“Ree? Are you there?”
“Shit,” I say, forcing my mind away from the blue-eyed devil occupying it. “I’m sorry. I think you cut out. What did you say?”
“I was saying I want to come and visit so I can make sure you’re not having a mental breakdown. I have some PTO I need to use. Maybe I can con Eli into coming with me too. Some fresh air might be good for him.”
I sigh, nodding my head. My little brother is four years younger than me, so I experienced the brunt of his moody preteen years. Thankfully, he’s mellowed out, and I find him bearable now, but I doubt he’d agree to a trip to the middle of nowhere in the prime of summer.
“Yeah,” I murmur, my voice heavy. “It might be fun to have all the Bennett siblings together. Or we might kill each other. Either way, I’m game.”
“Right,” Eve says, laughter filling her end of the phone. “I’ll check my schedule and let you know. As for Eli, you may have to call him and ask him yourself. He’s always liked you more.”
“Well, I never made him play dress up with me like my own real-life Barbie doll.”
“Oh, please. He loved it! At least until the lipstick came out.”
We both laugh, filling my empty apartment with life for the first time since I moved in.
“Okay,” she says, catching her breath. “My break is almost over, but I’ll let you know when I can visit. I love you and I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Love you too,” I say before the line goes dead.
I toss my phone on the empty couch cushion next to me and stretch my limbs. The tiny pitter-patter of paws echoes against the worn wood floor. My grandmother’s pitch-black cat comes bounding out of nowhere and jumps onto the couch beside me.
“Jesus, Klepto,” I gasp, pulling all twenty pounds of the large fur ball into my lap. “Where have you been hiding all day?”
Soft purrs vibrate my lap as he lets me gently stroke his head. I’ve only been here for a few days, but I’ve already learned some important things about this cat. He only wants attention on his terms. Try to seek him out and he’ll vanish into thin air. He doesn’t take kindly to strangers in his home, but offer him treats or shiny little trinkets, and he’ll accept you with no questions asked.
He isn’t such a bad roommate. Other than the fact that he doesn’t pay rent or have money for food, we get along quite well. My grandma must’ve known I’d get lonely.
“Okay, bud,” I sigh, gently picking him up and depositing him to my side. “I have a lot of work to do.”
I push myself off the couch and hop to my feet. The old wooden floor creaks below me as I head for the stairwellthat’s connected to the small store below. My old commute to work took nearly an hour with multiple subway stops. Now, it’s less than two minutes.
The smell of dust and old leather envelopes me when I walk into the space. My grandma was nearly ninety when she passed, but she still kept the place running.
Used furniture, glassware, and other forgotten memories tower around me as I make my way down the small path I’ve managed to clear away. There’s still a lot of work to do before I can officially reopen theHollow Hinge.
At first, everything was overwhelming. I had to fend off mini panic attacks by reminding myself this is where I’m meant to be. Even after a week of clearing out junk, there was no end in sight. And with each box I unpacked, another memory I’d buried away came rushing back with a vengeance.
But I’ve come to realize this isn’t a burden my grandmother has left me with. It’s a gift. A chance to relive the summer that changed my life. For the better or worse, I haven’t decided yet.
A small black shadow swirls around my legs and reclaims the sunny windowsill at the front of the shop. One of the first things I did when I moved into this place was make Klepto his very own throne so he could manage the store with an iron fist. I’m still debating whether to get him a cute little tie.
I take a deep breath in before blowing the dust off another unopened box. My goal is to get everything unpacked by the end of the month, and it is the perfect distraction from my lack of transportation, and the man currently elbow deep in my engine—er, my truck’s engine.
That’s one detail I neglected to tell my sister. But I knew if I uttered the name Knox Cooke, she’d hop in her car and speed all the way here from the city.
When I hear the distinct jingle of the old bell keepingwatch over the store, the hairs on my arms stand straight up. I thought I locked that door?
I try to poke my head around the tower of boxes, but the pile is too big. With a groan, I rise to my feet and look toward the door, but I come up empty. The small space is seemingly unoccupied and Klepto is undisturbed on his perch. So much for a guard cat.
“Hello?” I call out, not expecting anyone to answer. I really hope I don’t have a ghost. The whole living alone thing is working for me, but if I find out some creep is haunting me, my small-town move will be over before it even begins.
Hearing no answer, I feel my pulse start to slow down. That’s until there’s another creak in the floorboard. “Fuck,” I whisper.
I grab the closest weapon to me, which happens to be a small screwdriver. Not the best option, but it could be worse.
I quietly tiptoe to where my ears pinpointed the noise and try my hardest to keep my breathing under control.
