5. Ember
EMBER
Ipeek through the curtains, and then hold in a cough when years of dust poof into the air. I wave it away with my hand, clearing the air in front of me so I can spy on Devon trying to free himself from the hole.
Serves him right. Him and his pompous attitude. Frosty for sure, and now I’m going to add Mr. Downer to the list.
In order for a hidden door to be found, people, you know, need to not know about it.
Jackass. It wasn’t so much that he told me people already knew about it. It was a hidden door for me. Then he went and ruined my day of exploring by telling me exactly where the door would lead. Who does that? It’s like telling someone on the beach the end to the book they’re reading.
It might have taken me a long time to figure it out but people who dim the lights of others are just miserable ninnies. That’s right. Ninnies.
The front gate clangs, and my gaze darts up to find the nice woman, Bea, from the meeting walking up the overgrown sidewalk with two coffee cups in her hand. That’s right. She owns the café. She tests her foot on the front stair, and I hear Devon say, “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
The gasp she lets out even startles me.
I run to the front door while Bea hurries up the steps toward Devon. “Here. Let me help you,” she says.
“No need for that,” I say to her sweetly after swinging the door open. “Devon, here, knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Bea stands, her black hair is in a side ponytail, pumpkin earrings dangling from her ears. She looks between the two of us. I have no doubt he’s scowling at me right now, and I would return it if I didn’t want to chase someone nice away.
“I seem to have stumbled onto something weird here.”
“Nope. Not weird at all. You see, this is fate’s way of getting back at Devon. I fell through the porch last night, and he left me here all alone.”
Bea’s nose pinches. “That doesn’t sound like Devon.”
“It does to me.”
Bea narrows her gaze between us then offers a coffee cup to me. “I brought you this. Pumpkin spice latte. I figured you’d be busy inside the manor all day and would need a pick-me-up.”
“You are a queen.” Instead of just taking the coffee from her, I pull her in for a quick hug. “You have no idea.”
“I didn’t know you’d be keeping Devon hostage though…”
“Oh, I’m not keeping him hostage.” I move to stand next to Bea, taking the cap off the coffee and inhaling. “No, he’s free to leave at any time.”
“She’s blackmailing me.”
Bea peers over, and I shrug. “The weird thing is, everyone in town keeps saying that Devon Lachey will help me. Sure, find Devon, and he’ll help you with your car.
” I gesture with my hands. “Here’s the number to the town handyman, he’ll help you.
Instead, all I get is this grumpy face who refuses to have anything to do with me. ”
“To be fair, it’s not personal. I wouldn’t want anything to do with whoever bought Sleepy Hollow Manor.”
“Oh, is that all?” I mock. “Let me just give it back.”
His gaze look hopeful, but I roll my eyes, and his face falls again.
“Let me guess, you wanted the manor?”
“I did.” He shakes his head. “I do.”
“Well, you could’ve bought it. My real-estate agent said it had been on the market for a while.”
He clenches his jaw, and for some reason, I feel a bit of solidarity having Bea by my side. Or maybe it’s just because I’m standing over him, and I know he’s currently in a vulnerable position.
I take a sip of the pumpkin spice latte and still. I swallow the happy flavors in my mouth and smile. It’s perfect. “Oh my gosh, Bea. This is delicious.”
“Thank you.” She follows it up with a genuine grin of her own.
I place my hand on her shoulder. “I’m so relieved we have a good café in town. You just got yourself a customer for life.”
“Surely you’re not staying that long,” Devon grinds out.
“Oh, I am. I’m staying forever. Maybe even when I die, I’ll haunt the place, and if anyone tries to sell it to you or any of your descendants, I’ll curse and haunt them too.”
Bea chuckles, then hooks her thumb at me. “I like her.” Then, she turns toward me. “I like you. Do you need a best friend?”
“Do I?” I ask sarcastically. “I so do.” I hook my arm in hers and lead her around Devon and into the house. “I hope you can stay for a while.”
“I’m not sure I would want to miss this for the world.”
I call out over my shoulder, “The offer still stands. Let me know when you want help.”
Bea’s shoulders shake next to mine, then she leans over conspiratorially. “He’s always been a bit of a grump, but I’ve never seen him act this way toward a stranger.”
“I’m just lucky then.”
I steer her toward the ballroom since the hidden door is not so secret.
I push the double doors open, leaving them to creak and groan, widening to reveal a dark room with only shafts of light coming in around huge, draping velvet curtains.
Ornate black window fixtures hold them up.
It looks majestic and creepy, but when I flick the old timey lights on, the real picture emerges.
It looks less creepy and more cluttered and dirty, unattended.
“What do you think?” I ask, walking into the middle of the tile floor, swinging my arms out wide, careful not to spill my coffee, and spinning in a slow circle.
“I haven’t been here in ages.” She runs her fingers across a thin table that sits under arched trim work, leaving a clear line in the dust. “It’s shabbier than I remember.”
“No doubt,” I say. “But the potential.” She opens her mouth to say something, but I interrupt. “As my new bestie, I think you’re required to agree with me.”
She laughs. “I just think it’s a lot of work.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to get much help.
” I glare behind her. I left the front doors open, so I can still see a sliver of Devon as he struggles to get out of the hole.
I’m usually not so crass. I’m more the give-the-shirt-off-my-back person, but I meant it when I told Devon he brought out the worst in me.
I’m finding it hard to feel bad for him.
“Maybe it’s just a lot of elbow grease?” Bea adds hopefully, though the frown on her lips makes me think she doesn’t believe it.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” I say, my voice overflowing with whimsy, even to me.
I can’t help it. I’ve been dreaming about this for the longest time.
I imagine fall parties and people dressed in costumes, dancing in this huge space.
Maybe even a Children’s Haunted House, where just the ambience of this space would be enough to have them freaked out.
“In that case,” Bea says. “I’d be happy to help. I can’t fix floorboards though.”
My lip curls into a half grimace. “Neither can I.”
“Did you really blackmail him?”
I chuckle. “Not really. I told him I’d be happy to help him out of there—which is more than he did for me—if he’d agree to come look at the ballroom to see what could be done about it.”
“So, you really offered him a favor.”
“Absolutely.” I take another drink of the pumpkin spice latte and close my eyes when I swallow. “This really is good. What else do you have there? I’ll have to stop by soon.”
“Girl, do. We have baked goods and all the coffee you could want.” She holds out her drink to me, and I hit mine against hers to cheers.
“I was also thinking that you should contact the mayor about getting on the Haunted Historic Tour. She’d probably want you to fix up the outside a bit, but this could be the main attraction. ”
“The Haunted Historic Tour, huh?” My heart skips a beat. This is exactly the kind of thing I imagined.
“It’s heavy on the historic and less on the haunted, but either you or someone else pretends to be someone who used to live in the house.
They tell the history of the house to people walking by in groups, and man, the manor has so much history.
I think there’s a book in the local library written about it.
You should definitely read it. It’s quite the landmark. ”
“That sounds amazing. I’ll ask her about that.”
“She’s savvy, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already thought about it. She might be dragging her feet because of Devon.”
“What about Devon?”
Bea peers at Devon, then back to me. “Did no one tell you?”
I peer at her, as confused as ever.
“Devon is her son.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Just my luck.
“No, no one has mentioned that yet.” Worst case scenarios bounce through my head.
If Devon is going to ruin this opportunity for me instead of being just a nuisance, I’m going to scream.
A full I’m-being-chased-by-a-masked-man-with-a-knife scream. “Do you think that might be a problem?”
Bea shrugs. “They’re a good family, but you did see the way he left the meeting yesterday.”
“He certainly wasn’t happy. Do you know why he wants to own the place?”
She scrunches up her nose, then takes a drink of her own. “Not really. Devon’s grandparents used to live next door, so he was more familiar with the manor than me.”
I tap my fingernail against my chin. Maybe it would be smarter to keep him as an ally. Not that I can force him to do anything. He seems dead set against me or anything to do with the manor.
“Maybe we should help him up.”
Bea sighs in relief. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”
She walks toward the porch, and I glumly follow. I suppose just because he left me stranded doesn’t mean I have to do the same.
“Come on, Dev. Let’s go,” she says, stopping to the left of him.
I park myself to the right and reach down, grabbing him under the arm.
“I’m fine,” he protests. “I was almost free.”
“Yeah, sure,” Bea says.
“Well, be careful. This porch isn’t safe.”
I roll my eyes. It’s just one section that happens to be in the main walkway, but whatever.
“One, two,” I count, and on three, Bea and I pull with our hands as Devon pushes off with his foot.
Once he’s free, he takes a big step forward and brushes off his jeans. Streaks of dirt are left behind, and I spot a trail of blood heading into his sock before he can pull it down and cover it.
Great. Just what I need.
“Listen, I gotta go back to the café,” Bea says. “Stop by, Em. My bestie’s first meal is on the house.”
Devon grumbles underneath his breath something about Bea being a traitor.
“You got it,” I call out over him. Devon starts to walk off after her, but I stop him. “Just wait right there. You’re bleeding. I’ll grab you something to put on it and a Band-Aid.”
“Afraid I’ll sue?”
“Actually, yeah. You seem like that kind of person. It would be a good way to win the property, don’t you think?”
The twinkle he gets in his eye makes my stomach uneasy. Man, this guy might stop at nothing to rip my dream right from my dust-covered fingers.