afraid to cross to the other side, afraid to get close to those wheels.
How had I come to dream of this place? I doubted I was reading the images of my
mother’s
mind. The voice, the dreams, awakening in Avril’s room, the movement of objects to where Avril would expect them-it was Avril I was connecting with.
My skin felt cold and clammy. I stood up quickly. “Leave me alone,” I said, stumbling out of the entrance. “Just leave me alone!”
Matt, who had been hovering a short distance away, heard me. He stepped back, turned abruptly, and strode up the hill to his Jeep.
* * *
Neither of us spoke on the way home. I knew Matt thought that I was telling him to leave me alone, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. He wouldn’t believe I had been talking to a ghost.
He parked in front of the house and got out of the Jeep without glancing at me. Following him up the porch steps, I noticed the clay and mud caked on the thick rubber soles of his Nikes.
“Our shoes are a mess,” I said, sitting down on a bench to remove mine. He checked his, then sat opposite me. By the time he started unlacing his shoes, mine were off and I was carrying them into the house.
Grandmother met me, coming through the door from the back wing. “You’re late.”
“For dinner?” I glanced up at the landing clock. It wasn’t five yet.
She stared at my shoes. “What were you doing after work?”
“Hanging out.”
Matt came in the door and Grandmother’s eyes darted to his shoes. Color rose in her cheeks. “Where have you been?”
Though the question was fired at him, I answered, since the trip had been my idea. “To the mill.”
“Why did you take her there?” Grandmother demanded, still focusing on Matt.
I saw the wary look on his face. “1 asked him to,” I said.
“I’m not talking to
you.”
“Megan wanted to see the place,” Matt replied, “and I thought it’d be safer if I went with her.”
“Megan wanted to see the place,” Grandmother mimicked.
“I did,” I said. “I was curious.”
Grandmother took a step toward me. “I told you the day you came that I expected you to respect my privacy. Didn’t I?”
I nodded silently.
“I’m speaking to you now. Answer me aloud!”
“Yes, Grandmother.” I couldn’t snap at her. If I was feeling haunted by Avril’s presence, I could only imagine how she felt.
“So now you’re going to be sweet and soft-spoken,” she observed, her lips curling. “Sweet and sneaky.”
“Ease up, Grandmother,” Matt said. “Did you ever tell Megan not to go to the mill?”
“Are you defending her?”
“All I’m saying is you’re getting all worked up over a little visit to the mill,” he replied.
“And Lydia Riley,” she added.
I looked at Grandmother, surprised. “Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you promise not to speak to her again.”
“Why?”
“Don’t talk back to me!” Her voice was shrill.
I sat down on the steps, hoping to make this a conversation rather than an irrational shouting match.“I wasn’t talking back,” I explained. “I was just wondering-”
“You’re living in my house, you’ll follow my rules.”
I bit my lip, then nodded.
Matt rested a hand on her arm. “Grandmother, be fair. Megan was just asking-”
She turned on him. “I don’t have to explain my rules to anyone, including you, Matt.” Her jaw began to shake. “I can’t trust you anymore. Not since
she’s
come.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You’re loyal to her now.”
He stared at Grandmother. It was as if he had to be on her side, or my side, and wasn’t allowed to care about both of us at the same time.
“Get a hold of yourself,” he said, and walked out the back door of the hall.
Grandmother stood in front of me, her head held high, then strode into the library and shut the door behind her.
I remained sitting on the steps, bewildered by her jealous suspicions. Some wounds heal, others
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