The House on Harbor Hill by Shelly Stratton

Author:Shelly Stratton [Stratton, Shelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

Part III

Camden Beach, Maryland

November 2016

CHAPTER 20

Aidan tried to avoid her.

He stayed out of the hallway when he heard the children clamoring in the morning—the boy screaming for his book bag and the little girl babbling her baby talk. He had set up the swing and play set in the backyard for them, as Delilah had asked him to, but now he avoided having a beer by the shed in the evenings to relax. That space was the children’s domain; he had relinquished it without a complaint, as long as he didn’t have to look at her. Aidan had even stopped eating breakfast and dinner in the dining room. Every night, Delilah would call upstairs, asking if he would come down. He would make an excuse for why he couldn’t have dinner with the entire brood. He would say anything to avoid having those magnetic blue eyes peering at him from across the table.

But, of course, he couldn’t ignore her completely. He could still hear her toddling through the house—the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of tiny feet over hardwood. Or he’d see her playing in the front yard, squealing and laughing as she and her brother tossed around the newly fallen leaves, her cheeks red from the blustery wind. Aidan had caught a glimpse of her and her older brother making “leaf angels” in a pile of leaves Aidan had raked only an hour earlier. He’d tried to pretend to be annoyed that he had to rake the pile again, but he had smiled at their play and shenanigans despite himself.

And today . . . today she was unavoidable. The little girl was right in front of him—or more accurately, right in front of his door.

Aidan had just loaded one of his old CDs into his stereo—Stevie Wonder’s greatest hits—and was humming along to the music while getting settled for the night when he turned around and saw her standing there in zebra-striped onesie pajamas. They froze simultaneously, staring at one another.

The little girl was the first to break the spell. Her cherubic face broke into a grin, revealing four teeth and two bright pink gums. She raised her arms over her head and started to do a little shimmy, clomping her feet and dancing in his doorway to “Sign, Sealed, Delivered.”

Watching her, Aidan couldn’t hold back his laugh. It burst from his mouth before he had a chance to control the volume. He started laughing so hard at her little dance routine, he had to hold on to the edge of the mattress to stay upright. Tears sprung to his eyes. Seeing him, she started to laugh too. Her girlish, high-pitched giggles filled his room and the entire corridor.

“Maggie! There you are!” her mother called out, rushing to the little girl’s side. She scooped her up into her arms, kissed her plump cheek, and turned to face Aidan. “I’m sorry if she was bothering you!” she shouted over the music. “I didn’t know she had wandered down here!”

He quickly shook his head and grabbed the remote to lower the stereo volume.

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