Page 92 of My Sweet Dollie, You Have to Love Me
She has a lot of big meetings this week. If she can face all those board members, I can face a few nights alone in this house.
I click the doors shut behind me, wiggling them that special way, and turn the key.
Annabelle checked that I was home alone before leaving, and there have been no intruders since the friendly one. The one my broken mind briefly told me was Ambrose.
I still scan the second floor and check everywhere, from behind the old floral curtains to under the kitchen table as I wander through the house.
I tempt a traumatic fate by calling out, “Mom? Dad?”
The echo of the doorbell rattles me, causing me to jump, but it’s the only thing I hear.
There are no replies from my parents as I cautiously head back to the foyer.
I’m not expecting anyone, so someone being here gives my arms goosebumps. I rub them through my hoodie.
“Hello?” I call from one side of the thick wood to the other.
“Dollancie, it’s me.”
“Who is me, exactly?” It isn’t a voice I recognize instantly.
“It’s Nyx. Annabelle asked me to stop by and take a look at your window. She said something about a crack.”
“Oh, yes. I think kids did it while trying to scare me the other night.” I’ve chosen to believe the logical explanation.
I unlock the door and find Nyx on my doorstep in his work clothes. The sun peeks through dark clouds, highlighting his dirty blond hair. “But I can’t let you in.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have money for the window right now.”
“That’s okay. A favor for a friend.” He smiles.
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Okay. How about a cupcake? My little sister really liked the ones you and your boyfriend—sorry, former boyfriend—had in town a few days back.” He pauses, scratching his head. “Are you okay about that situation?”
“It blows my mind, to be honest. How you can live with someone and not even know who they really are, despite clues.”
“Love is blind, so that’s understandable. At least you’re out of it. It might not feel great now, but in time, it’ll get better.”
I agree silently, hoping that Shane won’t stop by while Annabelle’s away and I’m alone with the ghosts. It would be so easy for him to use my fears and weave his way back into my life.
“Where is she, anyway? Your sister. School?”
Maybe all that sounded a little too eager to change the subject. But I needed to, and Nyx’s little sister is too good a way to do it because she’s usually his shadow, if his socials are accurate.
Their fifteen-year age gap means nothing. Back in our teens, when their parents passed away shortly before mine and made him eighteen with full custody of a three-year-old, the locals felt sorry for him. There was no college or parties for him. No future, people said.
How wrong they were.
I feel the opposite looking at him now.
The warmth in his heart when he speaks of his sister makes it clear he’s winning at life.
“She attends a special school. It’s a center for children with developmental differences. She’s there with her mentor. That’s who you saw her with in town. He takes her out occasionally.”
“It’s really nice how close you guys are.”
