Page 35 of Howl

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Outside, I wandered down the front walk, and smiled. He really was right across the street from Annie’s house. His stone path lined up almost exactly with her front gate. If her house hadn’t been set back off the road, I was sure they would’ve lined up too.

“We’re neighbors.” I chuckled.

“She left it to you?” he asked, keeping pace beside me.

“She left me everything, even her shares in the Neon,” I said, crossing the street.

“So, you’re my new boss?” He laughed. “That should make things interesting.”

“I only own fifty one percent of the bar. Ronnie’s still your boss,” I said, pushing my way through Annie’s gate. I winced at the sight of the plants lying strewn about the ground. I’d destroyed everything.

“I didn’t get a chance to fix them. Not after you disappeared,” he said.

“No, it’s okay.” I shook my head. “I’ll fix them myself.”

“My gardening skills aren’t the greatest, but I’m happy to help if you want it,” he said.

I looked sideways at him and laughed. “You know this is weird, right?”

He paused on the stairs behind me. “What?”

“Us talking like we’re friends,” I said.

“Is there any chance we could just put all that in the past?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck as I walked into the house. The air still smelled like Annie, but it also smelled like rain. Jamie hadn’t just fixed the sweaters. He’d fixed everything. Every surface was clean. The books, papers, and knickknacks were all safely tucked back where they were supposed to be. “I really have changed since high school.”

I turned to look up at him, “I’m starting to see that.”

“I don’t know if everything was put back into the right spots, but I did the best I could,” he said, looking sheepish.

My lips lifted in a smile, and I stepped closer to him, sliding my hands up his chest. I pushed up on my toes, and pressed a kiss to his cheek, whispering, “Thank you.”

I looped my arms around his neck, to give him a hug and his hands hovered on my shoulders. “I’m glad I could help.”

I pulled away from him quickly, and turned around wiping the tears from my eyes, as I walked deeper into the house. “Follow me.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said.

I cleared my throat. “Annie never wanted me to know about this place. She never went in here openly, but I caught her about a month after I moved in and forced her to share it with me.”

“What is it?” He asked as I rounded my way into the hall. I stepped into Annie’s bedroom and tensed. He’d cleaned up every room for me.

“It’s a room, hidden behind the armoire,” I said pointing to the tall piece of furniture against the far wall.

I stepped up to it, twisted the knobs to the right and left, each in the opposite direction, and something in the wall gave a dull thud echoing through the wall.

The armoire popped forward, and the faint smell of wet dirt wafted into the room. I slipped my fingers into the crack, and with a grunt, I opened the door.

Jamie’s jaw dropped. “I never would have guessed this was here.”

“That’s the point of a secret room, isn’t it?” I teased, reaching into the dark to find the light switch. I pulled the tug to turn it on, and it revealed a tunnel. Built in the side of the house with a ladder bolted in the wall that led down into another shadowed space.

“Is this where you get your revenge on me or something?” he asked, as I started lowering myself down the ladder.

“What, you scared of the big bad wolf?” I teased, reaching the bottom of the ladder.

I stepped out of the tunnel, and Jamie dropped through the hole, landing at the bottom with a thud.

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