We followed her through the gap.
It was a little tight, but it worked.
“Thank goodness none of us has big boobs,” Annabel said as she squeezed through last. She was definitely the tallest of us. “Boobs would definitely be a dealbreaker in this scenario.”
Once on the other side, we all crouched down.
“Why are we crouching?” I whispered.
“It seems appropriate,” Poppy whispered back. “We have to see the lay of the land before we continue.”
“Who knows what rich people could deploy in a response to intruders? There are clearly no dogs,” Annabel said. “But they could have attack gerbils or a herd of geese waiting in the wings.”
“Geese come in gaggles,” Poppy replied matter-of-factly. “They’re all honk and no game.”
“Gerbils?” I questioned. “Why in the world did you pick gerbils?”
“Why not gerbils?” Annabel said. “They’re totally feisty, and I bet, with enough money, you could link some sort of Habitrail from the house to here. If the gerbils were extra starving, they could come for faces.” She mocked clawing at her eyes with curled fingers. “They could probably gnaw off a good portion of a nose before we could swat them away.”
“Good grief,” I said, laughing. “Your imagination knows no bounds, Annabel. I’m pretty sure homeowners wouldn’t waste their money on attack gerbils. If they wanted to, they could just dig a moat and fill it with alligators.”
“She did not get the brains in the family. Sorry, folks,” Poppy chirped. “Follow me.” She began to creep along the hedge line, staying off the actual paved driveway.
The driveway seemed to go on for a mile, but in reality, it was probably a block long. We finally edged around a corner to find a bigger paved parking area. A few lights were strategically placed in the plants to illuminate the front of the home. Everything else was dark.
“Oh my goodness, it looks like the White House,” Poppy squealed in an awe-filled, reverent voice, placing a hand over her heart. “Look at those columns. All those black-framed windows. My dream home in a nutshell.”
“That’s an awfully big nut.” Annabel guffawed.
The house was crazy enormous and really beautiful. You could tell how immaculate it was even in the low light. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never been this close to a house this big,” I said.
“Honestly, human beings don’t need this much space,” Annabel said. “I watched a show once about super-efficient apartments in crazy-large cities abroad. People can do a lot with five hundred square feet. If you have the right gadgets, it can even seem spacious.”
“Those people are not Rob Lowe,” Poppy muttered, continuing forward.
“I don’t see a lockbox or a place for a key code or anything like that,” I said.
“Kelly said there’s a service entrance farther down,” Yasmine said. “Let’s hope she’s right.”
We continued to walk along the house, staying in the driveway.
I was extremely thankful no alarms had gone off. It definitely felt like we were trespassing, even more so now. We were creeping around like Peeping Toms.
Inside my pants pocket, my phone chimed with Marco’s sound.
I pulled it out, grinning already.
what are you up to? are you there yet?
I stopped walking as more text bubbles came up.
i’ve been thinking about you. about us.
More bubbles.
I held my breath.
i can’t wait for you to get back.