Heroes Are My Weakness(43)

Jaycie moved her dust rag across the bookshelves. “Oh. That was probably good.”


THE WINE WAS ONE MORE disappointment. Annie tracked each bottle online. The most expensive was a hundred dollars, definitely pricey, but all of them together weren’t enough to qualify as a legacy. As she closed the lid to her laptop, she heard Jaycie at the kitchen door. “Livia! You’re not supposed to be outside. Come here right now!”

Annie sighed. “I’ll get her.”

Jaycie hobbled out into the hallway. “I’m going to have to start punishing her.”

Jaycie was too softhearted. Besides, they both recognized that it wasn’t right to keep an active child inside all day. As Annie put on her coat and gathered up Scamp, she decided that being a decent person was a pain in the ass.

She found Livia crouched on her heels by the tree stump. The little girl had added something new to the double row of sticks stuck in the ground in front of the hollow stump. A small pavement of stones now formed a pathway under the stick canopy to the tree hollow entrance.

Annie finally realized what she was looking at. Livia had built a fairy house. They were common in Maine, handmade dwellings for any fanciful creatures who might dwell in the woodlands. Made of sticks, moss, pebbles, pinecones—whatever was available in nature.

Annie sat cross-legged on the cold ledge stone and propped Scamp on her knee. “It’s me,” Scamp said, “Genevieve Adelaide Josephine Brown, otherwise known as Scamp. Whatcha doing?”

Livia touched her new stone pavement, almost as if she wanted to say something. When she didn’t, Scamp said, “It looks like you built a fairy house. I like to build things. I made alphabet letters out of Popsicle sticks once, and I made tissue paper flowers, and I made a Thanksgiving turkey from a cutout of my hand. I’m quite artistic. But I never built a fairy house.”

Livia kept her attention firmly fixed on Scamp, as if Annie didn’t exist.

“Have the fairies visited?” Scamp asked.

Livia’s lips began to part, as if she wanted to say something. Annie held her breath. The child’s brow furrowed. Her mouth closed, opened again, and then everything about her seemed to wilt. Her shoulders sagged, her head dropped. She looked so miserable that Annie regretted trying to push her.

“Free secret!” Scamp shouted.

Livia looked up, her gray eyes coming alive again.

Scamp pressed one of her small cloth hands to her mouth. “This is a bad one. Remember you’re not allowed to get mad.”

Livia nodded solemnly.

“My free secret is . . .” Scamp lowered her voice to a near whisper. “One time I was supposed to pick up my toys, but I didn’t want to, so I decided to go exploring instead, even though Annie told me not to go outside. But I did anyway, and she didn’t know where I was, and it made her really scared.” Scamp paused for breath. “I told you it was bad. Do you still like me?”

Livia’s head bobbed in an emphatic nod.

Scamp leaned back against Annie’s chest. “It’s not fair. I told two free secrets, but you haven’t told me even one.”

Annie could feel Livia’s longing to communicate—the tension gathering in her small body, the misery etched into her delicate features.

“Never mind!” Scamp exclaimed. “I have a new song. Did I mention that I’m an amazing singer? I will now perform for you. Do not sing along—I’m a solo artist—but feel free to dance.”

Scamp launched into an enthusiastic version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” During the first chorus, Annie came to her feet and danced along, Scamp bobbing above her crossed arm. Livia soon joined in. By the time Scamp delivered the final chorus, Livia and Annie were dancing together, and Annie hadn’t coughed once.


ANNIE DIDN’T SEE THEO THAT day, but the next afternoon, as she and Jaycie continued attacking the sunroom, he made his presence known. “It’s a text from Theo.” Jaycie looked down at her phone. “He wants all the fireplaces cleaned. He’s forgotten I can’t do this.”

“He hasn’t forgotten anything,” Annie retorted. Trust Theo to find a new way to torture her.

Jaycie gazed at Annie over the purple hippopotamus tied to the top of her crutch. “It’s my job. You shouldn’t have to do this kind of thing.”

“If I don’t, I’ll deprive Theo of his entertainment.”

Jaycie collapsed against the bookcases, sending a leather-bound volume tumbling to its side. “I don’t understand why the two of you don’t get along. I mean . . . I remember what happened, but that was a long time ago. He was just a kid. And I never heard about him getting into trouble again.”

Because Elliott would have hushed it up, Annie thought. “Time doesn’t change a person’s basic character.”

Jaycie regarded her earnestly, the most naive woman on earth. “There’s nothing wrong with his character. If there was, he’d have fired me.”

Annie bit back a pointed retort. She wouldn’t inflict her own cynicism on the only real friend she had here. And maybe she was the one with the character flaw. After everything Jaycie had been through in her marriage, it was admirable that she could still maintain her optimism about men.


WHEN ANNIE ENTERED THE COTTAGE that night covered with soot, she was greeted with the sight of Leo straddling the back of her couch like a cowboy riding a horse. Dilly sat in a chair, the empty wine bottle from two nights ago in her lap. Crumpet was sprawled on the floor in front of an open copy of the pornographic art photo book, while Peter had crept up behind her to look under her skirt.