Chapter 4 #2
She reached for the drink shaker beside her and poured the concoction into an empty glass she had waiting, then slid it in my direction.
I lifted it up and took a sip, already knowing what it was.
My great-aunt drank a Tom Collins every single night before bed.
The sweet, lemony flavor burst on my tongue, followed by a slight burn the gin left behind as I swallowed and let out a heavy sigh.
“She really loved the teal walls and the butterfly canopy over the scrolled iron headboard. It took forever for her excitement to wear off so I could get her to sleep.”
Sylvia smiled. “I’d like to say I did that just for her, but that room’s looked like that for as long as I can remember.”
I giggled and sucked back more of my drink. “I don’t doubt that for a second.”
My aunt studied me as she sipped her cocktail. “You know, you’re more than welcome to make this place your own, sweets. I told you, this is yours now. Feel free to change whatever you want.”
In the hours Ivy and I had been here, Sylvia had already made me feel more at home in this house than I ever had in the home I’d shared with Alex.
I’d expected Ivy and I would get the guest rooms upstairs, but after hauling everything in and starting to unpack, Sylvia told me the master bedroom was all mine.
She’d already had someone come and move her into the carriage house she’d converted to a small apartment years ago at the back of the property.
She used to rent the space out, but it had been empty for a while.
“Really, Sylvia, I can’t thank you enough for taking us in, but you moving into the carriage house really wasn’t necessary. I’d have been more than happy making one of the guestrooms my own.”
She waved me off like I was being ridiculous.
“Nonsense. It was the most logical choice. I’ve been struggling with those stairs for quite some time now, and this house is too damn big for me.
I’m sick and tired of having to clean it.
Honestly, sweets, you’re doin’ me a favor.
I’m not as young as I used to be. My soul might feel like a fresh-faced twenty-something, but my bones refuse to get onboard. ”
She liked to talk as though she was feeling run down, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind the woman could run circles around me. “Haven’t you heard? Eighty-three is the new thirty.”
She scoffed, lifting one of her perfectly penciled brows. “Tell that to my hips and knees. I was doing yoga in the garden the other day and nearly got stuck in downward-facing dog.”
I laughed for a good long while at the vivid image she’d painted. Once it tapered off, I looked across the table to find her studying me, her eyes shrewd. “What?”
“Nothing. Just glad you’re still able to laugh like that after everything.”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly feeling thick. “Laugh like what?”
“With abandon, my darlin’ girl. A woman gets knocked down the way you did, she could lose that. Puts my heart at ease that you’ve managed to hold on to it with all the ups and downs of late.”
God, I loved my aunt. Not for the first time I thought of how much my family was missing by regarding Sylvia as nothing more than a nutty hippy spinster.
Was she a little nutty? Absolutely. However, she was more bohemian than hippy.
And she wasn’t a spinster. Far from it, actually.
My aunt had her “lovers” tucked away for whenever the need arose, but she lived her life on her own terms and never felt the need for a man to be a permanent fixture.
It was an arrangement that worked well for all parties involved.
And she was so incredibly wise, always had been. Our flesh and blood were missing out on the wisdom she could impart.
I loved that she had faith in me, but I wasn’t sure if I deserved all of it. I watched my finger as I traced the rim of my glass, mumbling, “Yeah, well, it’s all because of Ivy. I might be rocking in a corner somewhere if she wasn’t around for me to take care of.”
“What a load of hogwash,” she chided before taking another dainty sip.
“You got knocked down by that human piece of garbage you called a husband. Then that waste of oxygen he’s shacking up with kicked you while you were down.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, those vultures we’re related to came to pick over your carcass as you lay bleeding.
And here you are, sitting right before my very eyes and laughing.
That precious girl up there might partly be the reason why, but the rest, my lovely Hayden, is sheer resilience and a spine of steel.
And no one can take that away from you. Hear me? ”
“I hear you,” I said softly, a smile pulling at my lips.
“Good.” She knocked on the table decisively.
“It’s a good thing you’re here. Not just because the mountain air will work wonders to soothe the soul and calm the mind, but because there’s somethin’ in the water here that makes the men folk all kinds of fine, believe you me.
If I were forty years younger. Phew.” She waved a hand in front of her face, making me laugh again.
“Believe me, Sylvia, the last thing I’m in the market for is a man.” Tell that to your vagina that’s still thinking about Micah the sex god, the little devil on my shoulder said. “But it’ll be nice to have some eye candy.”
“If it’s eye candy you want, then you’ve come to the right place. Why, just next door there’s a man who could make your spine melt and your mouth water. Bonus, the fine young man wears a badge. Them boys in uniform are really somethin’.”
I already knew all about melting spines and watering mouths, and I seriously doubted Sylvia’s next-door neighbor could compete.
We spent the next few minutes catching up and finishing our cocktails. Sylvia left a short while later, taking the cobblestone path out back to her apartment, and I moved through the house, shutting off the lights and locking up before climbing the stairs to my new room.
It amazed me how, as soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be.
It was on that thought I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.