His face lit up and he gladly obliged. She had a time convincing him that she would be perfectly safe walking home alone, but he finally drove off. Olivia turned onto Main Street, but in the opposite direction of her brother’s home.
Three long days on that boat and she still had no idea what she was going to
do. She felt sick to her stomach, dreading facing her family. She would have to
knock on the front door like a stranger. Tobey might not even live there any more. Mabel and Avis were most likely married by now. Good luck waking Avis.
Mabel would be the one getting out of bed and tromping down the stairs, not knowing whether to be annoyed or alarmed. Now Olivia understood the real
charm of a big city. They had hotels.
She found herself walking toward The Circle, where the road curved around
on itself, forming the cul de sac on which Jettie Place’s house and bakery shop
stood. She told herself she just needed a short walk to clear her head, but knew
that wasn’t true. It wasn’t by chance that she’d chosen this path for her walk, past the home of her father’s mistress, the one person in Five Rocks who might
not judge her.
A light was burning in one of the downstairs windows. Olivia thought Mrs.
Place’s home should have been sad and lonely-looking, the only house down there, all by itself. Its light gray paint was peeling off and dead leaves blew across its saggy front porch, but that glowing window somehow managed to
look cheerful and inviting. Olivia had been standing in the road for a long while,
trying to imagine herself climbing up those steps and knocking on the front door,
when Mrs. Place opened it and called out.
“Angel! Angel! Come here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” Mrs. Place paced the length of
the porch, clutching her flannel robe. Then she looked up and noticed the hooded
figure.
“Oh hullo there. You ain’t seen a little white kitten?”
“No, ma’am, I haven’t.” Olivia raised a hand to swipe the hood from her head
and then untied and removed the poke bonnet.
“Olivia Killion?” Mrs. Place squinted at her. “Is that you?” She descended the
first step and Olivia saw that her feet were in slippers made of rags, similar to the ones Mrs. Hardaway wore.
“Yes, ma’am.” Olivia took a few hesitant steps toward the infamous “fancy
lady.”
“Why, indeed it is. I ain’t heard nothing about you being back in town.
Wondered what become of you. All kinds of stories been going around. How
long you been back?”
Olivia was grateful for the casual tone of the woman’s voice, as if it were the
most natural thing in the world to find Seborn Killion’s daughter lurking outside
her house.
“I just got here,” Olivia said. “A delivery wagon let me off by Ferguson’s
Livery.”
Mrs. Place frowned through a long silence, one eyebrow raised. “I see. So
you ain’t been to see your family yet?”
“No, ma’am. I felt like taking a little walk first.”
“I see.” Mrs. Place studied Olivia for another moment. “Well, you sure look
to me like someone what could use a hot drink. And I’m getting right chilled out
here. Can’t believe the nights are this cool in July. Strangest weather we been having. Can I invite you in?”
