When I was a little girl, Ava could frighten me with her angry words, said so sternly that I would feel my spine shake. She could send a chill through my chest and into my heart, as if I had gulped a glass of ice water. I remember that even my lips felt numb.
It was as if I were a little girl again. I stood there frozen, unable to speak. She was wearing a black velvet hooded jacket and tight black jeans. Her face caught in the lighted door lamps had a yellowish glow, with her eyes like two burning coals. I glanced around nervously, anticipating Daddy, but there was no one but her. She had started to take a step toward me when Jim Lamb pulled up to the curb in front of the Winston House. Seeing me just outside the door, he tapped his horn and leaped out of his car.
Ava stepped back into the shadows when I turned to him.
“Hi,” he called. “Great coincidence. Come here and take a look at the good job they did on my c
ar.”
When I looked back at Ava, I saw she was gone. She had slipped farther into the shadows and glided through the pockets of darkness. Jim stood in front of his car, his hands on his hips, looking at the repair job and waiting for me. Still trembling, I walked toward him.
“I was at a movie with one of the guys who teaches at my school. Terrific little film. Won’t make any money, though. So?” he said, nodding toward the car. “What do you think?”
“You’d never know anything had happened to it,” I said, looking back nervously for Ava. She wasn’t there.
“Exactly. Something wrong?” he asked, noticing how I was searching the darkness.
“No. No. Everything’s fine.”
“Good. So, how was your day?”
I turned again toward the house but perused the lawn and the houses nearby, searching for Ava’s dark silhouette. I didn’t see her, and for a moment, I questioned whether I actually had seen her. Could I have imagined it, imagined the conversation? What made me question it was my belief that Ava was not one to retreat, especially from a young man like Jim Lamb. Why wouldn’t she have put me in an embarrassing position by trying to explain who she was? Why wouldn’t she have used the occasion to ruin my stay here? Why else would she have followed me?
“What? Oh. Very nice,” I said, realizing that Jim was waiting for an answer. I started for the front door again, walking gingerly, my eyes panning every possible nook and cranny in the darkness where Ava might be hovering. Jim walked alongside me.
“Did you hear that there’s a new tenant coming tomorrow?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Sounds like an interesting fellow. Our dinner table could use some new conversation.”
He lunged forward to open the door for me.
“Thank you,” I said, and entered.
The house was quiet, but I couldn’t believe Mrs. Winston would have gone to sleep without first seeing what my day with her great-nephew was like. Sure enough, she stepped out of the living room with a book in her hand.
“Well, now,” she said, surprised that we were entering together. “Where did you two meet?”
“Right outside. Just a coincidence,” Jim said, a little sadly.
Mrs. Winston held her tight smile and looked at me. “Would you like something before you go to bed, Lorelei? A cup of tea, hot cocoa?”
“I don’t think so, thank you.”
She looked at Jim, who realized he was standing there awkwardly, especially since she had not asked him if he wanted something.
“Well, I’d better get to bed. Early to rise, of course. Always have to get myself fully awake before those girls hit the school. They take no prisoners,” he added, fidgeting with the buttons on his jacket. “ ’Night.”
“Good night, Jim,” Mrs. Winston said.
“ ’Night. Your car looks great,” I added.
He flashed a smile and went to the stairway.
“Before you ask,” I said to Mrs. Winston, “I had a wonderful time.”
“Well, I’m happy to hear that.”