Page 63 of Mountain Grump
She nods.
I slide the hangers down the bar, bunching her pretty dresses together. Then I lean in and look behind the machines, making sure they’re connected correctly.
“Have you been in here before?”
I straighten, then answer Tilda’s question. “The house, yes. But not the bedroom.”
“Then how did you know these were here?”
I turn to face her. “I remember Jack talking about getting them serviced not too long ago.”
“Oh.” She glances at the dryer over my shoulder. “Why’d you come inside?”
What a way to word that.
I glance at the bed, then clear my throat again. “Jack invited me in for coffee a few times.”
Tilda hums.
“Have you checked the breaker?”
Tilda slowly shakes her head.
“I’ll do it. Where is it?”
She bites her lip again, and an unpleasant emotion crawls through my chest as I watch her lower her chin to her chest.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say before she can tell me she doesn’t know. “I’ll be right back.”
Striding out of the room, I glance around the main living space, then step out the front door and cross over to the garage.
There is no side door, but Tilda left the main garage door open after returning home, so I step through and immediately spot the electrical panel on the wall where the garage backs up against the house.
Opening the panel, I think about all the times Jack complained about this garage.
Saying how small it was. How the overhead door should’ve been put on the back side so it’d be easier to get in and out of. There was another time when he told me that he wanted to convert the garage, expand the house, then build a propertwo-car garage on the other side of the driveway.
Dreams that never became reality.
I find the breaker labeledLaundryand see that it’s in the off position.
The rest of the breakers are on, so I don’t know if Jack flipped this one before he left for the winter or if it got tripped, but I push it to the on position.
Done, I close the panel and head back to the house.
Tilda isn’t visible when I step inside, and when I close the door behind me, I take a moment to untie my boots, and I leave them next to Tilda’s pile of discarded shoes.
This time, as I cross through the living room, I look around.
The TV has the old animated version ofAlice in Wonderlandplaying quietly on the screen.
A handful of brightly colored pillows are on the couch, and a trio of candles on a tray sits on the coffee table.
And I didn’t fail to notice the duck pool and bowl of food in front of the house.
I start to smile as I think about Tilda giving safe haven to a wild duck, but as soon as I step into the bedroom, my smile vanishes.
Chapter 43
