Chapter 8
Alethea woke to a purring Dandelion sitting on her chest, her furry face so close to her own that the cat’s pink nose was taking up most of her field of vision. “Ooof, okay, get off me Princess, I can’t breathe,” Alethea managed to squeak out under the full weight of her cat. Dandelion took her time getting up, making sure to indulge in a full body stretch before slowly climbing down off her chest. “How the heck did you get in here, anyway?” Alethea glanced at the still shut door to her bedroom. She kicked off the quilted bedspread with tiny pink rosebuds embroidered on it. “Let me guess, Aunt Scarlet didn’t feed you before she left, did she? I’m sorry Princess, you must be very displeased.” She loved teasing her cat no matter how indifferent Dandelion remained.
Judging from the dim sunlight filtering in through the second story window, it was early yet. Alethea tiptoed past the guest rooms where Priya and Danica still slept and instinctively avoided the creaky floorboard as she padded down the stairs in her bare feet, Dandelion silently trailing behind. There was a box of muffins on the counter along with a note written in perfectly neat cursive on some old stationery from the Audubon Society. Alethea ran her finger over the sweet drawing of a robin and its nest on the notecard. Her aunt had thoughtfully left her some more instructions about how to work the fussy water heater, the contact info for a local contractor, and a recommendation for a new food truck that parks by some of the more popular trail heads in the area. She smiled to herself as she read her aunt’s pristine penmanship then folded the note in half and tucked it under the side of the carnival glass fruit bowl. Deep down, she had really missed her aunt, and last night had helped fill a void she hadn’t realized was there.
Alethea rummaged through a few of her bags in the parlor until she found Dandelion’s kibble and gave her impatient feline a generous helping for breakfast, setting her food dish down next to the french doors in the kitchen that opened up to the backyard. Bending down to search the lower cabinets in the kitchen, Alethea found what she was looking for right away. Her father’s old electric percolator. It may be an ancient relic but that old coffee pot brewed a perfect cup every time.
Her aunt was a self-proclaimed coffee snob, and Alethea inhaled deeply as she opened a bag of fair trade Ethiopian beans. That smell was so familiar. As she mindlessly went through the motions of making coffee in this kitchen the way she had a hundred times before, that odd tingling sensation began traveling down her body again, her vision going blurry. Suddenly she was sitting at the kitchen table with her mother and Aunt Scarlet. The three of them were playing cards, and her mom was laughing so hard that tears were falling down her cheeks, her dark hair in ringlets framing her face. Aunt Scarlet’s coffee mug was filled to the brim, and a plate of gingerbread cookies lay next to it. Alethea went to reach her hand out for a cookie, but a loud noise caught her attention.
As the percolator began to bubble and hiss, the noise jolted Alethea out of the memory, her whole body tingling like she had stuck her finger in a socket, but her vision returned to normal. “Whoa, that was intense,” she said out loud, more to herself than to Dandelion, who had stopped mid-chew to stare up at her from her food bowl.
“What was intense?” Danica’s voice was louder than it should have been for this time of the morning as she sleepily shuffled into the kitchen and let out a big yawn.
“Oh, nothing.” She hoped she hadn’t replied too quickly. Her friends could always tell if she wasn’t being truthful, not that it was very hard to, though. Alethea was a terrible liar. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you guys up.”
“Nah, it’ll be good for us to get an early start anyway.” Typical Danica, ever the optimist, seeing the glass as half full. Alethea wondered in amazement where her friend found all her energy, as she watched Danica cheerfully begin stretching.
“Mmmm, that coffee smells amazing.” Priya hadn’t been very far behind Danica, her soft satin slippers making a swishing sound as she glided across the linoleum. “And I’m glad we’re up early, too. I can’t wait to explore this place!”
“Oh my god, look at the size of these muffins!” Danica was already breaking into the pink cardboard box from the cafe. The giant orange-raspberry muffins were covered in a crunchy sugar topping and looked way too good not to instantly devour. She passed a muffin to each of the other two.
“I’m going to have to figure out how they got the orange and raspberry flavors so intense without using extracts,” Priya was mumbling to herself with her mouth full, her mental gears already turning with an experimental recipe.
“Well they’re from the cafe in town, so maybe you can sniff out the secret from the baker.” Alethea’s suggestion may have been one with an ulterior motive. She knew that Priya experimenting with getting a recipe just right meant lots of taste-testing, and Alethea was always the first to volunteer for that job.
The three friends filled their coffee mugs with the rich, dark brew and set out to explore the rambling house. They walked into the dining room first, taking in the worn, damask wallpaper and chipped crown molding. “Definitely needs some touch ups.” Priya typed a few notes into her phone and took a picture of the molding. She brightened as she looked down at the wide-plank flooring. “Luckily, they kept the original hardwood floors in here. They’re absolutely gorgeous.” She squatted down to get a closer look at the large planks made from cherry wood.
The imposing dining room table took up most of the length of the room and looked original to the timeframe when the house was built. “Kinda weird to think that so many generations of my family have eaten their meals here over the years.” Alethea felt a shiver as she touched the dark mahogany table, whose hard edges had been smoothed over time from use. She pictured her mother and Aunt Scarlet sitting here, and her grandmother before them. Images of the succession of women who had all sought respite and sustenance at this one worn table flooded her mind.
Lost in thought, Alethea was startled when Dandelion jumped up onto the dining room table and skidded to a halt in front of her. “Well there you are!” She leaned over and was about to give her cat a good scratch under her chin when Dandelion reached up and gave her a loving head butt instead. She began purring and rubbed the side of her furry little face against Alethea’s forehead.
The three friends, now with Dandelion in tow, continued to explore the remaining rooms on the bottom floor. Even though she knew it was a silly thought, Alethea couldn’t help but get the feeling that the house was welcoming them as they walked into each new room. She was pleasantly surprised, not remembering her old home feeling so inviting and cozy. Each overstuffed settee and soft wingback chair beckoned her to pick out a good book from one of the many bookshelves and curl up next to the window with a steaming cup of tea. She could tell her friends could feel it too by the way they oohed and aahed at the cozy reading nooks and fireplace seating they discovered on their tour.
Priya diligently kept a running checklist of necessary improvements as they went from room to room, the group deciding what had to go or be changed. Mostly, the house just needed new floors and updated wall colors, a few pieces of new furniture here and there, and maybe a Keurig, but so far so good. Nothing major that would break the bank. Redoing the linoleum kitchen floor and the pastel carpet in the parlor would require bringing in a contractor, along with a few other odds and ends, but most of the other touch-ups the women figured they were perfectly capable of handling themselves.
“Time to head upstairs!” Danica said, stopping on the landing and craning her neck upwards, seeming impressed. “I’ve been wanting to take a closer look at this, now that it’s daylight.” She took in the large circular stained glass window on the back wall of the house. The brilliantly colored glass, intricately designed into a collage of flowers, was more art piece than window. It was a truly stunning backdrop to the entryway and cast prisms of colored light in diamond patterns on the staircase.
It took them almost twice as long to go through the expansive second floor of the house, including the tower leading up to a third floor loft that offered a view of the nearby mountains. Alethea’s favorite part of the house, however, was the master suite, her parent’s old room, with grand double doors leading out onto a balcony that overlooked the backyard. The delicate white spindles that formed the half-moon railing were ornate, and their intricate carving reminded Alethea of something from a fairy tale. She felt like a princess, standing out in the gentle morning breeze, watching the birds take turns in the crumbling lime-washed bird bath below.
When the grand tour of Queenie was finally over it was almost time for the movers to arrive to pick up Aunt Scarlet’s boxes. Priya decided to go downstairs to dig out her backpack and retrieve her laptop, wanting to organize her notes about the house renovation into a spreadsheet while everything was still fresh in her mind.
“So, should we go check out our digs while we wait for the movers to get here?” Danica asked Alethea, who nodded excitedly and searched among the myriad of keys that hung on the wooden key holder by the door in the kitchen that led outside. She spotted a brass skeleton key with a little maroon tag attached that read “Cottage” and grabbed it off the hook. Her parents had converted the old gardener’s quarters into a guest cottage when Alethea was little, and her aunt had kept it well looked after. Alethea and Danica walked to the far corner of the backyard where the small stone structure covered in vines stood solidly. The thick wooden door was painted a rich hunter green and its intricate brass hinges were tarnished almost to match. As Alethea reached to unlock the door, her hand jerked forward and the key seemed to pull itself toward the lock, almost as if it was magnetized.
“That was weird,” she said softly as the door popped open.
Danica looked at her questioningly and Alethea just shrugged. “Old locks can be funky sometimes.” The two women walked into the two bedroom guest cottage and looked around the small living room/dining room combo.
“Oh wow, Al, how cool!” Danica was clearly impressed. The cottage had been lovingly decorated by Alethea’s mother in a warm, mid-century modern vibe. She took in the large Warhol print on the far wall hanging above a camel colored record player cabinet. “This is a perfect backdrop for streaming my classes!” The small sitting area was done in the palette of a desert sunset and had just enough room for Danica to spread her yoga mat out lengthwise and prop her computer gear on the small dinette table. There was even a tiny brick fireplace and one in the larger bedroom as well.
“I’m glad you like it.” Alethea was relieved after they had taken a quick look at the bedrooms. “I know it’s kinda cramped in here for the three of us but hopefully we’ll be spending most of our time in the main house anyway.”
“Hey, Alethea!” The hollering came from across the lawn where Priya was sticking her head out of an open french door. “The movers are here!”
“We’ll be right there!” Alethea yelled back as she and Danica closed the door to the cottage behind them and made their way across the bright green lawn, the dewy grass feeling refreshing on her bare feet.
Dandelion observedthe shouted exchange from the safety of the overgrown garden that flanked the side of the yard between the house and the cottage. Better to watch from out here, no need to expose herself to the strong smells and loud noises of the movers. Truth be told, Dandelion was glad for the forced break while she waited for the humans to take their sweet time moving Aunt Scarlet’s belongings. Luckily, the girls were moving their trunks and bags into the cottage today and wouldn’t muss things up in the house any further. Her meticulous examination of her home included checking every inch of the house. She had been gone a long time and needed to make sure everything was in its proper place, especially given the events that had begun unfolding.