“Fish so pwetty.” She giggled.
“Penelope!”
Hallie startled at the frantic voice.
A young woman about her age emerged from between two stacks of middle grade books. She placed a hand on her chest in obvious relief. “I couldn’t find you, Nell. Why’d you run off?”
Penelope looked at the woman without a care in the world. “I not lost. I see fish.”
“Next time tell me where you’re going first, okay? I need to know where you are.” The woman patted Penelope’s shoulder as she addressed Hallie. “My niece has no fear. She’d wander anywhere and think it’s an epic adventure.” She gave a breathy laugh that held a hint of exasperation. “I hope she wasn’t bothering you.”
Hallie gave her a reassuring smile. “No worries. I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” Hallie turned to go, only then noticing Penelope studying her computer bag.
“What’s dis?” she asked, coming down from the stool and touching the bright keychain hooked to the strap.
Hallie knelt on one knee, looping the bag off her neck to give Penelope a closer look. “It’s a llama. I got it in Chile years ago.”
The llama, with a colorful blanket draped over its back, had been a gift from Señor and Señora Morales to remember the six years she’d lived in Santiago as a child. The older couple had owned the panadería near her family’s home. Though they weren’t blessed with their own children, they claimed all the expat kids as their unofficialsons and daughters. Whenever an expat family moved back home, the kids always received a small gift.
Even thirteen years after the Abernathys’ return to the States, Hallie still thought about the sweet couple a lot. If not for the time she spent in their store, she never would’ve aspired to open her own bakery. She’d loved spending hours helping there after school. Her parents still didn’t know the man had paid her ten pesos to restock the pastry cases every afternoon.
“I like it,” Penelope said, touching the key chain again.
Hallie smiled. “Thanks. I like it too.”
The woman took Penelope’s hand. “Come on, Nell. We still need to check out our books, and your dad just texted that he and Isla are on their way home.”
As the woman and Penelope walked away from the fish tank, Hallie headed downstairs to the exit. A warm breeze whipped at her when she stepped outside the library. Thank goodness the late summer heat had worn off this week, leaving the days pleasantly in the mid-seventies.
With the distraction of the library gone, her computer woes festered in her mind all the way home. Not even passing her favorite building in the whole town brought her out of the nagging annoyance. She normally slowed down whenever she passed the two-story Victorian with its gorgeous windows and a porch on both levels. Especially during the Christmas season with its elaborate light display. But today, she barely spared it a glance.
Why hadn’t she had the foresight to take a few classes in website development at USC? After meticulously planning her courses to get the most of her degree, she’d grossly underestimated that hole in her education.
Once on her street, she pulled into the driveway of the two-story home she shared with her cousin and two best friends. Lugging her backpack from the passenger seat, she spotted her brother’s Honda parked at the curb.
What’s Tyler doing here?
He only lived across town, though family responsibilities, and afrequent travel schedule at work often kept him too busy to stop by during the week.
Voices carried to her from the kitchen when she stepped inside. Intending to join them, she kicked off her flip flops, tossing them onto the bottom step of the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. She paused. It only took a few extra minutes to put them away.
Her room was the first at the top of the stairs. She placed her flip flops in the shoe rack hanging from her closet door, then crossed to the window and set her bag on the antique wooden chair at her desk. On her way out, she picked up the pjs she’d somehow forgotten to put away that morning. Folding them neatly, she set them on top of the dresser. Satisfied with the cleanliness of her living space, she headed back downstairs and pushed through the swinging kitchen door.
Her brother stood at one side of the center island, a hip resting against the counter, his eight-month-old son in his arms. Their honorary sister, Kendall, sat on a stool on the adjacent side, a textbook open at her elbow.
“You brought Will with you?” Hallie approached them and ran a hand gently over her nephew’s soft, yellow curls. “Hey, Williekins. I haven’t seen you in forever.”
She scooped the infant from her brother’s arms and pressed a kiss to his chubby cheek. Will’s blue eyes twinkled even more than usual, and he offered his aunt a dimpled smile, showing off the tiny tooth poking out of his bottom gum.
“You saw him on Sunday,” Tyler said in feigned annoyance. “How come you never get this excited when it’s just me?”
“Don’t you realize your most important job is to get your son to his aunts?” Kendall asked with her usual snark. “That’s what happens when you have a baby.”
Hallie pulled her attention away from Will only long enough to give her brother an exaggerated nod of agreement.
