“They’ve only been gone an hour. You’ve practically worn a new groove in the floor,” Henry Dale said.
Though Eli didn’t say anything, he knew the old man was concerned too. Which was exactly why he was still looking out the window and not holed up in his room rereading The Princess Bride. Four people headed toward the house, and Eli went to open the door for them. Iris and Sally came inside first, leaving Mira to converse for a few moments with the newcomer. That must be Rowan.
They had a small suitcase, a backpack, and a duffle bag with clothes sticking out the top. Yeah, definitely a stealth extraction. Rowan looked nervous—completely understandable since everything was happening so fast. Eli decided that Sally’s solution—warm drinks for everyone—made a lot of sense in this situation. He conscripted Henry Dale to help him, and the older man appeared to understand his intentions. Even in the kitchen, Eli could hear the conversation, however.
Mira had gotten Rowan into the foyer, but they were objecting. “I can’t just move in. I don’t have a job. I don’t have anything. I need to—”
“Everyone needs a hand sometimes,” Iris said. “Before I inherited this house, I owed so much back rent that I couldn’t sleep for fretting over it. The room Mira mentioned isn’t big, but when we heard about your situation, we collectively decided it should be yours.”
“Let’s take your things upstairs,” Sally suggested. “If you decide you’d rather stay somewhere else, you have all the power.”
Iris’s voice came across as very gentle. “Definitely. I won’t ask you to sign a rental agreement. The room is yours for however long you need or want it.”
“I…wow.” Rowan paused briefly, and Eli wondered what was happening inside that silence.
Mira spoke in a reassuring tone. “I’ve been here for a couple of weeks. Everyone is nice. Henry Dale can be a bit of a grouch, but you’ll get used to him. Sally is pure sunshine, Eli is the brother I never had, and Iris is the glue that holds us together.”
“Really? Not only because I own the house?” Iris sounded surprised at being described that way.
No, she’s right. You drew all of us in, one way or another.
“We won’t force you to stay, of course,” Iris went on, “if you don’t like the house or you’d rather make other arrangements.”
“No, I like it,” Rowan said quickly. “What I’ve seen anyway.”
Eli filled the kettle, still shamelessly eavesdropping. There was a brief pause, then Rowan added, “It’s just that when something seems too good to be true…”
“It usually is,” Mira finished.
In time, Eli heard the four go upstairs, and he set up the drinks in the front room along with a plate of Sally’s homemade cookies. The others were upstairs less than ten minutes, then they returned en masse. Eli waited for Iris to perform the introductions.
“Everyone, this is Rowan. Rowan, you’ve met Sally, and you know Mira. This is Eli and Henry Dale. Before we chat, I guess we should go over the house rules. We don’t enter each other’s rooms uninvited. There’s a basic chore schedule, so we’ll add you to the roster. What else? Oh! Mira gets the bathroom at 7 a.m. since she has a day job.” Iris glanced at Eli, then Henry Dale. “Can you think of anything else?”
Eli shook his head. “Not off the top of my head.”
Henry Dale said, “Washer and dryer’s in the basement. The washer can be a mite tetchy. Holler at me if the wheel drum gets out of balance.”
“Should we swap numbers?” Sally asked.
Rowan seemed entirely bemused as they added contact numbers to their phone. “I don’t understand what any of you are getting out of this. I mean, I know why Mira’s helping me. But the rest of you…”
“Everyone should be safe,” Henry Dale said. “You deserve a lot of other good things, but that’s the bare minimum.”
“I don’t think they’d hurt me,” Rowan said uncertainly.
But Iris was shaking her head. “Look, we just met, so you don’t know my…family. I’d have to dump a lot on you tonight to explain, but suffice to say, there are layers of damage. Even if it’s not physical harm, they’re hurting you with their words and with the way they treat you. Emotional wounds can be even worse—to the point that their words can become the mocking voice in your head, the one that cuts you down.”
“And it’s not right,” Henry Dale added.
“Absolutely not,” Sally agreed.
“People want to believe the best about their families. ‘They’ll come around. I just need to give them time.’ But you don’t owe them patience or tolerance when their love is conditional,” Eli said.
He recalled how Iris’s sister Lily had been glad to have a “get out of jail free” card after stealing Iris’s boyfriend and how her other sister was thinking about litigating so she could profit from Iris’s heartbreak. Why are people like this?
“And that’s a lot. Let’s eat before I get all mopey,” Iris said, picking up the tea Eli had fixed for her.
It felt like a secret known only to them—the fact that she could tell that he’d made it from the amount of milk in the cup. The others grabbed their drinks and settled on chairs and couches around the living room. Rowan took two cookies first, scarfed them quickly, then washed them down with warm tea.
“Sorry. I didn’t eat dinner,” they said.
Sally got to her feet immediately. “Do you like eggs? I can scramble you some in a jiffy. I’ll fix a nice plate of toast to go with them. We have homemade jam! Hazel brought it over, made from fresh raspberries.”
Rowan smiled for the first time since arriving. “Is this what I have to look forward to? It’s like I suddenly acquired the nicest grandma ever.”
Mira grinned, a teasing light in her eyes. “Be warned, she’s not on duty full-time. Sally spends a lot of time with her close, close friend Ethel these days.”
Rowan brightened visibly. “I have a gay foster grandma?”
“Not gay,” Sally said over her shoulder on the way to the kitchen. “But absolutely bi-curious. I’m trying things out with Ethel, it’s true. But we prefer not to put labels on our relationship. She’s not the type to settle down, and I was monogamous for far too long. I need to kiss a lot of people to make up for lost time.”
“This is heaven,” Rowan declared with an awed look. “It must be, right?”
“That’s how I feel,” Iris said.
Eli gazed at her, just…drinking her in and marveling at her ability to attract happiness like she cast it as a spell. If this is heaven, you’re the angel.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
For the next few days, Iris mostly left Rowan to their own devices.
This was a big change, and they wouldn’t get comfortable if everyone hovered. She hadn’t mentioned the “label your food” rule because the rest of her housemates had come to a tacit understanding that they’d take care of Rowan. Yesterday, Sally made a huge pot of vegetable soup and froze individual portions, so there was always something to be defrosted and eaten. She might claim she was tired of looking after people, but the instinct hadn’t gone away, it seemed.