Chapter 3
“Hey, Aunt June.” I knocked on the screen door of the white clapboard house at the base of the Wilder River foothills. From here, the clearings of trees beneath the ski lifts made green, snakelike trails up the mountainside between the dark evergreens. “How are you doing?”
Aunt June, seated in her recliner, pushed down the footrest with her legs and raced to greet me at the door. “Why, as I live and breathe!” She unlatched the little hook at the top of the screen and flung it wide. “Jeremy! It’s been an age! Look at you, all grown up and manly.” She threw her arms around me and dragged me into her house, seating me on the floral, faux-velvet sofa in autumn tones, shooing her big black cat off. “Get away, Scooter. That’s where Jeremy needs to sit.”
A game show blared on TV. Trivia. Aunt June muted it but didn’t shut it off. “Tell me what brings you to town. I heard all about the Georgetown and Prince merger. You’re hitting the big time, aren’t you? Your parents are so proud. They told us all about it on the group text.”
My mom and her siblings had a notoriously active messaging network. “It was a good week for business,” was all I said. “And, to answer your question, I’m here to see about mending fences with an old friend.”
My life must be an open book, because Aunt June frowned. “Sounds like you heard about Danica Denton’s mishap.”
“How did you—?”
“That accident was bound to happen. She’s far too old to be flipping around on gymnastics bars!”
“She owns the gym, and besides. She’s only twenty-nine.”
Aunt June fussed and wadded up the yarn against the knitting needle in her hand. “One year old is too old to be flipping around on gymnastics bars. It’s as if she forgot what happened to her sister.” She flung the yarn in the air above her head, and it landed in her lap.
What about her sister? Danica’s older sister Angelica had never been involved in gymnastics. Born with a leg so twisted, how could she have?
“Here’s what I say.” Aunt June pointed a finger at me. “Some people can’t seem to learn from other people’s mistakes!”
“I can’t even seem to learn from my own.” I gave her my best grin, and she finally relented with one back. “Danica’s a nice person. Her gymnastics students love her.”
“Don’t I know it? Everyone loves her. She’s the nicest girl in all of Wilder River. Except when it comes to how she treats you. Which is why I could never forgive her.” Aunt June folded her arms across her ample chest. “I’m your biggest fan, Jeremy. No matter what everyone else says.”
Ah, there was the kicker. Everyone else in Wilder River thought of me as a disaster on steroids. And they’d been right. But for the past dozen years, I’d been proving them wrong. Not that anyone who wasn’t on Mom’s text group would know it. And not that anyone would believe Aunt June if she shouted it to the rafters in church.
Which was why my current course of action was a risk. At any point, someone in town could apprise Danica of my true reputation. Warped from reality though it was.
“She’s a great person.” I flinched as Scooter, the black cat, planted himself on my lap and began to shed generously. I liked Scooter, just not his chunks of detached fur. “Don’t hold her too accountable. I admit I made some mistakes when it came to Danica.”
“Scooter, get off Jeremy. Go outside and catch a mouse or something.” Aunt June swatted the air five feet away from Scooter, accomplishing nothing. He started purring and hunkered down. I planned on lint-rolling for hours, later on. “Talk about mistakes! Your mistakes with Danica are legendary.”
“I went to see her.” I looked at my hands resting across Scooter’s back. “In the hospital.”
Aunt June’s eyes bugged out. “And she didn’t throw you out on your ear, threaten to have you incarcerated for harassment, call you inventive names?”
I shook my head, and a smile stretched across my mouth. “Nope. In fact, I think she kind of liked my visit.” Kind of liked me. Thought I was seriously amazing. A warmth infused me. “I’d even bet she’s going to forgive me.” Or more.
“Bet?” Aunt June extended her arm to me, open handed, so far that her recliner nearly lost balance. “Put your money where your mouth is.” There. That was the Aunt June I knew and loved.
“Fifty bucks says she lets go of her grudge permanently.”
“Fifty bucks!” Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’m made of money?”
I narrowed my eyes right back. “Do you think you’re going to lose?”
She slapped her hand into mine. “Let me think. What will I do with that fifty dollars while my favorite nephew writhes in embarrassment? I’ll use it to pay for a grief therapy session.”
“Grief therapy!” So many things happened in the family when I wasn’t looking. “What have you got to grieve about?”
“Not me, you.” She pointed a sharp knitting needle at me. “Danica is the nicest girl in town, but she’s also the strongest-willed. Which is why you don’t have a chance.”
“Are you sure you’re my biggest fan in all of Wilder River, Aunt June?”
A deep nod, and another fold of the arms over her chest.