“Good morning to you.”
She wondered, if she made it to the afterlife—a very long time in the future—if she’d manage the perpetual cheerful as it appeared Clover did.
By eight-thirty, she settled at her desk with Yoda under it.
An hour later, she heard Cleo shuffling toward the staircase.
“Hey!”
Still in her pajamas, hair everywhere, Cleo looked in with sleepy eyes. And grunted.
“Just wanted to say thanks for having my back last night.”
“I’ve got yours, you’ve got mine.” Yawning, Cleo bent down to rub Yoda when he darted out to greet her. “Who can be a morning grump with that happy face? But I need coffee. Must have coffee.”
Yoda watched her go, then decided to spread out by the fire.
After good progress on the Doyle job, and a few tweaks to the basic design for the flower shop, Sonya started on the Ryder presentation.
One hour, she reminded herself. Then a break, and back to Doyle.
At the end of the hour, she gave herself ten more minutes.
Satisfied, she started to turn to call Yoda. “Let’s go outside.”
But he wasn’t by the fire, or under her desk. Thinking he’d gone to hunt for Cleo, she turned off her music.
And she heard the distinctive sounds of the ball bouncing downstairs and the dog scrambling after it.
“I guess Cleo’s taking a break, too. Maybe we’ll all take a walk.”
She started down as the ball came bouncing back with Yoda giving chase.
“Hey, Cleo, how about we play fetch outside, since we’ve timed our breaks?”
But Cleo didn’t stand in the long hall. No one did.
Yoda dropped the ball, turned his head one way, the other. Then he picked it up again, and raced to her.
“Cleo’s not taking a break to play fetch, is she? Sorry to interrupt the game.”
She picked up the ball and had Yoda racing in circles as she started down the hall.
In the kitchen, she found the cabinet doors open, and the box of dog treats on the island. Open.
“Did they give you some of these, or is this my cue to do that? I can’t be too freaked by a ghost who likes dogs. Just one,” she told Yoda. “Then we’ll go outside.”
When she dug in for one of the little squares, Yoda sat, eyes gleaming. Then he reared up on his stubby back legs and waved his front paws.
After a surprised laugh, she rewarded the dog.
“Did he teach you that? I’m guessing boy, young boy. I don’t know if you can go outside or not,” she said as she closed the cabinet doors, “but if you can, you’re welcome to join us.”
She grabbed the old jacket she left in the mudroom and went out into the brisk April air.
Warm and balmy might be weeks off, but she saw more patches of ground. She decided she’d survived her first winter in Maine.
To her delight, she spied a few crocuses popping purple on the side of the apartment. And as she walked, she saw a few brave stems of green pushing out of the ground.
Daffodils, maybe. She’d find out soon.
“It’ll be so pretty,” she told the dog, then threw the ball for him. “I’m ready to say goodbye to the drama of winter, and hello to the happy of spring.”
Wandering around the house, she hunted for other signs that spring was on the way while the tireless Yoda chased the ball.
She decided the wind off the sea didn’t feel as sharp as it had even a week ago as she walked to the stone wall.
“Oh, oh, look! I think it’s dolphins!” Thrilled, she watched one—no, two—no, three!—as they jumped and dived. Caught, she gathered up the dog, pointed. “See? Can you see them? I think they’re playing.”
Apparently more interested in her, he licked her chin.
“I’m going to put some chairs on the widow’s walk when it’s warm enough. Invest in a pair of good binoculars. Maybe I have them already somewhere in the house. Or a spyglass. I definitely want a spyglass.”
After setting the dog back down, she lifted her face, breathed in.
She heard something scream, whirled. The window on the third floor stood open, and something flew out.
The bird, black as midnight, long talons curled, screamed once more, and dived.
Instinct had her grabbing Yoda again, hunching over him. Her body braced for the bite of those talons as she ordered her legs to run. But when she risked a look up, she saw nothing but the blue of the sky and some gray-edged clouds that threatened rain.
As she caught her breath, a window in Cleo’s studio opened. “Did you hear that? What was that?”
“A bird,” Sonya called up. “I don’t know if it was real, but it’s gone now. We’re coming in.”
“I’m coming down.”
Jogging toward the house on shaky legs, Sonya looked at the now closed window of the Gold Room. “Did it scare you?” She nuzzled the dog. “It scared me.”
Still carrying Yoda, she went in. “I’m going to the kitchen! We’ll get you dried off, that’s right, doggie. Everything’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Cleo found her as she rubbed Yoda down in the mudroom.
“I never heard a bird sound like that,” Cleo began. “It was almost human.”
“It flew out of her window. A black bird, too big, I think, for a crow. Way too big. It just dived toward us.”
“I didn’t see anything. Not by the time I jumped up and ran to the window. But … when I opened it to call down to you? I thought, for a minute, I smelled something. Something like sulfur.”
“She wanted to scare us, and mission accomplished. But if she wanted to hurt us, I don’t think she could.”
“Not enough power outside the house, maybe. I swear, that scream chilled my blood.”
“There were dolphins.”
“Really? I want a Coke. Do you want a Coke? I’m getting us a Coke.”
“I was watching them, and thinking how wonderful it was. I guess she couldn’t let that stand. And before I went out, Yoda was playing fetch with whoever likes to open the cabinets.”
“You saw them!”
“No, but Yoda did—does. I thought it was you, bouncing the ball down the hall to the foyer for Yoda. But when I came down, just the dog and the ball. Then—wait, I’ll show you.”
She suspected Molly rather than the boy had put the box of treats away again, so she got them out.
Yoda sat.
“Watch this.”
When she held up the treat, he reared and waved his paws.
“Aww. That much adorable may be illegal in some states.”
“I didn’t teach him to do that.”
“That just proves there’s more good here than bad. We’re okay, Son, and we’re going to stay that way.”
“Don’t go near that room, for now. Please.” Insistent, Sonya gripped Cleo’s arm. “Promise.”
“I promise, but sooner or later, we’ll have to.”
“I vote for later, after work.”
“After work you’ll find me here, making dinner. Trey’s coming, right?”
“Last I heard.”
“We’re having chicken and dumplings.”
“Get out! You can make dumplings?”
Cleo took a determined swig of Coke. “We’re going to find out.”
When Sonya went back to work, Clover met her with “Don’t Worry Baby.”
“Trying not to. Think fetch-playing kid, not big, ugly bird.”
She documented both, then went back to the Doyle job.