Page 3 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
He stopped a few metres from me, his back turned. "How do you know that?" Without looking around, he shook his head. "You're guessing. Tons of little girls like purple and unicorns."
"She had a rainbow-coloured teddy bear with a pink and purple dress," I said, the words coming to me without me thinking. "She had a star on her chest, in glitter or sequins. Like a pop star. She used to think her bear would have concerts when she wasn't there. Sometimes, she'd line up her toys and put on her own concert."
I blinked a couple of times, trying to understand where all of that came from.
Josiah turned around slowly. "Isn't that something all kids do?" But his face was a shade or two paler.
I wasn't sure how to answer that. "My mother said plush toys were a waste of time. That I should forget about them." I'd cried myself to sleep in a room full of practical things. Books I loved, but the room lacked warmth until I placed some of my own art around the space.
"Coral had so many of them you had to push them aside to sit anywhere," Josiah said absently. "Her favourite one was Ms?—"
"Ms Sparkles," we both finished together.
He gaped at me. "Who the hell are you?"
I shook my head slowly. "I don't know. I thought I knew, but now…"
"You must have come here as a kid," he said. He paused and his tone changed, became colder. "You've come up here before. What did you do, break in? That's how you know what her room looks like." He took a step toward me, his expression menacing.
I managed to stand my ground. He was intimidating, but I wasn't scared of him. Underneath all of that bravado, he was a man ostracised by his entire community. Ten years my senior, but somehow still little more than a scared boy. One who needed someone to listen, although no doubt he'd deny that.
"I haven't been up here since I arrived in town. I sure as hell didn't break in anywhere." I glanced back toward the living room. It was too dark inside to make out much. "Is the place the same as it was when she left?"
"Gavin didn't touch it," Josiah said after a few moments hesitation. "I haven't either."
"Coral's mother?" I ventured. I remembered someone saying she'd left around the same time Coral did, but I didn't know anything more than that.
"Has nothing to do with the place," Josiah said. "I never saw her after Coral left." He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. "Or before. I don't know, it was a long time ago."
Yes, it was. He lived with the shadow of this for twenty years. Beating himself up about it on a daily basis. I only had to look around at how well looked after everything was to know he'd put everything of himself into this place. He maintained it, kept the place from falling apart. As if somehow that would assuage some of the guilt he still felt. As if somehow it would stop him from being eaten alive by the past.
"Can I please have a look inside?" I asked softly. "Maybe I'm imagining everything. Projecting the childhood I wish I had." There were worse places to grow up than a tight-knit community like Aurora Hollow. "Ms Sparkle has to be a common name for a teddy bear, right?" If I googled, I'd probably find they were a hot trend twenty years ago. Millions of kids all over the country could have had one.
Yet, I knew that wasn't the case. Whatever the teddy bear trend was twenty years ago, it wasn't for bears named Ms Sparkle.
Josiah sighed. "If I don't let you in, you're going to break in, aren't you?"
"Absolutely," I agreed. Breaking in wasn't on my agenda until he mentioned it, but I needed to see inside. Whatever that took, I’d do it. Even if it meant breaking the law.
"Don't make me regret this." He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Stepping past me, he slid one into the lock and pushed the door open. He was close enough to smell leather and pine. Earthy and honest. Heat radiated off him, along with a healthy dose of second thought. Wondering if he should herd me back to my car and away from here.
But I was here now and I wasn't going to change my mind. Wasn't going to back down. More than anything else, I needed tosee inside this cottage. If only to reassure myself I had a healthy imagination.
I half-expected the door to creak, but it didn't. It opened without any effort at all, sliding over worn hardwood floors and letting in more of the light from outside.
I sucked in a breath, moved past him and into the house.
2
LEAH
I added‘house doesn't smell musty’ to the short list of things I half-expected but was wrong about. I should have known, from the state of the outside of the house, that the inside would be well-maintained.
There weren't any personal items in the living room. Nothing to indicate the personalities of those who used to live here. The couch under the window was positioned precisely, as were a pair of armchairs. All of them sat within reach of mismatched tables, one coffee table and two side tables.
The place was cozy. Familiar, but not pinging direct memories in my brain. Not really. Just… Something about gingerbread. And a Christmas tree in the corner beside the wood stove, but that was all. I could have seen that in a photo. After all, it was the best place for it, as if the layout was designed for just that purpose. If Santa had a cottage, it might look like this.
I moved past the small kitchen that smelled like lemon, and into the room at the back of the house. The room, I couldn't help noticing, that was in almost the same position as my bedroom in my rental. At the rear of the building, with the best view of nature outside the window.
