Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74225 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74225 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
My heart squeezed when the baby giggled, pulling on a crown necklace Ray wore around her neck. “Hi, Ray, come on in,” I said, and then my thoughts immediately went to Preppy. “Is everything okay?” I tried not to let my sudden sense of panic seep into my voice.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to come by and say that I’m sorry about what happened this morning with Preppy,” Ray said, looking around the empty living room while bouncing the giggling baby.
“It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault,” I said. “Wait, how did you know where I was?”
“Small town. Just gotta throw a rock in the right direction.”
“Hi, I’m Brandon,” Brandon said, introducing himself and extending his hand to Ray.
“Hi, so great to meet you, Brandon,” Ray said. “I’m Ray and this here is little Nicole Grace.”
"Awe, like after Grace, Grace?" I asked as Brandon and Ray shook hands.
Ray cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, like the one and only," she said, covering her suspicious reaction with another smile.
“Well nice to meet you, Nicole Grace,” Brandon cooed in his best baby voice. He shook the baby’s hand with his thumb.
“I’m so sorry. I should have introduced the two of you,” I apologized. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now, and it seems that my manners didn’t make the list.”
“No worries,” Ray said taking a stroll about the room, checking out the bare walls and low-hanging wood beams that ran across the ceiling. “I saw the for sale sign in the car. Is this your place? You’re selling it?”
I nodded. “It used to be my grandmothers,” I rocked back on my heels with my hands in my back pockets, happy to be back in the house, even if it was just for a short while.
“It’s beautiful,” Ray said, admiring the view of the backyard through the filthy kitchen window. Even though the place was in shambles, I believed her compliment was genuine, because she was looking around like she could see the house for the place it could be again, and not the place it was. “I’ll keep my ears open, and if I hear about anyone who's looking to buy, I’ll send them your way,” she offered.
“Well then I’ll give you the grand tour, so you know what you’ll be sending them too,” I said, leading the way down the hall. Ray followed close behind. “Although I will warn you. The house isn’t super big, so it’s going to be a very short tour.” Ray laughed, and so did the baby.
“I’ll go get the rest of the stuff out of the car,” Brandon said, heading out the front door.
“My grandfather built this house," I said. "It’s three bedrooms and two bathrooms although I know it doesn't look it from the outside." I opened the first hallway door. “This used to be my room.” Ray peeked her head inside, and I shut the door again. There would be plenty of time for me to sit and stare at the strawberry wallpaper and faded yellow curtains and I didn’t want to break out in tears in front of my guest.
“You used to live here, too?” Ray asked.
“Only during the summers when I was a kid. This visit is the first time I’ve been here in years though.” I showed her the bathroom in the hallway and Mirna’s old room before opening the door at the end of the hall. The mechanics of the former grow house might have been long gone, but the signs that it was once there were all around. The hooks in the ceiling. The nails in the walls where the pipes were connected.
“So that’s how you know, Preppy,” Ray lamented, taking a look around the room.
“Yeah, sort of,” I admitted.
“When you came to the house, you really didn’t know Preppy was alive, did you?” Ray asked.
“It was the shock of a lifetime,” I admitted. “I still can’t believe it.” I closed the door and led us back out to the kitchen. I touched my hand to my throat, feeling the swollen markings left by Preppy's hands.
I opened the sliding glass door to the backyard. Between the boards of the faded wooden deck, weeds grew from underneath, creating huge gaps between the panels. The lawn where Mirna taught me to meditate was grown over, having merged with the field behind it at some point. A train whistled in the distance.
“Well,” Ray said, mulling over my answer. She set the baby in front of her on the counter and smiled down at the adorable chubby-cheeked infant. "That was one hell of a tour."
I looked down at the baby who had stuck one of Ray’s fingers in her mouth and was gnawing away on it with her gums. “May I?” I asked hesitatingly, holding out my arms.
“Oh, of course,” Ray said, picking Nicole Grace off the counter and setting her in my arms. My chest constricted, and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.