“Renley,” Tilly chastises. “Don’t speak ill of the deceased.”
“Sorry.” I chuckle as I loop my arm through hers and tug her toward the back of the shop. We have to step over some boxes and push aside some old tissue paper and gift bags, but when I find the light and illuminate the back room, I’m actually taken by surprise. “Wow, it’s so organized. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
“I’d have bet the commission on my next painting that this back room was a hoarder’s lair. But it’s as if the Home Edit came in, did their best, ate, and left no crumbs.”
“Speaking of crumbs, not a single one in sight.” I drag my finger over the shelf and say, “How is this so clean when the front is?—”
“Oh, it’s about time you got here,” Aunt Kitty says, coming out of a dark hallway, scaring the shit out of both me and Tilly.
“Holy…shit,” I say, breathing heavily as I lean against the wall of the back room, attempting to calm my racing heart.
Tilly has her hand clamped over her crotch as she says, “I think I might have just peed everywhere.” She lifts her hand andlooks down, then releases a sigh of relief when she realizes she didn’t. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Organizing,” Aunt Kitty says.
“How did you get in here?”
“Oh, I made a key to the place the other day. I’ve been sneaking in here to clean up. It was a real trash hole. How this place wasn’t shut down is beyond me.” She whispers, “Between you, me, and the walls, there was a little family of mice that I carefully rehomed. Brought them out to the field to live a better life.”
“They probably were plucked by a hawk,” Tilly says, still trying to catch her breath as well.
“Now why would you say that?” Aunt Kitty asks.
Tilly shrugs. “I don’t know, why were you hiding in the hallway when we were out front? I thought you were a murderer.”
“I was just trying to finish up my organizing before you came back here. Wanted to surprise you.” She holds her arms out. “What do you think?”
And this is how Aunt Kitty has always been—she will drive me crazy, she will drop the ball, she will do everything in her power to go against my wishes, and then she goes and does something like this, something so kind, even though I didn’t ask for it.
“It looks…kind of great. Where did you find the time to do this?”
“Been sneaking out at night. I saw how you were giving up on the project and I didn’t want you to have that train of thought. I thought if you could see what the potential could be, then you wouldn’t give up. We’re in this together, kid.”
Now I feel bad for not saying the best things about her earlier.
“Thank you,” I say softly. “And I wasn’t really giving up, just upset about the entire process, you know? I didn’t have the money, wasn’t sure how I was going to get the money, and it felt so overwhelming.”
“Well, you have the money and the help now.” Aunt Kitty smiles brightly at me.
She’s right. I have the money, I have the help, so it’s about time that I take this store and bring it back to life. Cape Meril needs Rudder’s Sweets—not some big-box store—and I plan to prove to everyone in this town that this family is capable of more than they believe.We can do great things.We will succeed.
Chapter Seventeen
THEO
Rupert thumbs through one of many pamphlets he picked up when he was at the general store grabbing us some groceries. “You know, it’s peak whale-watching season. We should book a tour. I wouldn’t mind getting blown by a whale.”
I look up from where I’m journaling. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You know, blown.”
“Uh, I don’t know, because you’re making it seem like you’re saying you want your dick to be sucked by a whale, and I understand that you think highly of yourself, but no whale will want the crumb that’s your dick compared to their size.”
“Why are you so fucking disgusting?” he asks me, looking truly insulted.
“Me?” I point to myself, using my pen. “Why are you disgusting? You’re the one saying you want to be blown by a whale.”
“From their blow spout thing. Like I want them shooting water in my face from the inner depths of their bodies.”
