“Obviously,” Bobby echoed, and something in his voice made me glance up at him.He was grinning again.
Here’s the thing about Bobby: he’s the most handsome man in the entire universe.He has straight, dark hair in a razor-sharp part, and these beautifully earthy bronze-colored eyes, and perfect bone structure, and his mouth—you get the idea.He’s strong, and he’s brave.He’s a sheriff’s deputy.He’s unbelievably patient.He has a great sense of humor, but you have to get to know him.He’s also a little like Mary Poppins—none of the singing, froufrou stuff, but he has this way of saying,Let’s straighten up in here, and then forty-five minutes later you find yourself bottom up, scrubbing the tub.Oh, and I’ve never seen him fly, but the man is a master of packing.I wouldn’t be surprised if he could fit a floor lamp into a valise.(Honestly, I had no idea that would sound so sexual, but I stand by it.)
“And dessert nachos would be…” Bobby asked.
“Oh Bobby.”I laughed.“Sweet, simple, innocent Bobby.A stranger in this brave new world—”
“Is it the graham crackers you hid under your bed?”
“I didn’t hide them under my bed!I put them there in case I had an emergency.”
His eyebrows went up.
“A snack-related emergency,” I said.“My blood sugar could plummet in the middle of the night.Thousands of people die every year because they weren’t prepared.”
“That’s absolutely not true.”
“And for your information, you can use lots of things.You can use graham crackers, yes.You can use cinnamon tortilla chips.You can use a brownie.Oh!And you can put ice cream on top of it—”
“Isn’t that a brownie a la mode?”
“Why do you do this to me?Why is your goal in life to take away everything good and beautiful from me?”
“I want to circle back to the Top Ramen comment, because I noticed a lot of those ramen packets in the cellar.”
“Did you know if you dump out the soup part, it’s actually a perfect meal?It’s got noodles, check.Flavoring from a little foil envelope, check.Sodium, check.”
“I know you think I’m joking, but I want you to get a physical.”
See, this is what I was talking about—when Bobby wants to, he can be hilarious.
As I pulled the nachos from the oven, I opened my mouth to explain why I didn’t need to see a doctor (because I eat a lot of Indira’s banana bread, and bananas have potassium, and that balances out the sodium).Before I could lay some science on Bobby, though, the doorbell rang.
I fought a wave of disappointment.“Did you invite someone?”
Bobby shook his head.After a moment, he said, “It’s probably Keme.”
But it couldn’t have been Keme.Because Keme didn’t ring the doorbell.And neither did Millie or Fox or Indira.And I didn’t know who else it could be.It was New Year’s Eve.We were in a dark house, at the end of a long drive, on the outskirts of town.And Hemlock House was, by any technical standard, a Class V haunted mansion—nobody was dropping by for a casual visit.
Except, apparently, they were.
Bobby followed me to the front door.When I opened it, I froze.And then I said a lot of words in my head (words you won’t find in “Auld Lang Syne”).
She’d changed her hair again, of course.And she was tan, even though it was the middle of winter—because she’d been in Borneo or Myanmar or Thailand.She huddled inside a lightweight jacket, shivering, and it wasn’t until I felt the first pinpricks on my face that I realized it was sleeting.
As soon as she saw me, a smile broke across her face.“Baby brother!”
2
It took a lot of hugging—and a lot of yammering—before I got Dottie settled in front of the fireplace in the billiard room.She immediately wrapped herself in the blanket I’d laid out for me and Bobby (get your minds out of the gutter) and set to work unwrapping the chocolates that I’d bought for me and Bobby (okay, mostly for me, but Bobby was a good partner in crime, and he was always willing to eat the ones that were scientifically gross—I’m looking at you, raspberry cream, vanilla cream, and cherry cordial).
I must have been in a fugue state because somehow I ended up in the kitchen, cutting myself a slice of Indira’s Boston cream pie.Then I stood there, refrigerator door propped open with my hip, and went to work.
“Everything okay?”Bobby asked.
I paused mid-forkful.Then I swallowed and said, “That’s my sister.”
He nodded.
