“But I don’t—”
“Play, won’t you, Astrid?”
“Of course.”
The six dancers stood in their two lines. Collin stood at Astrid’s shoulder.
She played the same song, exactly as before. Everything moved, exactly as before.
The old woman plied her needle and tapped her foot. The old man smiled and sipped his whiskey. Collin turned the page while the dancers wove.
In the grate a log fell with a shower of embers.
And Sonya woke standing beside the bed.
The dog slept on, so she hadn’t disturbed him. She moved quietly out of the room, down the stairs, into the parlor.
The furniture stood exactly as it should. Then again, she thought, it hadn’t been the same furniture in the dream. Or experience.
No fire burned, no candles flickered, no oil lamps glowed.
She wandered the room, but the only scent she caught came from the Asiatic lilies she’d bought the day before. At the piano, she ran her finger lightly over the keys.
Then she walked into the foyer, looked up at Astrid’s portrait.
“I heard you. I don’t know what it means or what to do about it, but I heard you.”
But the house, and whatever walked in it, stayed silent.
In the silence, she walked back upstairs.
In bed she closed her eyes and waited for sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
In the morning, she documented every detail she could remember. Afterward, she held herself to half a day of work—in her mind to more or less make up for the time she’d taken for personal things during the workweek.
She put an extra hour in compiling a list of invisible companions. Considering her experience the night before, she included Astrid as the second bride to have seen her, spoken to her.
That left her free to handle the few domestic chores her invisible housekeeper left for her. Since the sun beamed, and with weekly laundry in the machine, she took a long walk with Yoda. The thinning blanket of snow lured her and the dog to the edge of the woods.
Then a few steps in.
She couldn’t deny the wonder of it, the mystery of bare-branched trees, the deep green of pine. The light wind stirred pine needles to a kind of rustling, and from deeper in came the sounds of chirping and chittering.
Yoda scented the air just as she did, but the snow lay thicker there where the sun didn’t quite reach.
And she was reasonably sure she saw hoofprints or paw prints, or some sort of animal tracks. While she’d enjoy crossing paths with a deer—getting a closer look—she doubted she’d enjoy crossing paths with anything less benign.
They’d just leave the woods, for now, to whatever wildlife wandered there.
“I’m a city girl, Yoda. And that’s a fact.”
Instead, they walked back to stand at the seawall. Now the wind stirred through her hair and blew cool across her cheeks. With it came the fresh, adventurous scent of the sea.
And under the clear sky, the sea held boldly blue to the horizon. Waves crashed below, and out on that plate of blue, boats glided.
To her delight, she spotted her second whale, even picked up Yoda hoping he’d share the thrill.
But he only wagged and licked her chin.
“This is it, doggie,” she murmured. “This is it for me. Times like last night I get a little shaky, but this is it. Water and woods and whales. Who knew?”
When she took the dog back in, she swore she caught the scent of fresh orange oil.
“She keeps busy,” Sonya muttered, and hung up her coat.
Very busy, Sonya decided when she found her delicates hanging on the rod in the laundry room. A check of the dryer showed it empty, so she had no doubt she’d find what she’d tossed in it folded and put away.
Just as she’d found the dishwasher empty, and the dishes all put away when she’d checked that morning.
How would it feel, she wondered, to spend your afterlife—if that’s what it was—cleaning up after someone else?
However ridiculous she found it, she took a long breath.
“Thank you very much. Please don’t feel obliged.”
The iPad played Kid Rock’s “God Bless Saturday.”
“Okay, fine.” She couldn’t stop the laugh. “Message received.”
* * *
Clear skies gave way to thick, heavy clouds, and a solid six inches of snow fell overnight. Sonya took it as an excuse to indulge in a lazy afternoon. She took John Dee coffee, added a generous slice of pound cake. Then she snuggled in for the day.
Games of tug with the dog entertained both of them. Cuddled on the sofa on the second level of the library, she streamed whatever appealed.