Page 66 of Power Play

“You know what else you could have warned me about?” she asked. “That you have a half-brother. Who apparently is not a fan. That’s some pretty big news.”

Right. Yeah. “It was just weird luck that we saw him right away.”

“Weird luck,” she said with a laugh. “I think what you mean to say is a shit show.”

A laugh barked out of me. “I don’t know, he threatened to beat me up. So… I think we’re really bonding.”

I grinned, waiting for her to laugh, but she gave me nothing.

I turned leftdown the beach road and then right into the first cove. There was a cul de sac filled with three homes. They were probably once grand, but now they looked weather beaten.

“You said this was Dillon’s house?” Kit asked.

“His late grandmother’s. He said it was charming.”

She made a sound in her throat full of doubt. Charming could cover a lot of ground. It could be amazing. Or it could be a doily-covered, terrifyingly doll-filled, mice infested nightmare. These two-story old saltbox houses with the one-sided sloped roof and giant chimneys looked like they could go either way.

“There it is,” Tess said. “Number 81.” I’d told her the address before we climbed in the car.

“Nice one,” I said, happy someone was excited.

I pulled into the gravel driveway and parked out of reach of the sap-dropping giant pine tree that covered half the parking area. The house was dark blue with bright white trim. There was a small front porch and a plain white door. Six dark windows looked down at us.

This was feeling more and more like a mistake.

“Let’s go!” Tess cried and jumped out of the truck, clutching her little brown bag of falafels. I got out slightly slower and immediately ran into a giant spiderweb, that crisscrossed my face and got caught in my mouth.

“Oh shit!’ I spat, pulling invisible strings off my face and brushing off my head. Hot and cold chills chasing each other across my skin. “Did I swallow it? Am I covered in spiders?”

“Stop,” Kit said, putting her hands on my shoulders. The light weight of her hands on my body, made me stop on a dime.She lifted her glasses and ran her hands over my hair and down my neck. I got chills again, of an entirely different kind.

“Oh no, Liam,” Tess said, looking up at my head with her eyes wide.

“What?” I cried. “What? There’s a spider on me, isn’t there?” I frantically shook and jumped, trying to knock whatever creature was clinging to me off my body.

Tess giggled. “I’m just kidding, but that means you’re afraid of spiders and bees.”

“You’re afraid of bees?” Kit asked and I glared at Tess.

“Uh huh,” Tess said.

“Let’s just say I’m not a fan of bugs in general. Or little girls who try and trick me,” I cried and then lifted her up and tossed her over my shoulder.

She shrieked and squirmed and laughed as I pretended to use her legs to clear away any spiderwebs as we walked to the front door.

I set her down on the front stoop and gave her the code to the keypad that had clearly been recently installed. On the second try she got it right and the old door creaked open, revealing a gigantic interior.

“Oh my gosh,” Kit said in awe.

The house was charming in the good way.

There was a massive stone fireplace with plenty of wood stacked beside it. There were two comfortable chairs cozied up in front of the hearth. A chess table between them. There was a huge harvest table that had seen years of use. A hutch with a hodge podge of China and dish ware. A long L-shaped couch that looked as new as the key pad. The wood floors were dark, wide panels, a reminder that this house was built using giant trees that had probably been cut down by hand two hundred years ago.

There was a kitchen with a modern gas stove and a dishwasher and a wall full of brass bottomed pots and pans.

A wooden doorway led to a screened in porch surrounded by trees, so looking out the screens it seemed like we were up in a tree house. The screened in porch was filled with comfortable older furniture and Tess immediately laid claim to a squishy couch, where she would undoubtedly try and spend hours reading.

Kit walked up to the big windows that faced the ocean. There was a stone patio with a barbecue and some reclining chairs. A dining room set that had seen better days. And from there a sandy path through the brush, over a small dune and down to the beach.

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