Chapter 20
Lee was right about the rating of the sleeping bag. Even at the top of the mountain, with his jacket bunched under her head
as a pillow, Thora slept soundly, never once waking with a chill.
As they walked back down toward Juniper, she felt the ringing of the bell reverberating in her. She had been gathering her
power, but she needed another day.
“Are you supposed to be at Woodhill House again today?”
“No, it’s Saturday.”
Thora had completely lost track of time. That felt good somehow, writerly. Bryony never knew what day of the week it was.
“Let’s see if your truck starts. We can go to Woodhill House and hang out for the day.”
“Do you want to spend the night there?” Lee asked.
“No. Whatever jokes Juniper’s playing on me, I can’t let it win. I won’t show weakness. A day away will be nice, but I’m going
back tonight.”
“I’m coming, too. I told you I wouldn’t leave you there alone until you know what’s going on.”
“I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure.”
“Do you feel safe there alone?”
Thora thought for a second. Nothing actually bad had happened. The closest was Lee’s cold room, but the frigidity merely woke
him up. The candlelit doorknob, if it was even real, beckoned her, but she hadn’t burned herself. Increasingly, concerningly,
she was losing faith she could emerge from the trance states the house kept putting her in without help.
“That pause was too long. I’m coming. Unless you don’t want me, of course.”
She wanted him. Oh, she wanted him. “Please, come back to Juniper with me tonight,” she said. “How much longer were you planning
on being in Woodhill?”
“We got everything done that we needed to during the walk-through yesterday. I’ll be back, of course, but I won’t need to
be on site much.”
Denise was waiting for him in Massachusetts. He had a whole life there that didn’t involve Thora at all. She had cast herself
as the star of his life, but she wasn’t sure the role was actually available.
“I’ll come back,” he assured her.
The truck engine turned over with no trouble. Thora declined to venture a theory for what had malfunctioned. Instead, she
decided to focus on how Lee held her hand as they drove into town. The act was ordinary but still wondrous. With Cody, she
was the sturdy base of a circus balancing act. Part of the show, sure, but supporting the obvious talent. Lee holding her
hand felt different, like they were a true duo.
When they got to Woodhill, no one was at the house but the dogs Lottie and Dottie. After some time rolling around on the floor with them, Thora decided to take advantage of the cell phone reception and call Mack using Lee’s phone.
“Where are you, Dottie?” Thora asked.
“More preparation for the Fall Festival,” she explained. “I’m on caramel apple duty because I’m the sucker with food safety
certification. I’ll be lucky if I survive the day without burns worse than yours.”
“You should have told us. We could have joined you.”
“No, trust me, I am sparing you. Jade is blowing up a million little balloons for the dartboard game. We have the teens working
on washing out the tanks for the duck races.”
“The duck races?”
“That’s where the real money is. Not that the kids know. I can hook you up if you want in on the action.”
“I don’t need a bookie, thank you.”
“Your loss. Little Miss Richie Rich is too good to bet on the ducks. Tell Leroy to cook us all dinner, will you? We’ll be
bushed when we get back.”
Thora laughed, both at Mack’s conversational hairpin turns and her audacious demand. Lee wouldn’t dare say no to such an ask.
The two set up in the sunroom that faced the lake, and the dogs divided themselves to sit at their feet. Lottie preferred
her namesake Thora, naturally. It was a perfect autumn day. She had a notebook, and she was determined to outline her book.
The first week at Juniper had certainly provided inspiration. Today, her lost house key plagued her. Now she wanted her characters
to find a secret key, perhaps to a haunted Model T, whose lights flashed and whose radio tuned in to creepy, old-timey music.
Thinking about a fictional haunted car was preferable to contemplating her all-too-real haunted house.
With her current situation, she would find an explanation for everything, or she’d live with the mystery.
There was a third option, of course: dying with the mystery.
Only the first two options were up for consideration, in reality and fiction.
In this case, her characters would figure out that mice were nesting inside the car or some other rational thing.
Thora would have to research what was possible.
Better to write first and correct later.
Meanwhile, Lee, with Dottie at his feet, sat in another chair in the sunroom writing in his notebook. He got up to make coffee,
then sandwiches. When they weren’t eating, they worked in a companionable silence, something Thora was not accustomed to.
Bryony piped classical radio at arena-rock-concert volume levels in every room of the penthouse; she said the rising and falling
emotions of the music inspired her. Thora couldn’t even escape to a bathroom.
“Whenever you’re at a good stopping point sometime, we should take out the canoe,” Lee said.
“Now is good,” she said.
As much as she loved being out on the water, what happened at Devil’s Cauldron gave her pause. Her hallucination, or whatever
it was, had put Lee in real danger. Still, he’d invited her to join him in an activity with a similar potential for risk,
so he probably wasn’t worried. She vowed not to worry either. She had never seriously believed in supernatural evil prior
to the past week, when too many sinister things happened that she couldn’t explain. She wasn’t ready to say what she might
believe. But she hoped whatever she and Lee had done on Moonrise Mountain last night might keep them safe on the pond.
The Old Town canoe rested upside down on the small sandy beach next to the dock. Thora and Lee flipped it over, and Lee gestured
for Thora to take her place in the bow.
“Life jackets,” she commanded. Despite knowing they were both strong swimmers, she needed the peace of mind. He didn’t disagree, and they clipped on the jackets before he pushed the canoe off the sand and stepped into the stern.
Thora started paddling, letting Lee steer them. He was taking the canoe along the shoreline. Staying close to land felt good
to her, too.
The water was glassy, calm, and clear. Little schools of fish darted under them, making Thora think of the glorious fish fries
they would sometimes have at Juniper. Her uncle caught and froze perch all year-round, saving the filets for when the family
was together at Juniper. If she was lucky, family members would behave long enough for her to eat her fill.
She pictured herself sitting next to George, who ate like a bird, telling him every detail of the day she’d had with Mack.
After sharing the newest legend she’d heard about Moonrise Mountain, she would deposit her collection of needles and cones
from every different conifer she saw into his hands, so he could show her how to differentiate them.
She wished she had let him talk, tell more of his own legends. She couldn’t be sure if it wasn’t in his nature to be forthcoming
or if she was simply too domineering even as a child. The eddies in the surface of the lake matched her swirling feelings
perfectly.
Eventually Lee steered the canoe toward the middle of the lake. “Let’s float here for a while,” he said.
Thora spun around on her seat to face him and set the oar down inside the canoe.
“What were you working on today?” she asked.
“I was doodling,” Lee said. “I was thinking about what could be done if you were interested in doing proper restoration and
winterization work on Juniper.”
Given how she scorned the improvements he made for George, she was surprised he hadn’t given up on her. “Seriously?”
“This is my last night there. Of course I’m thinking about it.”
It was increasingly hard to deny that his love for Juniper was as deep as hers.
“You shouldn’t do that work for free, Lee. I have the money to pay your architect fee.”
“I couldn’t ask you to pay. It would literally be my honor to work on it with you.”
Those words troubled Thora. They reminded her too much of how she felt in her relationship with Cody. When she was an idolator
instead of a partner. She had literally put Lee in that position last night. It wouldn’t do.
“Lee, I am bound to let you down.”
Lee flinched in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“It was foolish of me to ask you to worship me last night.”
His face softened, the sunshine making his bright smile gleam. “You know I wasn’t literally worshipping you, right?”
Now she felt even sillier. “No, of course. But it feels like I can do no wrong to you. You take every obnoxious thing about
me in stride.”
“Maybe you’re not obnoxious to me.”
Thora growled. “That’s impossible, Lee. I’m obnoxious to myself.”
“I’m not lying to you. Maybe you shouldn’t question it.”
“I have to question it. I have to question what you feel for me, and what I feel for you.”
Lee tilted his head. He looked a little wounded. “What do you feel for me?”
“I can’t name it yet, it’s too scary,” Thora said. “It wasn’t until this week that I could see you as anything other than
an enemy.”
“Grief was hard on you.”
This emotional generosity was actually enraging. “See? This is what I mean. I’m worried what you feel for me is some kind
of admiration instead of . . .” She trailed off.
“Instead of what, Thora?”
“You know.”
“I don’t. I’m going to need you to say what you mean.”
She could be brave. She really could. Juniper made her brave. “Are you falling in love with me?”
“I’ve fallen. I’ve landed.”
Shit. How could something be so thrilling and so terrifying at the same time? “How do you know? How do you know it’s not admiration,
or something else?”
“Who confuses love and admiration?”
“I do. I did with Cody. He was smart and ambitious and beautiful, and it made all the sense in the world to love him, so I