Page 52 of The Glittering Edge

“Oh!” The third De Luca sister, Emilia, steps up to Penny and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. She’s willowy, with a gauzy brown scarf threaded around her neck and tangling with her brown hair. “I should’ve known! You look exactly like Nathan.”

Everyone knows everyone in Idlewood, so it’s strange the De Lucas didn’t recognize her immediately. But the family does keep to themselves, and Emilia makes Penny feel so calm that she doesn’t dwell on it. “I get that a lot.”

Donna looks her up and down. “Too skinny.”

Emilia gasps. “Pasta! I’ll grab a bag.”

Emilia and Donna scuttle off to the kitchen, leaving Penny with Vera and Alonso. Vera stands with her arms crossed, an unreadable expression on her face.

“No offense,” Vera says, “but why are you here?”

Finally, Alonso finds his voice. “We were studying.”

“During summer break?”

“Penny’s good at physics. She’s tutoring me.”

Penny decides not to mention she got a C+ in physics last year. She nods, but she puts too much effort into it, and the entire top half of her body rocks forward.

Vera narrows her eyes. She’s not buying it.

Luckily, Emilia and Donna appear and shove two Ziploc bags full of frozen pasta into Penny’s arms.

“Tagliatelle and farfalle,” Emilia says. “Donna made them herself.”

“Best pasta you’ve ever had,” Donna says. “And if it’s not, you’d better never tell me that.”

“Thank you,” Penny says.

“She’ll be late for work,” Alonso lies, stepping between them and herding Penny onto the porch.

“Bye, Penny!” Emilia says in her soft, lilting voice, and then Alonso slams the door in her face.

It takes five seconds for Penny to remember how to move her limbs. She clutches the bags of pasta closer to her chest as they begin to sweat in the heat. That probably could’ve gone worse, right?

Penny walks to the Prius, deliberately not looking at the Barrion mansion across the street. Now that she knows how much grief lives behind the walls of Meredith House, she’s almost embarrassed, as if she holds some power over them that she never wanted in the first place. She’s so distracted by this that she almost misses the final member of the De Luca family.

In the highest turret of the De Luca home, a cat sits at the window, still as a gargoyle. Penny squints, trying to get a closer look.

The cat doesn’t move. But Penny is positive the animal is staring directly at her.

Alonso

THE SECOND THE FRONT DOOR CLOSES, EMILIA AND DONNA DE LUCAwaste no time. They scuttle into the living room and draw back the heavy drapes, squinting through the dirty windows as Penny walks down the driveway.

“Can you not,” Alonso says.

Aunt Emilia’s eyes are bright, like she’s watching a sunrise. “Oh, Alonso, she’s darling.”

“Her eyes are too big for her face,” Aunt Donna says. “I like it.”

Emilia grabs Alonso’s hands. “You must bring her over for dinner. Right, Vera?”

Alonso’s mother hasn’t moved from her position by the front door. When he meets her eyes, it’s like she takes a pin to the balloon filling his chest.

For about an hour, Alonso’s worlds collided. Penny was in his house, the place where he’s lived his entire life. Every time he looked at her, she was taking in the details—decorations, paintings, even flaws Alonso hadn’t thought about for years. Her reaction almost made Alonso see his life from a new angle. As if it was something wondrous. As if she might not mind being part of it.

But now, looking at his mother, that hope disappears.

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