Mended (3 page)

Over the next few months, work crews were in and out of her house and so was she, watching everything like a hawk. Kassie spent thousands of dollars having woodworkers add additional little touches to her house, like hand carved wooden railings on the stairs and bookshelves built into the walls of her living room.

At Kassie’s request, the craftsmen searched all over the state finding pieces and products that were used in houses of that time period. Because Kassie was so pleased with their work, she gave each worker an extra five hundred dollars at the end of the job. She even wrote the owner of the company a letter and signed it with a little doodle of a man carrying a box with the moving companies name on it. She found that when she was pleased with a company and sent a letter with a doodle, many of the company owners kept and displayed them. Most of the people had kids and knew who she was.

*****

By the end of summer, she moved in on a Saturday and he swore the neighborhood cleared out the moment her convoy of moving vans pulled up to the house. They’d all heard about her treatment of Max and knew she was cold and unfriendly. Everyone watched from inside their homes as she ordered the movers around like a drill sergeant.

Timothy wasn’t daunted though and sat on his porch swing watching her move in; she was tough if he could put it nicely, but there was something else going on there that he couldn’t quite understand and he found that intriguing. Kassie looked at him staring at her and stopped in the middle of her walkway.

“Yes?” She snapped.

Timothy cocked a brow at her and stood up.

Kassie noted again how tall he was; she had a serious thing for tall guys. Monroe was six foot four and Tim had to be six foot two or three.

“Come on, boy, suddenly it’s really cold out here.” He said opening his door.

She glared at him as the dog ran inside, and he followed letting the screen door snap shut behind him.

Kassie lowered her head for just a moment. Sometimes she couldn’t believe the things she said to people or how she acted toward them. She didn’t know why she was so mean; it was just something she had developed. Not many people in her life had been nice to her, why should she be sweet to anyone else. There were only a few people who had meant something to her in her life and only one person that was still alive, in her life that had always had her back and that was her best friend, Rose. Rose had never let her down in their twenty something years of friendship.

Kassie nearly turned and walked back out the fence but decided not to go over to his house. Why should she apologize to him? He was a jackass to her. She raised her chin pushing her shoulders back and walked up the path into her house.

*****

By six, all of her things were moved into the house and placed where she wanted them. She may have been mean, but she was neither cheap nor unfair and the movers were shocked when she gave all seven of them two hundred dollars each before they left. Secretly though she felt badly about the way she treated them. They did their job well; they had even put all of her bedroom furniture into her room exactly the way she demanded. She’d have to assemble her bed on her own tonight but she didn’t mind. It gave her something to do for a while.

Kassie looked around the large house and sighed hard. This was the first time in a very long time that she was completely and totally on her own and she had to admit . . . she was scared. She had gotten used to not being alone even in her apartment. Monroe had insisted on a live in maid. When they had separated, the woman had asked to work for Kassie. But Kassie always had a thing about people working for her so she gave the woman a large severance payment of six hundred thousand and let her go. Kassie was now regretting that decision, the first night alone in a new house was scary.

*****

Kassie spent the night listening to jazz, putting her bed together and unpacking some of her things. By two in the morning, she collapsed in her bed. She slept until eleven the next day, later than she had slept in a long, long time and it felt good. When she awoke she went out to lunch and took a long walk around the town, she wanted to see what there was to offer here.

Twenty minutes into her tour she saw a large box store, a smaller supermarket, a bakery, several boutiques and big brand stores, a pet store, a comic bookstore, a bookstore, a small pharmacy and a hardware store.

Kassie kept walking until she reached the town library. It was large with beautiful gothic architecture and seemed somewhat out of place in such a simple town. But she was happy to find it and went inside to fill out for a card. Kassie loved libraries. Since she was a child they had been sanctuaries for her. A magical place where she could go and hide from the world, especially since her world was not so great. She could always escape her pain by heading to the library.

*****

The librarian kept staring at her as she filled out the form for a library card. The older woman had to be nearing eighty if not already there, she had long white hair and glittery silver eyes. She stood maybe five foot two and was about ninety pounds; she seemed so gentle and fragile. But the staring made Kassie uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry. You look a lot like someone.” She said softly as if sensing Kassie’s discomfort. Kassie smiled, she may have been nasty to people on the street but she had a tender spot for elder people.

“I’m Kassie Lawton.” Kassie said.

“The illustrator.” Her silver eyes smiled knowingly. “I thought I knew your face dear. What are you doing here?”

“I just moved to town.” Kassie said handing back her form. “The house on Walter Street.”

“The old Parker house?” The librarian asked.

“I guess.” Kassie smiled at the older woman.

“Oh that house has great history. It was built in 1899 by an old ferryman named Oliver Parker for his wife Helen. He sold it in 1930 and they moved to Colorado.” She gave Kassie a card to sign. “Then it was bought by Harriet Clarkson, she lived there until 1970 then moved to Florida, sweet woman but dumb as a rock. The last owners, the Bakers, lived there until 2012. With all their kids grown and married the house was too big for the two of them, so they moved into a condo the next town over.” She said.

“So no one died in the house?” Kassie asked for good measure. She hadn’t had heard any bumps in the night, but she wanted to be on the safe side. She was definitely a believer.

“Goodness no.” She laughed. “My mother was in school with the Parker children all happy and healthy. I was in school with one Harriet Clarkson’s children. I played with them, my house is down the street from yours, and they were brats, spoiled beyond words. See Harriet was married to a very wealthy man but he passed in a freak accident out in Oregon. I went to school with her youngest Maisy. She was a sweet girl, ran off with a beatnik in ’57.” She said. “Don’t blame her, the boy was beautiful. Tall, brown hair, blue eyes, and a smile that literally made your heart skip a beat.”

“Bad choices, I know I’ve made more than a few.”

“Haven’t we all.” She said with a warm smile.

“Yes ma’am.” Kassie said. “Thanks for the info.”

“You’re welcome. Welcome to town by the way.”

“Thank you.” Kassie said and the librarian smiled at her.

“I’m Katherine Marshall.”

“You can call me Kassie but you’re the only one so far who can call me Kassie,” She told her as she gathered her books and they shared the chuckle before Kassie left.

Kassie left the library, happy that she made the choice to buy the house. This was the perfect place to get lost.

*****

Timothy smiled as his daughter Natalie ran past him giggling; Griffin was right on her heels.

“We have to leave at six to get you home to your Mom.” He said.

“Ok.” She called they ran out the door and into the yard.

*****

Kassie pulled into her driveway in her navy blue BMW convertible. She’d had three, a black one, a red one, and a navy blue one. The black and red convertibles were her and Monroe’s, an anniversary gift he’d bought for them when he’d hit it big. Kassie won them in the divorce along with ten million of his wealth. The navy convertible was a celebration of the end of their relationship though she had to admit she wasn’t very happy at the time.

The other two convertibles she had parked in the newly constructed garage. It had pained her to tear down the original, but it just wasn’t safe. So she’d had one built to look the same way the old one had. She planned to sell the other two convertibles and keep the navy blue one. Kassie felt that the red one and the black one were just a reminder of her failed marriage.

Kassie got out of her car and started into her house. A part of her was sad to be here alone, but she would be fine. She had been alone before. It was no biggie.

A small yellow ball landed in her grass, startling her just a bit.

“I’m sorry.” A young girl called as she ran over to the fence that divided her property from Timothy’s yard.

The girl had long brown hair and clear blue eyes hidden under thick eyelashes. There was no doubting that she was the child of her neighbor, she looked just like him, only miniature. There was a thin swatch of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a pink tank top and green shorts with pink sneakers. She was a very pretty child; her smile was so warm and sweet that it made Kassie think of herself when she was a little girl.

“I think I threw it too hard.” The girl said breathlessly smiling at Kassie over the fence. Kassie glanced at the girl, then at the ball. She picked it up walking across her grass slowly to the fence.

“Thank you, Miss.” The little girl said as Kassie stood in front of her with the ball.

“How old are you?” Kassie asked softly.

“Nine.” Natalie said.

Kassie smiled unexpectedly and Natalie beamed back. She missed being nine and carefree, that was before things went downhill in her life.

Kassie’s smile slowly faded and she gave Natalie her ball before backing away. “Enjoy your happiness kid.” Kassie’s eyes filled with tears. “It doesn’t last forever. She walked up her stairs and into her house. Natalie stared at her sadly until her door closed.

“Come on Griff.” Natalie whispered. She walked away from the fence and continued to play with the dog half heartedly, her mind haunted by the sadness in the lady’s eyes.

*****

Timothy noticed the un-Natalie like silence from the backseat and looked back at her through the rearview mirror for a moment. Natalie looked so sad that it made him a little worried.

“What’s up baby cakes?” He asked.

She sighed and looked at him.

“Daddy, who’s the lady who lives next to you?” She asked.

Tim sighed softly and turned onto Adams Street, honking at Max who was crossing at the corner. He was walking his German shepherd, Goldie. Max chuckled and waved.

“That’s my new neighbor . . . why?”

“Griffin’s ball went into her yard.”

“Was she mean to you?” He asked stopping for the red light.

Timothy looked back at Natalie. She shook her head.

“She looks so sad daddy. She started to cry.”

“What do you mean?” He asked. Someone behind him honked their horn and Tim turned back, pulling off.

“She said
enjoy your happiness kid
, started to cry, and then said
it doesn’t last forever
.” Natalie told him. “She looked so sad. Like gramma Gracie did when grampa died.”

Tim nearly swerved off the road. She cried, cried! He couldn’t believe it. She didn’t even seem like she could produce emotions. But maybe there was more to her than meets the eye.

“Sometimes Nat, people aren’t very happy.” Timothy said softly.

“Yeah, I guess.” Natalie said. She looked out the window but he could see that his neighbor’s sadness had struck a sympathetic chord in his sensitive daughter.

*****

Kassie stepped on the box that had held her pots and pans and tossed it on the pile of boxes to be put be tied up and put out for recycling. Last night she cleaned and scrubbed down every inch of the kitchen despite the fact that everything in it was brand new and top of the line. She’d spent the afternoon putting away pots, pans, small appliances, and dishes.

The kitchen was done so she started into the dining room. She saw something rust colored running around her backyard and walked to the door, it streaked back. She stepped out onto her porch. The neighbor’s dog was in her backyard and it was a cute little creature. Every time it ran into a spot of sun, its fur gleamed like copper. In its mouth was a banana toy that looked old and tattered. Kassie smiled when it ran up to her and sat beside her feet, seeming to be smiling at her back.

“Hello.” Kassie rubbed its head. “You’re a sweet boy aren’t you?” She lowered herself down to the dog, looking at the tag. “Griffin.” She said gently and it quickly licked her hand. She giggled and a little bubble of happiness seemed to creak into the darkest spots of her spirit making her feel a little brighter.

“Come on boy,” She took his banana and stood, opening the door. Griffin trotted inside as if he were an old friend come to visit and Kassie followed.