The Ninth Floor (3 page)

*

While driving to Bee’s house
after visiting hours were over, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Bee’s
finances for the shop were in perfect order, and we’d discussed hiring someone.
She told me to do whatever I thought was best since she was leaving Blueberry
to me anyway. I dismissed the trickle of worry that said she was giving up. She
was just tired, and who could blame her? I called Vivian and asked her to meet
me for breakfast the next morning. When I pulled in front of the house, my
driveway was filled with cars that cost more than I made in a year. A din of
voices blared from behind the door, but I couldn’t make anything out. I exhaled
and pushed the door open.

“There she is,”
Ashley called out.

I scanned the
small group of cousins until I found him. “What’s going on, Ashley?”

“I wanted to
make sure you got off on the right foot. And everyone wanted to see you.”

I glared at
him as the group migrated my way.

Annabelle made
it to me first. She kissed the air on either side of my cheeks, engulfing me in
a sea of perfume. “I just love how natural your hair looks,” she said, tugging
one of my loose ash blond curls. “I was beginning to think you’d gone into
witness protection. How long has it been?”

Ashley shot
her a disapproving look and I forced a smile. Jackson, Katherine, and Max all
gave me quick hugs. I couldn’t even remember the last time I spoke with any of
my cousins. They were family from my father’s side. We all stared at each
other.

“Well—” I
clapped my hands together, about to tell them I was going to bed when Katherine
interrupted me.

“Is it true
you’re dating Briggs Burke?” She said his name like he was famous.

I gave her a
bewildered look. “You know Briggs?”

“No, but we
were at a summer camp together once. So dreamy and über rich.”

“Yeah.” I
rolled my neck. “I hate to cut this visit short, but I’ve had a really long
day. We’ll have to catch up some other time. Thanks for coming to see me.” I opened
the door and smiled at them. They trickled out and Ashley pulled up the rear.

“That was
rude.” His breath smelled of whiskey.

“I was rude?
You’re the one who brought people over here without even asking me.”

“Not
people
,
Ryan.
Family.
”

“I don’t know
them. Hell, I hardly know you.”

Sadness
flashed in his eyes. “I know. You didn’t even come to my wedding.”

“I wasn’t
invited.” I jerked my head to the side. “Have a good night.”

He left
without saying another word. A package sitting to the side of the door caught
my eye. I picked it up before locking the door, feeling slightly guilty for
thwarting my brother’s effort at a truce. The rift wasn’t Ashley’s fault, I did
know that, but we didn’t have anything in common—not anymore. Maybe we never
did.

I took the box
to the kitchen. It was addressed to me. I got a knife out of the drawer and
slid it around the seams. Inside, a note lay on top of a wad of tissue paper.

Welcome
home.
I pulled out the tissue and revealed an old baby doll with a pink
dress and a wonky eye. I put the doll back in the box and set it to the side.
Ashley was weird.

I climbed the
stairs with my duffle bag and headed for a guest bedroom. As I fell into the
bed, my cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Fine, you can
have the dogs,” Briggs said.

I sighed. I
didn’t want to tell him that he should keep them until I came home because Bee
couldn’t have dogs in her house when she got out of the hospital. And I wasn’t
sure when, if ever, I would come back. “I’m in Goodson Hollow.”

“Why?” he
snapped.

“Aunt Bee’s in
the hospital. I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to return. You can have
anything in the apartment. I took everything I wanted.” Silence rang from the
other end. “Briggs?”

“I’m sorry,
Ryan.” His voice was gentle and tender, making my heart squeeze in my chest. “Will
she be okay?”

I cleared my
throat. “Please send Sid and Nancy here, and I’ll mail you the keys to the
apartment.”

“They can’t
fly by themselves. You need to come and get them.”

“I can’t come
there. Send them. They’re mine.” I hung up the phone and turned off the lights.

It was a
restless night filled with dreams of Mrs. Simpson ranting and raving about how
I was going to die. When I couldn’t bear to try to sleep anymore, I got up and
threw on clothes. I drove to Blueberry, returned Bee’s laptop to the back room,
and looked around the store. From the outside the building was two stories, but
I couldn’t find a staircase inside. I went back outside and walked down a
narrow alley. There was a metal door on the side of the building that my key
fit into. I flipped a light on in the brick stairwell. I could see where the
door into the shop had been closed off. The top opened up into a large room
with a kitchen on the back wall and a small hallway across the room. It was an
apartment, but judging from all the boxes stored up here, I doubted Bee gave
renting it much thought.

I looked
around. It needed some work, but it could be perfect. It would give me some
much needed distance from my family and a place to live where I could have
dogs. There were three bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen, all
filled with forgotten boxes. Mentally calculating how long it would take to
make this place livable was depressing. I didn’t need it to be pretty, just
clear enough that I could sleep here. I pushed as many boxes as I could back
into the bedrooms and the rest I stacked against a wall in the living room.

I went back to
the store and retrieved the broom, a mop, and a bucket of warm soapy water. The
sun was barely showing on the horizon and there was only one car on the street.
I watched the sunrise for a moment before I went back inside and began to clean
the small area I had cleared. I quit in time to go back to Bee’s house and
shower and change before heading back to the hospital. My stomach growled as I
drove and I regretted setting up a breakfast meeting with Vivian. I didn’t know
if I could wait another hour.

The hospital was a large
gothic-style building. It towered over most other buildings in the town, always
a looming presence in the background, but I had never really noticed it until
now. When I pulled into the parking lot, two fire trucks and several police
cars were out front with their lights flashing. I walked slowly toward the
building, trying to figure out what happened. There was a blocked-off section
of the sidewalk about fifty feet from the door. A crowd of emergency workers
and hospital employees had gathered around one of those window-washing
scaffoldings.

“I heard he
was working on the ninth floor windows,” a nurse said in a hushed voice. The
woman standing next to her walked away from her without a comment.

Had someone
fallen? Part of me wanted to stop and ask, but I kept moving. The lobby was
eerily quiet given all of the commotion outside. I stood in front of the
elevator and watched the brass pointer as it moved between floors. I loved the
way it traveled slowly as if it didn’t have a care in the world, a throwback to
a bygone era. I was so caught up in its descent that I didn’t notice someone
was standing next to me until he cleared his throat. I glanced over.

“Dr. Sadler.”
I nodded, not really sure what else to do.

“Do you know
what happened out there?” He gestured toward the door.

“Not really. I
think something happened to the window washer.”

Dr. Sadler’s
eyebrows pulled together and he shook his head. “I hope everyone is okay.”

The elevator
door opened and we walked on. Dr. Sadler pressed the button for Bee’s floor and
I stared at my feet, no longer enjoying the meandering pace of the elevator.

“Are you
getting settled in?”

“Yeah, I
guess. I plan on spending most of my time here, so…”

“So you wouldn’t
be interested in having dinner with me?”

The elevator
opened and I started out. “You don’t have to ask me out. I know Bee is putting
pressure on you, but—” Dr. Sadler caught my arm.

“This has
nothing to do with your aunt, I assure you.”

“Oh.” I bit my
lip. “Ummm.”

He laughed. “I’ll
meet you in the lobby after visiting hours.” He opened the door to Bee’s room,
and I walked through, a bit numb. I wasn’t ready to start dating. Briggs and I
had just broken up. Then I spotted my aunt and all thoughts of Briggs fled.

Bee was pushed
back against her headboard, her face pale and her mouth opened in a silent cry.
I ran to her and took her trembling hands in mine. “What happened? It’s okay.
It’s okay,” I soothed.

She shook her
head furiously. “They’re calling me. They’re calling me.”

“Who’s
calling, Aunt Bee?”

Bee squeezed
my hands painfully. “Can’t you hear them?”

I shot a
concerned look at Dr. Sadler.

“Who? Do you
hear it now?” Dr. Sadler asked.

“No. It
stopped when you came in.”

“What did you
hear?” I asked.

“My name being
whispered over there.” She pointed at the closet door.

Dr. Sadler
opened the door wide, revealing nothing inside but a few pieces of clothes. “Were
you asleep, perhaps?”

“No—”

I stroked Bee’s
hand and looked at the closet, my mind struggling with what to believe. I
looked at Mrs. Simpson’s bed, but she wasn’t there.

“Waking up in
a strange place with strange noises—it could happen to anyone.” Dr. Sadler
tilted his head slightly and gave a small, encouraging smile. His kind blue
eyes crinkled at the edges. He was much too cute for his own good.

“Ryan?”

I looked back
at her. “It is hard to sleep in a new place. It could have been a dream.”

Her grip on my
hand eased. “So it was a dream?” Bee looked back and forth between Dr. Sadler
and me.

“That would
make the most sense.” He took her other hand and felt her pulse.

I hugged her.
I didn’t want to dismiss her fear without looking into it, but I knew what Bee
needed to hear. “What else could it be? A ghost?” I laughed.

Bee nodded. “You’re
right. I know you’re right.” She let out a slow breath. “I’m being silly.”

“Other than
the fright, how are you feeling today, Bee?” Dr. Sadler asked.

I helped her
straighten the covers and ease back into her bed. “Fine. A little tired.”

“Do you have
any pain?” Dr. Sadler asked, pressing his fingers gently against her ankle to
test the swelling.

“A little.”

He gave her
the same speech about moving around as much as possible before sitting down and
chatting with us. He wasn’t like other doctors I had known, and by the time he
left nearly half an hour later, Aunt Bee was a lot more like herself. She was
weak but cheerful. We worked on a crossword puzzle until it was time for me to
meet with Vivian, and Bee looked like she could use the rest.

Vivian waited
for me in the hospital cafeteria, wearing a bright pink dress and an orange
necklace, looking like the embodiment of spring. I glanced down at my torn
jeans and the see-through black t-shirt I wore over a white tank. She
definitely looked more upscale boutique than I did. I bought myself a cup of
coffee and eggs and bacon. Then I sat across from her and her tiny, polite
breakfast.

“I was
thinking more about your offer yesterday.”

“Good morning
to you too, Ryan.” Vivian’s high-pitched voice was chipper, exactly opposite of
my lower, more reserved voice.

“Sorry. Good
morning.” I smiled. “So did you mean it? About helping me with Blueberry?”

“Yeah. I think
it could be fun to actually use my business degree for something. Daddy will be
so surprised.” She giggled.

We discussed
her pay and the hiring of a part-time clerk. Vivian took my key and left to get
started. I went back up to Bee’s room. We spent the afternoon taking a very
short, slow walk and talking. “You’re so beautiful,” she said, brushing a curl
from my face. “Are you going to tell me what happened with Briggs?”

“Ah, I was
wondering when that would come up.” I curled a piece of hair around my finger.
Briggs Caleb Burke IV had been my boyfriend for seven years until we broke up
nearly a month ago. He was just the sort of man my family expected me to marry,
not that it mattered. All that mattered was he was the man I expected to marry.

“There’s
nothing to tell. I came home one day to a letter tacked to the door saying he
was gone. I went inside thinking it was a joke, but it wasn’t. He was really
gone and he’d taken the dogs with him. He won’t talk to me about it or tell me
what happened. I have no idea why he left or what I did.” I shrugged but felt
anything but indifference. The only contact we still had was about the dogs,
and once I had them back, that would be done too.

“He didn’t say
anything?”

“Not a word.”

“Do you think
there was someone else?”

I threw my
hands up. I had no idea. One day Briggs and I were the perfect couple. The next
he ripped the rug out from under me and let me fall. I didn’t know anything
anymore. Before she could ask me more of the questions I had asked myself a
hundred times, there was a faint knock on the door.

“Come in,” I
called out.

The door
opened hesitantly, and a young man in a tight black t-shirt and worn blue jeans
slipped in. He looked young, maybe nineteen or twenty, and was just a hair over
six feet. He was familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on how. He ran
his fingers through his messy golden-brown hair as a huge grin spread over his
face.

“Heard you
were back. Had to see it for myself.” He walked over to Bee’s bed in two giant
steps and kissed her cheek, but his gray eyes stayed trained on me.