeah.” Marissa said as Jamie stepped back and she entered the foyer. “Mr. Ryerson’s a great tipper!” She giggled back at him, and then the two girls raced up the stairs together, thundering like a herd of elephants, laughing wildly.
“They look like they’ve become fast friends,” Teddy observed as he and Serena turned away, back toward their SUV.
“Yes. It’s great for Harley.”
Jamie closed the door. Almost immediately, Harley and Marissa raced back down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Harley threw open the refrigerator door. “There’s nothing to eat!” she declared. Then, “Can we have some of these?” as she spied the trays of hors d’oeuvres.
“Wait till Grandpa gets here.”
“It’s okay. I’m not really hungry,” said Marissa.
Jamie looked at her. She had thick, dark hair and a killer body. She was shorter than Harley, and her eyes were hazel-ish, whereas Harley’s were blue. “Did your . . . Mom think it was odd you were invited to our . . . ash spreading?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell her. She probably would freak out. She’s like that,” Marissa said matter-of-factly.
“Well . . .” Jamie was nonplussed. “I don’t want to be the weird parent who—”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t tell her lots of stuff.”
This was hardly the answer Jamie was looking for.
“Mom,” Harley said in a warning voice, recognizing Jamie’s discomfort. She apparently was worried Jamie might ruin her burgeoning friendship with Marissa. “What’s in the box?”
“Chocolates, Teddy said.”
“Great!” Harley unwrapped the box with the zeal of a Christmas present. She pounced on the small box of chocolates, and she and Marissa bounded back upstairs. Jamie picked up the business card still inside the box with Teddy’s name and number. He’d labeled himself as an investment adviser.
Emma suddenly appeared in the kitchen as if by magic, causing Jamie to jump and gasp a bit.
“I saw them,” Emma said. “I was watching from the hall.”
“Teddy and Serena, or Marissa . . . ?” Jamie set the card on the counter.
“It was their house.”
“Their . . . ?” Jamie didn’t expand as Emma’s tight expression answered the question before it was fully asked: the Ryersons. It was no surprise that Emma had focused on the Ryerson twins. “You could have said hello.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I like them. They killed me.”
“They were in bed, Emma. They didn’t . . . You were babysitting them, and someone came in. It wasn’t anything to do with them.”
Emma’s breathing grew in tempo. She spied the dish towel Jamie had used and quickly yanked it back into perfect line with its partner. “He came in . . .”
“Let’s not talk about it,” Jamie said, realizing Emma was growing upset.
But she was glancing wildly around, her blue eyes wide, the pupils dilating. “He came in!”
“Emma.” Jamie was stern.
“What’s going on?” Harley called from the upper landing.
“Emma . . .” Jamie warned. She knew the signs from those years living with her sister in high school, and now they flooded back. Emma was ratcheting up to a full-blown fit.
“I see . . . his eyes!” It was a whisper, but her voice was full of terror.
“Whoa,” said Harley.
Jamie glanced up the stairs to her daughter. Harley was mesmerized. She’d never seen Emma in full panic. Jamie immediately went into combat mode to mitigate the attack. “You’re safe, Emma. He’s not here.” Stern voice. Warning tone. Harsh words if necessary. Whatever it took to break the rising tension.
“I see his eyes!”
“Stop! You’re fine. We’re fine. We’re at our house. We’re together. You’re safe. You’re safe!”
“I see his eyes!”
Emma’s hands flew to her face. For a moment, Jamie thought she was going to burst into tears, but she stood stock-still.
“Mom . . .” Harley murmured, scared, as Marissa came out of the bedroom and joined her, looking down at them, then at Harley, clearly confused.
“It’s okay,” Jamie soothed. “It’s all okay.”
Emma turned blindly down the hall toward the back door, her hands still over her face.
Jamie waved Harley off. “Go back to your room. It’s fine.”
Once they were gone, Jamie followed after her sister. Emma was standing at the back door, her hands still covering her eyes. She couldn’t decide whether to touch her sister or not. They’d never been touchy-feely before the accident, and that had only worsened afterward. Only Mom had been able to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Emma,” Jamie said. She was glad her sister had only repeated her line a few times. That was an improvement over the days when Emma would cry, “I see his eyes!” twenty times or more.
“Mom needs to be in the garden,” Emma said now in a tremulous voice.
“Yes, she does. We can do it right now, if you want. We don’t need to wait for anybody. Dad and Debra can come whenever, and we’ll just show them where Mom is.”
Emma bent her head. “Harley needs to come.”
“Yes. And she will, with her friend, Marissa, who’s a really nice girl and will help Harley get over her misgivings about . . . spreading Mom’s ashes. Dad and Debra are on their way.”
“I don’t like Debra either,” Emma said.
“None of us do.”
That
