ANOTHER SUNNY DAY (27 page)

“Got it.”  That thought caught Kelly’s attention.

“I better get going,” Jane said as she grabbed her dishes and silverware and dumped them all into the dishwasher.  She noticed Kelly’s surprised look. “What?”

“I’ll put them in right so they’ll all get clean.  It’ll save you water, too.”

“Well, okay.  Thanks.” Jane picked up the navy blazer that matched her navy pencil skirt.  She glanced at her Blackberry, then tucked it into her purse.  “I’m off,” Jane said as she headed toward the front door.  “Here’s my business card.  It has my cell phone number on it.  Don’t hesitate to call me.  Leave a message if I don’t answer, but I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

“I’ll be fine, Aunt Jane,” Kelly repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time.  “Drive safe.” Kelly frowned as she thought about her parents.

“I will.”  Jane noticed, but felt completely at a loss on how to relieve Kelly’s worry.  It would just take time and patience.  Jane hoped she was up for the challenge.

“Bye.”  Kelly watched as Jane left through the front door.  Her aunt looked very professional in her trim suit, white blouse, high heels and briefcase.  She was about five years younger than Kelly’s mom and seemed to be the perfect weight for her height.  The one bright spot in all this was that maybe some of Aunt Jane’s good eating habits would wear off on Kelly.

Kelly cleaned up their breakfast mess and loaded the dishwasher neatly and correctly. She checked out the pantry and the refrigerator and jotted down a grocery list.  She filled out the waffle iron warranty card and left it on the counter where her aunt wouldn’t miss it so it could get mailed.  Then she headed to her bedroom to begin the task of un-packing her worldly possessions.

The first box she opened had a few t-shirts and shorts on top.  But it was the fluffy comforter on the bottom that she most excited about.  She lovingly took it out and after removing the blanket currently on the bed, she spread the comforter over the sheets.  Standing back, she felt a lump rise in her throat.  She remembered the day she and her mom had gone to the mall and picked it out.  It had been her thirteenth birthday when her parents decided she needed to transition from her childish My Little Pony-themed room to one that was more mature.  Her dad had painted the pink walls a sunny lemon yellow.  She and her mom had gone to the mall to find a comforter and matching drapes.

Kelly had never been a “girly-girl”, but she didn’t want her room to look like the tack room in the barn.  They had looked at dozens of designs, dismissing them because they were either too feminine or too abstract.  When they saw the comforter set that had large, bright  primary-colored flowers on a snow-white background, they had both known they had found the perfect balance of attitude and color.

She had left the drapes behind, but having the comforter with its large red poppies, yellow daisies and blue hydrangeas made the room look more like home.  The comforter was almost three years old and a little worn, but it held too many memories to be discarded.  Hopefully, Aunt Jane wouldn’t insist on something newer and more chic.  It looked perfect to Kelly.

The five tall wardrobe boxes emptied quickly as she lifted out her clothes, still hanging on their hangers and placed them on the racks in her walk-in closet.  She had just a chest back home, so the added drawer space of both a dresser and a chest with six drawers each made putting things away pretty quick and easy.  It took a little longer to unload her computer and set it up on the desk and to arrange her books on the shelves in the bookcase next to the desk.  It was well after noon when all the boxes were empty.  Kelly cut the tape on the boxes and collapsed them, then carefully maneuvered them down the stairs and carried them into the garage through the kitchen door.

The garage was even worse than she expected.  It was hard to imagine that Aunt Jane’s car had ever been housed inside it.  Kelly stood in the middle, surrounded by boxes and furniture.  With a little organization and a lot of discretion, there was hope. The three car garage had one part consumed with an odd mixture of furniture probably from her grandma.  The other two-thirds were only about half-filled and not stacked very high.  Plenty of room to create the three piles Jane wanted.  Kelly’s stomach growled, the two waffles long ago forgotten.  She decided to take a lunch break before tackling the piles.

She knew from her earlier search that there wasn’t much to choose from.  No peanut butter.  No bread.  No jelly.  No ramen noodles.  No SpaghettiO’s. There was a head of lettuce and some oil and vinegar dressing in the refrigerator, but not much else.  She knew the lettuce would be the smart choice, but she opened a can of chicken noodle soup instead.  There was a box of Wheat Thins for crunchiness.  Within minutes, however, the meal was over.

Texas had been hot, but Florida was even hotter and much more humid.  Kelly delayed going back outside by taking a tour of the house.  She had been here several times in the past, visiting her grandmother when Kelly was much younger, and again when her grandmother died.  But she had never really explored the place.

The house was over a hundred years old.  It had survived hurricanes and greedy developers.  It was, in fact, the only original structure in the area.  Apparently, it had once stood on a large tract of land, but it was now surrounded by dozens of tract homes that had been built in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The house was in the old Florida style with tall windows, a shiny metal roof and deep, covered porches on both levels.  The pool had been added when Kelly’s mom and Jane were kids.

Kelly started at the top where there were three more huge bedrooms other than her own, each with their own baths.  Apparently, her great-great grandfather had been quite successful, although Kelly had no idea what he had done to be able to afford such a mansion.  Clearly, it had been updated and remodeled extensively through the years.  The other bedrooms looked similar to
her own, generic and totally lacking in personality.

Downstairs was Aunt Jane’s bedroom that opened out to the pool.  Kelly took a quick peek from the doorway, but didn’t go inside.  Next to that was a large office that was beautifully decorated in Laura Ashley prints and a whole wall of bookcases.  Two large windows let in lots of light, and glass French doors opened into the living room.  The large walnut desk was partially hidden by a stack of about a dozen brown file boxes.  Curiously, Kelly lifted the lid of one and pulled out a Fort Myers police file.  She opened it, but the pictures of the victim turned her stomach and she quickly put it back and hurried out of the office.  How could anyone do that to somebody?

In the living room, there were large comfortable couches facing a flat-screen TV that had to be about 65 inches in size and was surrounded by speakers along the bottom, sides and ceiling.  Aunt Jane must like to watch Judge Judy in life-size.

All of the downstairs appeared to have already been remodeled.  Aunt Jane had chosen to replace the tile with oak flooring, accented by large rugs.  Her color scheme brought the outdoors inside with its shades ranging from aquamarine to a dark cobalt blue.  Although they were blocks
from the Gulf, Kelly felt like she was right on the beach.  It was a warm, friendly house . . . which seemed contradictory to Aunt Jane’s cool, collected attitude.  The tranquil blues carried over into the kitchen and breakfast area, but the formal dining room was all in whites with a few cobalt blue accent pieces.

Kelly knew she had delayed as long as she could.  She punched the button and the garage doors rolled up, allowing the sunlight and the oppressive humidity to come flooding in.  But it did make the garage appear a little less congested.  She looked around again and decided it would be easier if she dragged some of the stuff outside and cleared a wall so she could start the piles.  She carried eight dining room chairs outside, then pulled out the matching dining room table.  Sweat beaded up on her forehead, sticking her bangs to her skin.  Her shirt was saturated, and she could feel the sweat running down her arms and legs as she alternately pushed and pulled a large couch.

“Jeez, how do these people survive here?” she muttered as she stopped to catch her breath.

“We grow gills,” a masculine voice spoke behind her.

CHAPTER TWO

Kelly whirled around, startled.  Her heart leaped into her throat as a tall young man was silhouetted against the bright sunshine.  The sexual predator discussion with her aunt flashed through her mind, and she mentally measured the distance between her and the kitchen door.

“Hey, need some help?”  The person stepped forward, and once inside the shadows of the garage, she could see he was just a teenage boy.  He was several inches taller than she was and had medium-length dark-blond hair.  Although he wore a tank top and baggy cargo shorts, his legs and arms were pretty white and boney, especially for someone who lived so close to the beach.  His shoes were untied, the style of today, and he had a nice smile.  Most importantly, he looked totally non-threatening.

She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, then regretted it because she knew she had probably left a dirty smear across her forehead.  “Hey,” she greeted him neutrally.

“I live next door, and I noticed you were working pretty hard,” the boy said as he pointed to his house.  “I’m Scott.”

Kelly’s lips relaxed into a smile.  She was thrilled for any excuse to take a break.  “Hey Scott, I’m Kelly.”

“Are you moving in or just visiting?”

“Visiting?  No, not visiting.  I’m moving in.  Actually I’ve moved in.  It’s my aunt’s house.  I got all my stuff unpacked this morning.  I told her I would help straighten out her garage.  She wants to have a garage sale.”  Kelly felt self-conscious and knew she was talking too much, so she forced her mouth shut and started pushing the big couch again.

Scott immediately grabbed an arm and started pulling.  With his help, the couch moved easily, and they pushed it against a bare wall.  “What’s her name again?” he asked.

“Jane.”

“I’ve never met her.  I’ve seen her around, but she always seems to be in a big hurry.  She’s not home much anyway.”

“Good to know that she’s not just avoiding me.  I haven’t seen her much yet either.  In fact, I’ve met her maybe six times in my whole life . . . usually on holidays and at funerals.”

“What’s next?”

“I thought we’d stack all the furniture up against the wall.  I think it’ll all go in the garage sale pile.  Then we can stack boxes up against it.”  She pointed toward an empty corner.  “The maybe keep pile goes over there, and stuff that is obviously garbage goes up front by the doors.”

“Got it.  Let’s move the dining table back in against the couch.”

It was much easier with him lifting one end.  Scott spread a layer of flattened cardboard boxes on top of the table, and they stacked several end tables upside down on the cardboard.

“You’ve done this before?” Kelly asked.

“Nope . . . just naturally careful.”  He smiled.  “My mom might call it mild OCD.”

“My aunt will definitely approve.  I think she’s borderline OCD herself.”

They used more boxes to cushion the edge of the table, then stacked a bedframe and a mattress-set vertically and shoved a dresser against them to keep them upright.  “There, now we’ve got some room.”

“Thanks. That went a lot quicker with help.”  They turned their attention to the boxes, opening them and sorting them into the appropriate area of the garage.

“Are your parents living here, too?”

Kelly hesitated.  She had just met this guy.  This was all still new to her.  How much or how little should she tell him?  She could feel the tears building, but she knew she would always have to deal with this question, so why not now?  “My parents died in a car accident and my Aunt Jane is my guardian.”  She felt strangely relieved just blurting it out.

“Oh wow, I’m sorry,” Scott rushed to say.  “I didn’t mean to get into your business and all.”

“No . . . it’s okay.  You’re just curious.  I’d probably ask you the same thing if our situations were reversed.”

“I can’t even imagine what that would be like.  I’ve lived in the same house with the same parents and the same stupid little sister my whole life.”

“I always wanted a sister,” she said wistfully.

“You can have mine.”

“I doubt your mother would agree.”  Her smile didn’t really disguise the sadness she was feeling, but maybe under all the dirt, he wouldn’t notice.

Scott was obviously uncomfortable.  He shifted from foot to foot and looked away as he thought about what to say next.  Kelly hoped this conversation wasn’t going to be repeated with every person she met.

Kelly tried to shrug it off, both to make him feel better and to change the subject.  “Hey, we’re going to be neighbors, so of course you should know something about me.  But I should know stuff about you, too.”

“I’m really boring.  Ask anyone.”

“I doubt that.”  There was something in his tone that touched Kelly and instinctively made her rush to defend him.  “I’m not bored.”

“Yeah, but you’ve only known me about an hour.”

“Who’s to say that wasn’t the most exciting hour I’ve ever spent?” Kelly teased.

Scott looked at her and grinned.  “Wow, that’s really sad.”

“And you thought you were boring.”