The Ghosts of Idlewood by Bullock M.L

Author:Bullock, M.L. [Bullock, M.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-09-10T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten – Rachel

How quickly the weekend flew by! Just like Gran promised, the construction crew was pulling in the driveway as I left for work Monday morning. All I could do was shake my head at the idea of such a project. Gran’s generosity was humbling.

When I graduated from college I’d toyed with the idea of moving out into my own place; the Stuarts paid me well, despite their current situation. But Gran wouldn’t hear of it. She liked having us around, and she wasn’t the kind of woman who liked to control you. I had friends in and out of her house all the time growing up. That hadn’t changed, but there weren’t as many friends hanging out around the neighborhood anymore. Most of the young women my age were getting married, having babies and settling down into family lives of some sort or another. I wasn’t in a hurry. And I’d never been in love.

But then I met Angus. He intrigued me, and I knew right from the get-go that Gran wasn’t crazy about him. Which was also crazy, since she never disliked anyone. I guess that was the word for it. She wouldn’t talk about it; in fact, when she finally came downstairs to meet him, she barely spoke. Yeah, it was weird. I apologized to Angus, but he didn’t seem to notice that Gran was behaving strangely. Then again, how could he have known how she usually behaved? He was polite and friendly, and I liked him. Probably too much, too soon.

That first night we went for a walk around my neighborhood. Besides plenty of shade trees, there was a small park in the center of it that I loved to haunt when I could. I spent many a happy day hanging out with Julie and Karla on the swings. We called ourselves the “Swing Queens.” We’d challenge each other to see who could swing the highest, and it was amazing fun until Julie’s mother brought the hammer down on us. Of course that was after her daughter broke her arm falling from a ridiculous height. And it kind of freaked me out to see it. I never went that high on a swing again.

It was a warm evening, warmer than any we’d had so far this year, but some tidy homeowner was burning leaves somewhere so the air smelled like fall even though it was February. I adored the smell of burning leaves. We didn’t hold hands or anything romantic, but it was exciting. We talked about how he spent his early childhood in the U.K., sometimes in Scotland, sometimes in London with his grandparents. He’d moved to the U.S. about four years ago, but he said Alabama felt like home.

“Really? How is that? It’s got to be so different.”

“When I was a child, I lived in Mobile for about two years. Short stay, but I went to Morningside Elementary, and I hated leaving those friends behind when it was time to go. I spent the rest of my life getting back.

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