Chapter 15 #2
Her stumbling made Mrs. Chen immediately cut her off. “No need to explain. I shouldn’t pry. It’s just good to see you, and that’s enough! How long are you in town? I’d love to have coffee or tea and chat.” She winked. “Or even a cocktail, now that you’re of age.”
“Mrs. Chen!”
The older woman chuckled. “Call me Dotty. We’re adults.”
She’d always been Mrs. Chen in Kylie’s mind, but out of politeness she replied, “Of course, Dotty.”
Boy, did that feel weird.
“Kylie’s my nanny today!” Harriet piped up, making Mrs. Chen’s eyebrows fly over the rim of her glasses.
“What happened to Nicole?” Before Kylie or Harriet could explain, she cut them off. “Let me guess. She met the man of her dreams and is going to Hollywood to be a star.”
“How did you know?”
“Because the gossip mill is ahead of you by about thirty minutes. You know how small towns are.”
Kylie’s cheeks went warm.
She did.
And she was grateful to Luke for not blabbing about her donation box mishap.
“Mrs. Chen! Kylie is a trash fairy.”
Bending down slightly, but not at the knee, Mrs. Chen gave Harriet a confused look. “Kylie is a what?”
“A fairy baker,” Kylie said a little too loudly. The sound echoed through the high-ceilinged building, enough to make one of the librarians at the desk say “Shhh.”
“Yeah! A fairy baker. Only she doesn’t bake the fairies, because then they would be dead. Like Mommy,” Harriet replied, oblivious to the impact her words had on Mrs. Chen and Kylie, who both winced.
Kylie gave Mrs. Chen–Dotty–an amused look and explained. “I bake fairy muffins.”
“Did Kylie the fairy baker do this beautiful butterfly on your cheek?” Dotty stroked Harriet’s temple with a feather-soft caress. “And lightning on the other!”
“Yep! She’s really good.”
“I’ll bet she is.”
Harriet scampered off to the children’s section, three books in her arms before Kylie could wave to Dotty and catch up. As they browsed, she inhaled deeply, the Luview Library’s scent forever ingrained in her olfactory pathways.
Old books and woodsmoke.
Down in the basement, the little wood stove that warmed the place when the power went out was used weekly by a knitting group. Or, at least, she assumed it still was. Fifteen years ago, yes.
Now? Who knew?
“Kylie? Can you hold these?” Harriet plunked a stack of seven or eight books in her arms, and seemed ready to go back for more.
“Wait a minute! You need a limit. My arms are strong but not that strong, and we still have more walking to do.”
Harriet squeezed Kylie’s biceps. “Yours aren’t as big as Daddy’s.”
A blast of internal heat made Kylie lose focus as she pictured those arms, the ones she’d just seen as he ironed in his short-sleeve t-shirt. “Right.”
“Okay. Only eight.”
Kylie hefted the weight, making a decision. “Two more.”
Harriet grinned and ran off, easily finding more stories to add to the pile.
Checkout was electronic now, and they must have had Harriet’s library card in the computer system, because soon Dotty was sliding the stack across the counter with a grin.
“Here you go. Need a bag?”
“Thank you!”
Dotty pulled out an obviously re-used paper shopping bag with handles from a small basket. “Remind Luke to bring his extras in next time he’s here with Harriet.”
“Sure will.”
Dotty’s hand covered hers, a gentle squeeze making Kylie feel important. “I mean it about getting together, Kylie. I’ve always wondered about you.”
Tears threatened to overcome her.
She squeezed back.
“Thank you. You, too.” Kylie let go and scribbled her phone number on a piece of scrap paper, handing it to Dotty. “There. Now we’re in touch.”
“My day is all the better for it.”
Out in the foyer, Jester saw them through the glass doors and woofed lightly.
“You’re being summoned,” Dotty said with a laugh, waving them off, turning to answer a ringing phone.
The bag of books was harder to manage than she’d expected, Jester’s eager pull on the leash requiring all her attention to stay balanced.
“Kylie?” Harriet said shyly.
“Hmmm?”
“Can we just go back to the house and read?”
Kylie squinted one eye, mugging at her.
“You don’t just want to read, do you?”
Harriet’s eyes flew open.
Hah. Caught.
“How about this? We’ll go home, Jester can run around in the backyard, and I’ll read all these books to you.”
“ALL of them?”
“Yes. Then we’ll have lunch, and after that, you can have another fairy muffin.”
“And then we’ll build snow forts!”
“Deal.”
Harriet hugged her and they turned back toward the house, waving at Mrs. Petrinelli as they walked quickly past.
At the front door, she pulled out the piece of paper Luke had given her, his steady hand the same as when they were kids. Back then, he’d talked about being an architect, and his penmanship was like something you’d find on a house blueprint.
What made him become a police officer?
The code was easy and soon they were inside, Jester whining at his food bowl, Harriet using the bathroom, and Kylie surveying the house.
This would not do.
The general state of messiness in the house made more sense now that she knew Amber was gone, and Luke was a single dad. A single-dad widower, with a full-time job, no less. Raising Harriet alone had to be hard.
The Luview family helped him, though. She remembered Dean and Deanna Luview as warm, kind people, running the area’s big tree service company.
All four Luview kids had worked for their mom and dad at some point, and over the years, plenty of high schoolers had worked stacking wood that the Luviews sold by the cord.
Kylie, like lots of other local kids, took a part-time, seasonal job at Love You Chocolate as soon as she turned fourteen.
February always turned the town into a giant festival, with thousands of tourists pouring in, and the red foil heart chocolates famously sold by the company were a popular item.
But she’d only had that seasonal job for one year. Not the four or five she’d always assumed.
For certain, the Luviews would have rallied around Luke today, but they weren’t around.
He’d said they were in Germany visiting Dennis, which meant he must live there.
And Kell was in Los Angeles? Hmm. Of all the people in Luview, Kell was the last person she’d imagine ever leaving. Such a hometown guy.
For as much as the town looked the same, so much really had changed after all.
Shaking herself out of her own thoughts, she looked at the living room again and sighed.
“Any nanny worth her paycheck would have done better than this, though,” she said under her breath as she walked into the kitchen and looked at the fridge. At least it was mostly full. Looked like Luke had been sensible and shopped before the big holiday rush.
Finding her phone, Kylie opened up her trusty organization app and began voice dictation, a satisfying checklist forming before her eyes. Using some drag-and-drop fingertip techniques, within twenty minutes she had the rest of her day planned.
“Harriet,” she said, the little girl looking up from the television, “want to help me with a special project?”
“Sure!”
“We’re going to surprise your daddy.”
“He doesn’t like surprises.”
“I promise he’ll like this one.”
“Okay. What is it?”
Telling her they were about to clean up would be the fastest way to get Harriet to turn into a whimpering mess. She had to make it fun. A game.
An adventure.
“Fairies,” she whispered, “like to hide in dark places.”
“Right!”
“And they really like to hide in corners.”
Harriet looked at one and blinked rapidly.
“And under the beds and couches.”
A wary eye went to the easy chair in front of the television. “Are they here?”
“We can make them come out.”
“We can?”
Kylie nodded. If Harriet thought it was her own idea to straighten up, she’d be on board.
Jester made a snuffly sound, clearly taking a nap.
“I know!” Harriet whispered. “If we look everywhere and make less dark places, we can make them come out.”
“Oooo, I love it.” Kylie pulled out her app. Harriet looked over her shoulder.
“What’s that?”
“My organizing app.”
“I see my name on it.”
“You can read?”
“A little. My name and Jester and Amber and Luke. And my address, 14 Clannaugh Lane, Luview, Maine.”
“That’s great!”
“What’s the app say?”
“It says you should start by pulling out anything you find under the couch and chairs and putting it away. The fairies will only come out if there's nothing to hide behind.”
“OKAY!”
Kylie quietly pressed the checkbox next to “Convince Harriet.”
For the next two hours, they happily tidied to Taylor Swift songs, occasionally stopping to lip sync the extra cool lyrics. Kylie made sure they both stayed hydrated, and at lunchtime, she made sandwiches, carrot sticks, and pulled out the coveted muffins.
“Those fairies are really, really good at hiding,” Harriet said sadly. “We cleaned so good and didn’t find any!”
Faking a sympathetic pout, Kylie said in commiseration, “Sometimes the fairies outsmart us.”
“They sure do!”
Kylie winked. “We just have to try again tomorrow.”
Harriet’s yawn made Kylie squint one eye at her and ask, “Do you need a power nap?”
That stopped a protest short. “What’s a power nap?”
“It’s what the fairies do. You sleep, but you sleep extra intensely. You use less time and wake up with extra energy!”
“I want that! But can I do it on the couch?” Another yawn.
“Sure.”
Jester hopped up on the couch and snuggled in with Harriet, making Kylie pause.
“Is he allowed on the couch?”
“Daddy says no, but Aunt Colleen says yes.”
“Hmm.”
Kylie let it slide. It was just for one day, and she wanted the poor child to have fun. She was remarkably flexible for a little kid, and Kylie didn’t have to be a hammer dropper here.
The dog stayed.
And soon, Harriet was sound asleep.
Quickly, Kylie grabbed some dollhouse furniture from one of Harriet's toy sets and arranged it in the corner, sprinkled a little glitter on top, and smiled to herself, imagining the little girl waking up to the fairy magic.