then finally to the video store on Main Street.
There, eleven-year-old Drew had argued for renting some sort of video game for the Xbox he’d brought along. Eight-year-old Tyler had begged for a different game, one Drew said was dumb. And ten-year-old Lily had shyly asked for an old Harry Potter movie she’d seen at least a million times, according to Tyler.
Abby’s plans for holding a vote fizzled when the boys stood toe-to-toe and both proclaimed it was their turn to choose. Abby ended up renting all three and praying for peace.
Now, back at the stairway to her small upstairs apartment, Abby held a finger to her lips. “My landlord is elderly and needs his sleep. We have to be very quiet, okay?”
Lily nodded and tiptoed up. Tyler stumbled on the third step and yelped as his knee struck the edge of the riser. Drew, distracted by a motorcycle coming down the street, bumbled into him and said a few words he must have learned in inner city Chicago during his earlier days. The video he’d been carrying bounced down the stairs to the grass.
Sure enough, the lights in Hubert’s first-floor bedroom blazed on a second later and he appeared at his window to peer out into the dark.
“Just me, Mr. Bickham. Sorry,” Abby called.
Shooing the kids ahead of her, she held a finger to her lips again and gave them a conspiratorial smile. “He’s got very, very good ears,” she whispered. “Let’s pretend we’re secret agents and see how quiet we can be.”
Upstairs, the kids seemed surprised by the efficiency’s small living area, dominated by a threadbare couch and single chair. The tiny kitchenette in one corner. The queen-size bed she’d angled into another corner, and had covered with her jewel-toned quilt and shams in an effort to make the place more homey.
“This is real pretty,” Lily murmured. “But there’s no place for us to sleep.”
“That’s why Connor dropped off your sleeping bags and duffels this morning. I figure you can each camp in a different corner. You’re welcome to make tents out of chairs and my extra blankets.”
Tyler grinned. “Cool.”
“I’m over by the TV, and I get it first,” Drew announced. He pawed through one of the duffels and pulled out a black plastic box with cords and controllers dangling from it like an electronic octopus. In seconds he was behind the small TV, figuring out the connections.
“That’s not fair,” Tyler complained. “We didn’t even draw for it.”
Draw for it? Abby realized she should have managed the first TV rights equitably. “How about giving Drew an hour, then you and Lily can draw straws for who goes next?”
Lily, who’d settled on the couch with a Harry Potter hardcover book that weighed almost as much as she did, shot Abby a look of gratitude, then dropped her gaze to the open book in her lap.
Tyler stuck out his lower lip. “Drew’s always first, just ’cause he’s bigger. And if Lily wins, that’s not fair, ’cause her dumb movie lasts forever.”
Reminded of her one—and only—disastrous babysitting job as a teen, Abby smiled. “Then how about helping me bake some cookies while you wait? You could be the one to decorate them before they go in the oven.”
The television blared to life—a cacophony of gunshots and screams that nearly shook the rafters before Drew found the volume button on the remote.
Startled, Lily jerked and her heavy book slid to the floor.
“Jeez, Drew. Wake up the dead, will you?” Tyler snapped.
And from downstairs they heard muffled curses…then the thud! thud! thud! of Hubert’s broom handle beneath them.
Abby managed a reassuring smile as she motioned with her hands for quiet. They were good, normal kids. They couldn’t help making noise. But this whole idea had obviously been a mistake.
She already knew she’d be hearing from Hubert in the morning…and the news wouldn’t be good.
CHAPTER TWO
DELAYING HER INEVITABLE confrontation with Hubert, Abby bustled around her little kitchen, cleaning up after feeding the kids her favorite malted-milk waffles, scrambled eggs with cheese and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
They’d all been restless last night and had finally dozed off at the end of Lily’s movie, but for some inexplicable reason they were all awake by six…their occasional arguments or bursts of laughter bringing energy and excitement to the apartment and making her laugh.
But Hubert would be waiting for the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. And then he’d be on his front porch when she came around the house, ready to complain about her latest Noise Infraction. Hubert, she thought grimly as she dried the final piece of silverware, needed a life.
“Now, we’ve got two choices,” she said as she wiped the last of the crumbs off the counter. “It’s beautiful outside, seventy degrees and sunny. We could stay here and watch old movies…or go out to the lake and feed the ducks the rest of these waffles.”
“Ducks?” Drew rolled his eyes. “We’re not little kids.”
“So then, how about feeding the ducks and then going on a hike?” Belatedly, Abby remembered Lily’s weak left leg, from a club foot that hadn’t been properly treated when she was in foster care. She thought up a fast excuse to avoid a long walk. “I’m too tired to walk very far, but we could follow Sapphire Lake and watch the Jet Skis and sailboats for a while.”
Tyler and Drew exchanged bored looks that revealed just how exciting that sounded. Then Drew gave Tyler’s shoulder a playful shove. Tyler bent to tackle him at the waist and they hit the floor, wrestling like a pile of puppies until Abby managed to call a halt.
“Monopoly? Scrabble?” Abby searched her memory for anything she’d liked at their ages, but without siblings or close friends, she’d spent most of her childhood between the pages of good books. “Cards?”
Drew dove in for a sneak attack on Tyler and they crashed against the sofa. It screeched against the hardwood floor.
“Stop!” she ordered. “Now.”
Chastened, they fell apart, breathing hard—and then Tyler punched Drew in the ribs and they were at it again.
“Grab your shoes. We’re leaving.” She thought fast. “I could use your advice, really. Do you guys know anything about pets?”
That got their attention.
“Why?” Tyler asked, dodging another feint by Drew.
Hubert’s broom handle began pounding an all too familiar rebuke.
“I, um, think I’ll be moving very soon.” Maybe sooner than I planned. “And I was thinking about checking out the animals at the shelter. Would you like to go there and help me look? We’ll need to hurry, though. I think they close at eleven on Saturdays.”
“Awesome!” Drew spun away and pulled his Nikes from the pile of shoes the kids had left at the door. “A big dog would be really cool.
