The View From Here by Cindy Myers Read Free Book Online Page A

kept her house lit up as if she were hosting a party every night, though she lived alone with two cats and enough old books and pictures to fill a museum. Lucille had been inside exactly once, when she delivered a desk Cassie had purchased from the shop. Cassie had claimed the desk had been her father’s and she didn’t know how it ended up in Lucille’s shop, but she wanted it back in its rightful place.
    Lucille knew exactly how that desk had ended up in her shop. A woman who had bought it from Cassie’s father had sold it to her, but she didn’t argue with Cassie. If the woman wanted to pay double what the thing was worth to have it back, Lucille wouldn’t argue. As it was, the two of them had a hard time wedging the piece in among all the other relics stuffed into the downstairs parlor.
    Lucille imagined Cassie in her crowded house, wandering through the rooms and turning on all the lights. Was the illumination so she could see all her treasures better? Or because she was afraid of the ghosts that surely lurked among all the flotsam and jetsam from the past?
    Two more headlights appeared in the distance, wobbling as the driver navigated the railroad tracks at the end of the street. A dark, blocky SUV glided into view, hesitated, then slid to a stop in front of Lucille’s house.
    She had no recollection of flinging open the front door and running out into the darkness. Only Olivia’s look of disdain told her how foolish she looked. “Couldn’t you wait a second for us to get out of the car before you start hovering?” she asked.
    â€œObviously not,” Lucille said drily, once again biting off words of reproach about the lateness of the arrival. She turned instead to the boy who had climbed out of the backseat and come around to stand beside her. Her grandson was an unimpressive specimen, peculiarly buglike with his long, bony arms and legs and oversized eyes behind the round glasses. “Hello, Lucas,” Lucille said. “How are you?”
    â€œTired and I have to pee,” the boy said, his voice a clear tenor that was neither plaintive nor strident. He was merely stating facts.
    â€œYou’d better come inside, then.” Lucille led the way into the house. She pointed out the downstairs bathroom to Lucas, then turned to her daughter. In the bright glow of the foyer light, Olivia looked older than Lucille had expected. A double furrow arced across her forehead, and twin grooves etched either side of her mouth. Her blond hair had a dry, over-processed look, and the multiple piercings in each ear looked out of place, like a Halloween costume. Then again, Lucille reminded herself, no one looked their best after a cross-country drive. “You must be exhausted,” she said.
    â€œYes,” Olivia said. She glanced over her shoulder, toward the SUV. “Is it okay to leave the car parked there overnight? I don’t feel like unpacking right now.”
    â€œIt should be fine,” Lucille said. Not that Eureka was immune to crime, but what thieves there were rarely ventured onto this quiet street. “If you lock it, it should be fine.”
    â€œI’ll move it in the morning,” Olivia said. She pressed a button on the keychain, and the car chirped and blinked its lights at her. “I really don’t want it out where everyone can see it.”
    Something in Olivia’s voice made Lucille wary. “Why not?” she asked.
    â€œDon’t look so alarmed. It’s all right, really. I’m sure D. J. won’t mind that I borrowed it.”
    â€œD. J. I thought you said D. J. was gone.”
    â€œHe is. He’s in Iraq, on some big-money contractor’s job. He asked me to look after the car while he’s gone. So that’s what I’m doing.”
    â€œSo he knows you drove it to Colorado.”
    â€œNo, but hey, when he needs it, he can come get it.” She dropped the keys back in her purse.