Chapter Four

THINGS UNEXPECTED

 

Paige watched the rain pelt off the dry tarmac, each drop a small tidal wave slamming against the surface, stirring up tiny clouds of dust. ‘Hiroshima’, she whispered. To Paige, these two were one in the same; comprised of the same dynamics but on a different scale. A clap of thunder split the sky open lighting the horizon and painting the edges of each silhouette. So strange, she thought, how calming the chaos of ripping atoms was for her. A moment ago the sky was blue and serene.

Suddenly the phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. She clutched her chest and gasped.

“God, blimey!” Another bolt of lightning lit the room as she strode across the fourier and picked up the phone.

“Well then,” she concluded as she gazed down at the call display. “That explains everything, doesn’t it?”

She grimaced, rolled her eyes, and raised the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Ally?” The voice was sharp and curt.

“No, it’s Paige.”

“The boyish one? Well, where in the broomsticks are you girls! I’ve been standing on this dreadful cement platform for 45 minutes. My feet are swollen, my Jimmy Choo’s are completely ruined, and I’m soaked to the bone.”

Paige winced. “Standing where?” she asked, but something told her she already knew.

“At the station, you silly ninny! Oh, for Cat Sakes, I don’t have time for this stuff and nonsense. Put Ally on the phone, and she’d better have a darn good reason for putting me through this atrocity!”

“Hold on. I’ll get her.” Paige dropped the phone from her ear and placed it on hold. ‘At the station!’ Paige felt a hot rage growing slowly inside of her. It was bad enough they’d had to endure her after Mommy and Daddy passed on, but they were full grown adults now. She stared blankly at the flashing letters on the call display as she scrambled to collect her thoughts. Ally would not be home for antoher 5 minutes. She would have to improvise.

“Tauntie Kate. Ally is, uh, busy, er fixing the car. Yes. She’s just about finished, though, and then we’ll be there.”

“I suppose she’s still driving that heap of tin that Charles was so fond of. It’s a wonder it runs at all! Well, hurry it up then.”

Paige shuddered as the phone went dead. She placed the receiver back on the cradle just as Ally strode through the front door.

“What a fabulous day!” Ally chirped.

“Well, you had better savor it because you are not going to like what I’m about to tell you.”

“Oh, Paige.” Ally grinned. “You are such a synic!” She crossed the floor and hung her coat on the stair banister. Her hand lingered there, fondly, for a moment. “You know, I will have to admit I had some misgivings about buying this old house in the beginning, but, aside from a few repairs, it has brought us nothing but good luck. For the first time in years, I think we actually have a chance of settling down and being happy; so there isn’t anything you can say that could erase this smile from my face today.”

“Tauntie Kate called. She’s at the train station. Here. In Bentwood Shores.”

Ally cringed. “Except that!”

“She seems to be under the impression that we were coming to pick her up.” Paige began.

“Are you kidding me?” Ally hoped it was a joke, but the expression on Paige’s face told her otherwise.

“I wish I was.”

“Well, did she say anything else?”

“Only that she’s wet, and tired, and she’s been waiting for 45 minutes. Oh, and she ruined some guy.”

Ally raised a questioning eyebrow at the last statement, then decided she didn’t have the time. “Oh, this is bad.” Ally’s thoughts raced as the memory of Tauntie Kate’s last visit flashed though her mind.

“We could just leave her there,” Paige offered.

“What?!” Ally stared at Paige in disbelief. “You do remember what happened the last time she visited us.”

Paige did remember and she smirked at the memory. “Well, it was almost worth it just to see the look on her face when the smoke cleared.”

“Get in the car,” she barked at Paige, then yelled up the stairs for the others.