Dreaming August by Terri-Lynne Defino Read Free Book Online Page A

wonder if it’s Tilly.”
    “There was no such tradition while I lived in Bitterly.”
    “Well, if it came about because of her, there wouldn’t be, would there.” Benny thumbed her lip. She hadn’t thought about the Halloweeny tradition in ages. It was probably nothing. Or maybe it wasn’t. Later, she would consider how deep her nuts-o-ness went. Now, she just let it be.
    “Go home, Benedetta, before you become a story children dare one another with.”
    “I’ll go home,” she said, “because I feel better now, and I’m tired, and I still have to work in the morning. Thank you, Augie.”
    “It is my pleasure. It is good to speak with someone who is not Harriet. She can be cantankerous.”
    “Tell her hi for me, okay?”
    “I will.”
    Benny started away, then, “Can you show me where you are buried?”
    “Come back tomorrow,” he said. “I will try.”
    Nodding, she peeked out the corner of her eye. Augie? Or moonlight? Benny walked down the hill without looking back, without saying goodbye to Henny, or touching a kiss to Mrs. Farcus’ tombstone.
    * * * *
    “Well?”
    “Well what, August?”
    “You were listening. I know you were.”
    “Then why are you asking?”
    “I wasn’t asking if you were listening, Harriet, you cantankerous witch, but what you thought about what you heard.”
    “I didn’t like when you got naughty.”
    “I seem to recall being the naughty sort. I am closer to who I was in life when I am with her.”
    “Then you were no gentleman.”
    “Gentlemen don’t have as much fun, Harriet. I…I don’t quite understand what happened. I became so muddled. I didn’t even tell her why I sought her out.”
    “Do you remember why now?”
    “The promise I made to my daughter, and didn’t keep. I need Benedetta to help me keep it. Why could I not remember that, when I was with her? Why only here?”
    “Here, there is no place to hide, Augie. Back there, closer to life? People hide from the truth all the time.”
    “Like I hid my child in Italy from Katherine.”
    “There you have it. Just understand this, August. Hard as it is to hold onto a dream after waking, once you speak it aloud, there is no forgetting again.”
    “Is that what we are? Dreams?”
    “Kind of like, I ’spect.”
    “I don’t think the living have any idea how very complicated death actually is, Harriet.”
    “You got the right of it, Augie. The absolute right.”
     
     

Chapter 5
    The Sunset Hills
     
    Benny checked the time again. Four o’clock. Still too early to skip out of work, even though she was finished with all Savannah asked her to do. She was actually feeling good today. No nausea at all. Her groin stitched now and again, those stretching ligaments and muscles were her newest reminder of the baby growing inside. Benny was actually looking forward to the doctor visit she had scheduled, including an ultrasound, as long as Peter let her borrow the car.
    Gardening gloves stowed in her greenhouse cubby, along with her hand-trowel and rake, she took the garden debris out to the compost barrel and gave it a spin. Savannah had been out in the store a little while ago. Maybe she needed some help. It was the least Benny could do, considering the only appointment she was able to get was for Wednesday, the one day a week Savvy took off like it was a religious holiday. Hope as she might for the secret and sexy rendezvous Savannah needed, Benny acceded to the facts. Through all the years of their friendship, the only men in Savannah’s life had been Edgardo and Raul, brothers from Ecuador and foremen at the farm. The notion of her boss and one of her foremen making her shudder and laugh at the same time, Benny almost missed spotting Dan getting out of his truck just as she turned the corner. She ducked, feeling foolish, but her heart hammered too fast to do anything but hide.
    “Good afternoon, Daniel.” Savannah’s smooth drawl carried. Benny peeked around the corner of the