* * *
The clean smell of disinfectant greeted Kendall as she entered her house. The fresh odor offered a huge improvement over dust and mildew, but she wasn’t nearly through. Still on her list to make the place more appealing was cleaning out the closets filled with old junk, painting inside and out, lawn maintenance and more.
She ran a hand through her freshly cut hair. The tasks were infinite. Her bank account wasn’t. She opened her bag and searched for the card Rick had left her with his phone number, called and left a message that she needed to speak with him. She didn’t want an “in” with Charlotte, just a little background and a push in the right direction. Kendall felt confident her designs would sell themselves.
With a little luck, Charlotte would be more friendly than some others she’d met today. While paying for her hair, she’d been snubbed by two women in a matter of seconds. Terrie Whitehall, a bank teller, and Lisa Burton, a teacher, both stuffed prigs according to Pam, had rebuffed Kendall’s attempt at a friendly hello. Pam had retaliated with a verbal barb, giving Kendall a laugh, and she’d left the salon on a high, knowing she had at least one female friend in this small town.
Her cell phone rang and she answered it on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Ms. Kendall Sutton please,” a nasal but otherwise toneless male voice requested.
“This is Kendall.”
“This is Mr. Vancouver from the Vermont Acres Boarding School.”
Kendall gripped the phone. “Is Hannah okay?”
“Physically she’s fine. However she’s been acting up lately.” His monotone voice never wavered, making Kendall dislike him intensely. He could have been talking about a stranger for all he seemed to care.
“Hannah mentioned a few detentions, but promised she’d pull things together.”
“Well she hasn’t. I tried to reach your parents, but they’re out of touch and you were the next emergency number. The only one actually and you’re the only relative in the States. Ms. Sutton, your sister is on probation.”
“Academic probation?”
Mr. Vancouver let out a haughty laugh, but he didn’t sound the least bit amused. “Academics seems to be the least of her concerns, and right now it’s less important than her behavior. To be frank, Ms. Sutton, your sister is a menace. She stuffed the toilets in the teacher’s lounge and pulled off the conductor’s toupee in front of an audience while he was taking a bow.”
Kendall pressed hard against one temple to alleviate the headache she felt coming on. She stifled the urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It wasn’t funny. Hannah’s behavior was about as amusing as Mr. Vancouver’s arrogant tone. “I’m sorry, Mr. Vancouver. I promise to talk to her today.”
“You’d better or you’ll be coming to get her before sundown. I can’t allow such upheaval in my school.”
“Where’s Hannah now?”
“In detention. She should be back in her room within the hour. I have another call waiting.” He dismissed her without a second thought. “Good day, Ms. Sutton.”
The stuffy-head principal hung up the phone, leaving Kendall with cramps in her stomach and a growing urge to strangle her sister. Kendall needed answers as to why Hannah would suddenly act out in a way destined to get her expelled from school.
A frustrating ten minutes later, Kendall had left a phone message for Hannah, instructing her to call ASAP, and tried every available means to get in touch with her parents through the organization that granted her father money for his studies, to no avail. She sighed and glanced around the kitchen. The chipped paint and stains on the walls were the same in every room of the house, a symbol of the problems surrounding her. Troubles that seemed to grow over time.
“I wish I wasn’t alone,” she shouted to the walls. Her voice echoed in the empty house, startling her.
The sudden need to share her burden took Kendall off guard, as did the growing desire to call Rick again just to see if he’d answer so she could hear his voice. Even her hand, still on the telephone receiver, tingled, urging her to dial.
No. “No,” she said aloud, to reinforce the notion. Though he knew she wanted to sell the house and knew she was short on cash, he didn’t realize how tight things actually were. Nor would he, for the same reasons she wouldn’t share her concerns about Hannah with him now.
She’d kept him distant from her personal problems out of necessity—she couldn’t afford to rely on him. His presence had the ability to make her feel better and her entire life and history taught her she had to rely only on herself. Now wasn’t the time to change what worked.
Even without calling a realtor, Kendall knew the key to selling high was to invigorate the interior with a fresh coat of paint. Rick had already scraped and sanded many areas in the guest house, so she felt comfortable beginning the painting of the main house on her own. She’d moved around enough to have sublet and rented many apartments and repainted many a wall.
She ran to the back bedroom, changed into old work-out clothes, then surveyed the damage in the entry. She’d already bought gallons of fresh white paint and decided to begin there, where a potential buyer would get their first impression. Then she could work her way through to the rest of the house, so she’d see improvement each time she entered. In the meantime, she also hoped to pass time so she wouldn’t keep looking at her watch, waiting for her sister or her wayward parents to call.
After turning on the radio and ruthlessly squelching another urge to contact Rick for his shoulder or any other body parts that tempted her, she got to work.
* * *
Rick thought his shift would never end. By the time he made his way to Kendall’s house on Edgemont Street, dusk had fallen. She wasn’t expecting him but he had an invitation to
