Page 13 of Mending Fences
When she returned, the living room was straightened. Even the DVD was put away. She sighed. He had cleaned up and disappeared. She heard water in the kitchen sink running and followed the sound. “Thanks. You didn’t need to do the dishes.”
“And miss an excuse to spend more time in this kitchen? At first I thought none of the plates matched because you got the free ones at the end of garage-sale days, but it is deliberate, isn’t it?”
Mandy leaned into her crutches. “A little of both.”
“Is the rest of the house this way? Other than the living room, it is so—”
“Boringly normal after the kitchen?”
Daniel dried his hands on a towel and turned to face her. “Not exactly the way I would have put it.”
“Do you want a tour?”
“Are you up to giving one?” He pointed to her crutches.
“Sure, but I’ll warn you, the house is a maze. The main part dates back to the sixties, but sometime in the eighties it got added on twice. Then, when Candace got ahold of it, she moved a wall or two. The hallway circles around the entire place.”
Mandy continued through the kitchen to the eating area.
“Who are Tessa and Araceli?” Daniel traced the names painted on the placemats.
“Our roommates. Tessa is in Europe on a stained-glass apprenticeship, and Araceli is recovering from a nasty case of mono at home in Massachusetts. Since they plan on coming back, they still have rooms here. It is quiet this semester.”
They entered a hallway. To one side a glass door opened into a sunroom filled with easels, and canvases. Cupboards lined one wall. “This is our studio. Candace’s father designed the room with controllable blinds and special lighting, so we can paint day or night. There is also a separate air-filter system, so she can oil paint or even airbrush without fumes entering the main house.”
They passed two closed doors, their chalkboard nameplates declaring the rooms to be occupied by the missing roommates.
“This is the Nemo bathroom.” Mandy pushed open a door labeled “Mermaids only.”
Daniel stepped into the room. “It looks like every animated movie with an ocean scene is in here. Hey, is that Mr. Limpet?”
“Wow, no one ever notices him, but then most people didn’t watch movies with Grandma Mae. The Nautilus is in the corner behind the toilet, but no squid. You’ll notice the jetted tub is in Ariel’s cave.”
Daniel came out of the bathroom and preceded Mandy down the hall. He stopped inches from walking into a wall.
She laughed. “Trompe-l’œil means ‘deceive the eye.’ That is my hallway to nowhere.”
Daniel touched the wall as if trying to prove his eyes were wrong, then turned to face Mandy. “You let me go first deliberately, didn’t you? Wait a second—your hallway to nowhere?”
“First thing I painted when I moved in.” Mandy turned the corner he’d missed.
The hallway opened into a bookshelf-lined room with two wing-back chairs. Little tables with lamps completed the library. A wrought-iron stairway circled up in the center. Mandy used her crutch to point to it. “Take a peek.”
After a couple of minutes, he came back down. “Those beanbags are fabulous.”
“We have a view of the stars most nights, too. I love to read up there.” Mandy hoped he hadn’t caught her blush. Kimberly, the roommate Mandy had replaced, had dubbed the space “Lover’s Loft.” The roommates were usually discreet when using it and warned each other off by placing a particular book on the table at the entrance of the library. Mandy had yet to use her chosen book.
Turning another corner, they passed Candace’s door.
“This is the other bathroom.” Painted to mimic a roman bath complete with marble statues and a Mediterranean view, the room represented more dateless weekends than Mandy would ever admit.
Daniel gave a low whistle. “This must have taken awhile. The painting makes the room seem huge.”
“We started painting our sophomore year. I didn’t live here yet, but I would crash whenever Uncle George visited Grandma Mae. He made it a point to come every other weekend to fulfill his duty. Drove me crazy, always bossing me around like a two-year-old. Painting this was my therapy.”
Pausing at her bedroom door, Daniel asked, “May I?”
“You’ll be disappointed.”
