Chapter 3
Before I could ask another question, Arthur turned toward the kitchen.
“Have either of you eaten today?”
“We had toast,” Annie said.
I looked at her.
Half a piece of toast each did not seem worth mentioning, but Annie had always taken Grace literally when she told us never to exaggerate.
Arthur noticed my expression.
“Toast,” he repeated. “Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
He closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, the sternness had returned, but it seemed aimed at himself rather than us.
“Sit down.”
“We should go home,” I said. “Grace doesn’t know where we are.”
“And someone is already on the way to see her.”
That frightened me more than it reassured me.
“Who?”
“Dr. Helen Mercer.”
“Is she a real doctor?”
Arthur actually looked offended.
“She ran the emergency department at St. Matthew’s for twelve years.”
Annie tugged my sleeve.
“That sounds real.”
Arthur almost smiled.
“She retired from hospital work last spring. These days she spends most of her time complaining that retirement is boring.”
He opened the refrigerator.
It was larger than the one in our whole kitchen.
I expected it to be full of expensive food, but most of the shelves were nearly empty. There were eggs, milk, cheese, apples, a covered bowl, and several containers marked with dates.
Arthur stared into it as though he had forgotten why he had opened it.
Finally, he said, “Mrs. Alvarez leaves soup on Thursdays.”
“It’s Tuesday,” I said.
“I’m aware of that.”
He checked a container.
“Fortunately, soup survives Tuesdays.”
He heated three bowls.
When he placed mine in front of me, I hesitated.
“We didn’t finish the garden.”
Arthur sat across from us.
“You found something I spent seventeen years believing was gone forever. I think we can call the account settled.”
“We didn’t find it for you,” I said. “It was just there.”
“Most important things are.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that either.
The soup smelled like chicken and herbs. Annie waited until Arthur picked up his spoon before touching hers.
That was something Grace had taught us.
Arthur noticed.
May you like
“Your sister taught you manners.”
“She teaches us everything,” Annie said.
