Grace had not been back to Crystal Haven in years, but she was still an expert in parental and auntal manipulation. I called her for advice when I was really stuck. Our childhood had been fraught with jealousy on both sides, and our age difference had guaranteed Grace’s aloof demeanor toward me. But the years had mellowed my jealousy, and I realized that I had something she’d never had: the focused attention of Mom. I could see how a little sister in the house who was held up as the next amazing family psychic might grate on a person. Plus, I had been a bossy pest.
She left town in her early twenties seeking her future in New York as I had described it from my dream. I was fourteen at the time. We’d settled into a cordial relationship that never quite lost the tone of big-sister tolerance of an annoying younger sibling.
But in this case, I needed Grace’s take on how to handle the family because things were going to get tricky when they found out that Tish had left everything to me and that I didn’t want it. I went out to Alex’s porch among the plants and dialed.
“Well, you have to decide what you want to do,” Grace said, after I had explained the will and the requirements.
“I don’t know what I want to do.” I pulled a large cluster off a lilac bush and buried my nose in its petals.
“Clyde, just make a decision. Would it kill you to live in Crystal Haven for one year?”
“You won’t even come back for a long weekend, and you want me to drop everything and move here?”
“What, exactly, will you be dropping? A one-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor and a job you don’t like?”
“It’s not that I don’t like my job . . . things just got complicated.” I snapped the small flowers off the bunch one by one.
“Then why did you run home to Mom the minute things got tough?”
“That’s not fair.”
“The truth never is, kiddo.”
“Fine. Tell me how to handle Mom and Vi.” I tossed the remains of the lilacs into the yard.
“Well, I would spin the staying-in-town-for-a-year part of the deal. They thought they’d only get a month or so to work on getting you back into the business; now they have a year.”
“Yeah, that’s good. I could point out that I would take Baxter with me. Mom would like that.”
“Plus, they aren’t really losing anything. They haven’t had that house for years. Nothing is changed, except you’ll be closer.” I wondered how much her own part in losing the house contributed to her cavalier attitude.
“You know Vi. She’ll make it a big deal.”
“Not if you play it right.”
“Okay.” I sighed. She was less helpful than I had hoped. Maybe her distance from the family had blunted her recollection of the way we interacted and the way that Vi could turn any situation into a confrontation.
“Hey, Mac called.” My stomach dropped.
I cleared my throat. “He did? Why?”
“He said you and ‘a ragtag gang’ were stalking private citizens and Seth was involved. He sort of hinted that he might be making arrests and that Seth didn’t need that sort of blemish on his record.”
“He threatened you?” I smiled as I said this, imagining that conversation. Mac must be really desperate if he had called Grace. He knew she tended to be protective of me. But by threatening Seth, he was risking his life.
“No, mostly he wanted me to threaten you. Consider yourself threatened. Just stay out of it. Anyway, it sounds like Mac has everything under control.” I heard my niece, Sophie, shouting in the background. The phone was muffled, and then Grace came back on the line. “Plus, Mac said you were stalking Milo. I wouldn’t mess with the Starks if I were you. They’re creepy. Theirs was always the house we avoided on Halloween.”
“It was?”
“Don’t you remember? Just a sec.” Grace covered the mouthpiece, but I could hear her shout, “Just a minute, Sophie!” She came back on the line. “Maybe you were too young. Tish always told me to steer clear of them. She had me scared to death when I was little. Then we moved, and I guess it wasn’t an issue after that. But still, I never trusted them.”
“I remember that Tish never liked them, but I thought it was because Cecile is such a busybody.”
“Maybe. I have to go. Sophie’s got an ‘emergency’ playdate situation.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“You aren’t going to stay out of it, are you?”
“No.”
*
“Where have you been?” Vi dropped her knitting and stood up.
“I was getting worried.” Mom rushed toward me.
“I need to talk to you.” Seth put his hand up like he was in class.