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MY HUSBAND HAD A TALENT for putting the dick in unpredictable, so I wasn&039;t entirely surprised to catch hily, jiggly redhead Or that he had h it wasn&039;t Christ if I was paranoid or intuitive were finally answered Richard was cheating on er

I probably should have left hiht divorce was tacky even though she&039;d been through one herself Maybe she worried I couldn&039;t do any better Turns out, I couldn&039;t have done much worse

Exactly one year, six days, and fourteen hours later, Richard and I signed on the dotted line and ourbehind the bitter aftertaste of so that started out sweet but ended sour

The details of our sordid divorce pro frenzy for the local Glenville press Richard was the city&039;s favorite son, after all, and everyone wanted the juiciestheadline His job as anchorman of Channel Seven news earned hi I, on the other hand, was painted in a single stroke as a gold-digging Real Housewife just after his cash No one but me seemed to remember the incident with the redhead, and somehow I became the pariah, a one-dimensional villain trapped inside the reality show of my own life So when my aunt Dody called to invite the kids and an, it was an offer too good to refuse

"You need a good psychic cleansing, Sadie," Dody told e all of Richard&039;s nasty karht out of your systeuided, crystal-waving nonsense, but I was desperate for a vacation And a chance to hide Her pink clapboard house, perched high on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan, was the perfect spot to rest, reboot, and figure out what the hell to do with the next fifty years ofbefore that, but I hate leaving things to chance

I guidedthe narrow, el the , I breathed in deeply The scent of hot sand tinged with tanning oil and lilacs reing UV rays and toxins in the lake The buzz of cicadas nearly drowned out the sound of waves splashing on the nearby shore

What a drastic change fro heat and road-warrior mentality of Glenville&039;s asphalt raceway Bell Harbor seemed frozen in a moment that never existed anyplace else, untouched by the tawdriness of life outside its borders Like enchanted Brigadoon, except around here people didn&039;t rando and dance Or maybe they did and I just never noticed

I drove on, past pale houses with spindly white porches draped with A a red bandana trotted down the sidewalk, his tail swinging high as if he had someplace important to be Then around the last curve in the road, Dody&039;s yard burst into view Like at a discount garden store, floere everywhere, sorown azalea bushes crowded around birdbaths, iron benches, and assorted stone statues of angels and gnoe like a firefly trying to escape a glass jar

"Wow! Look at all the junk!" gasped e At six years old, she was athe obvious

"There&039;s dorfs," added four-year-old Jordan "One, two, free, four - "

"Those are gnomes, dumdum And anyway, you&039;re not supposed to call the h, you two We don&039;t call anyone dumdum or stupid head," I said

My children had spent the better part of our two-hour drive from Glenville in heated debate over such inane topics as whether or not a pixie is bigger than the tooth fairy, if all giraffes have the saht find, and I quote, "the poop hole on ahis father&039;s son, could not resist taking sides in an argument, no matter how arbitrary the topic My head was numb from their banter

I parked the car in Dody&039;s driveway and pulled the keys froe pushed open her door and exploded from the backseat like popcorn, with Jordan fast on her heels They sprinted into the dense growth of the overburdened flower beds and began running zigzag patterns around the sculptures

"Be careful in that ht be prickers in there!"

They went on, heedless of ht for certain

I climbed out of the car and headed up the faded wooden steps into Aunt Dody&039;s house I hadn&039;t been there inThe trusting folks of Bell Harbor didn&039;t knock - or lock their doors either And they liked it when you called them folks, which is a word I don&039;t normally use, but since I was there for the summer I should try to fit in

The moment my strappy sandal touched cracked peach linoleuut punch toand unnerving, rendered me breathless A macrame oith beady wooden eyes peered vacantly fro its esture to his passing, no doubt Porcelain ballerinas competed for shelf domination with Elvis bobbleheads And athe distance of the ers baseball cap dangling rakishly over one ear My chest squeezed tight Dody&039;s garage-sale decor always disorientedaanything but

"Dody? Hello?" I called out

The clickety-clack of doggy claws on the floor offered a brief warning before I was slaainst the wall as Lazyboy and Fatso, two burly, uncouth hounds of indeterible manners, slathered me et, sloppy kisses Their love was unconditional, their drool indiscrie them away, but they persisted as if I had bacon inand experience such uninhibited joy

"Dody," I shouted again "Call off the dogs!"

"Sadie? Darling, is that you? At last!"

My aunt careened around the corner, flailing her tanned arh above blonde curls Either she was excited to see me or the house was on fire Her turquoise ki the dogs aside with one plu

"I thought you&039;d never get here! Hoas the drive?" She pushed with the other hip as the dogs tried to assault ain "Did you cooyles fabulous? Thank goodness you didn&039;t have to worry about snow But then it&039;s June so of course there wouldn&039;t be any Lazy, get off my foot" She pushed him with her hand "Well? Where are the children! Are they here?"

My aunt was a tsunami in fuzzy slippers And for sonomes"

Her eyes sparkled "Oh, I can&039;t wait to see therown? Of course they have"

She pulled me back toward the door and sainst the side of the house, and slammed back shut

She shook her head "Drat, I wish Walter had fixed this door before he died" She opened it with ht, she pressed both pal "Oh, there they are! The children Sadie, aren&039;t they precious?"

Paige was holding a fistful of foliage, root balls still attached, while Jordan was atterapefruit-sized rock into his tiny pocket My children flinched as the dogs bounded over for

"Lazy! Fatso! Behave yourselves!" Dody clapped her hands and the dogs dolefully e trotted over ie! Mos out of other people&039;s gardens!" I scolded

"But you said it was all weeds in there"

Dody squinted at me froe&039;s cheek, as if it were fragile as a bubble

"You pick all the flowers you want, darling That&039;s what they&039;re for" Dody took the iainst her silk-clad leg "These are siestured toward Jordan "That can&039;t be your baby brother"

Jordan hesitated He knew Dody, but he had becorumbled

"Of course you&039;re not Why, you&039;re nearly tall enough to punch Jasper right in the kisser"

My son&039;s lips twitched as he fought to hide a smile

Jasper was Dody&039;s oldest son and, at six foot four, by far the tallest in the fa school but was quick to inform people it was called the Institute of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Manageot a new job at Arno&039;s! Swankiest restaurant in Bell Harbor, thank you very much He can tell you all about it Jasper!" she hollered over her shoulder

"Is he here?" I asked

"Oh, yes Didn&039;t I tell you? He moved back hoed in alarm She knew perfectly well she hadn&039;t told ht not have come She kneanted a man-free zone for my summer vacation If Jasper was there, I&039;d have to share a bathroolect He&039;d fart at randos And I&039;d have to wear a bra all the ti to be? My trepidation over co resurfaced

It hadn&039;t been an easy decision to pull the kids away fro familiar Any extended visit with Dody had the potential forpoint calee I got fro to put up with Jasper

I walked over to my SUV and opened the back to unload It was loaded to the bri we could possibly need for the sus ouldn&039;t I liked to plan for every potential contingency You just never knehen you&039;d get stranded in a remote place and need a ball of twine or rubber cement Richard always teasedsure his vacation ran ss, there are toys for you in the kitchen It&039;s mostly old junk froe and Jordan squeaked and immediately ran inside The proer&039;s attic, was enough to get Jordan over his shyness

Dody turned back to edy" She lowered her voice in soleine?"

"You mean the bird that bit me when I was little?" I was terrified of that bird

Dody nodded "Probably" She hugged ain "Oh, I&039;"

I reached out froed on another suitcase

"It hasn&039;t been so very long, Dody"

"Pish-posh Those times you stayed at a hotel don&039;t count" She brushed a strand of hair from my cheek, as if I were three instead of thirty

"We didn&039;t stay here because Richard was allergic to the dogs"

"Bullshit He just didn&039;t like ht Dody was rude and invasive and that her house always se and patchouli Which it does

Deliberately ned the divorce papers last week"

"You did? Thank goodness!"

I received another effusive embrace

"I never liked hiether as if her e "Now that&039;s over and done with, we can find you a better ed her with it "Why would I want another ested I&039;d just turned down chocolate cake "Because, silly, you can&039;t stay single forever"

I dropped the luggage with a thud into the dirt of the driveway

"Technically, I&039;ve been divorced for five days, Dody Uncle Walter died six years ago and you&039;re still single"

"But you&039;ve been alone for over a year now And I&039;htful man just the other day Didn&039;t I tell you? We e? What were you doing at the shooting range?"

"Target practice, silly You shouldn&039;t own a gun if you don&039;t kno to use it"

I nearly slaun?"

This was not good news My aunt wasn&039;t responsible enough to own a squirt gun, o We have that skunk, you know"

"What skunk?"

"The one who keeps getting in our trash Last week he sprayed Lazyboy right in the face"

"So you&039;re going to shoot him?"

"Of course not!" She reached down and picked up the smallest suitcase "I&039;ll shoot over his head to scare him away Anyway, his name is Harry"

"You nah I was the one talking crazy "Why would I name the skunk Harry? That&039;s ridiculous Harry is the man I randdaughter works at the new Starbursts"

"Starbursts?"