“Liddy, I just came from the little house, and I had a thought.” Grace stood on the front porch dressed in dark-gray sweatpants and a white UPenn sweatshirt, a colorful striped bag over her shoulder, and a bottle of water in her hand. “May I come in?”
“You didn’t sleep there, did you?” Liddy opened the door and Grace went inside.
“No, of course not. No bed. Critters galore—did you know there are snakes down there?”
“I never thought about it, but it doesn’t surprise me.” Liddy led the way into the kitchen. “I was just going to have coffee. Want some?”
“I’d love some. Thank you.” Grace sat at the table and hung her bag on the back of her chair.
Liddy poured coffee into two mugs and set them on the table, where she’d already placed the sugar bowl and a container of cream.
“You know, seeing you sitting there makes me think of all the times you had dinner with us when you were younger,” Liddy said. “All the time you spent here with Jess during the summers when you were still a kid.”
“I was just thinking the same. Jessie and I used to ride our bikes out to the point and back, or we’d play at the playground with the other kids all day till we had to come home for dinner. In the beginning of the summer, I always felt like a fifth wheel because they all went to school together and knew each other so well. By August, I felt right at home, like I belonged here, but by then it was time to go home. The following year, rinse and repeat.” She put a scant bit of sugar into her mug and followed it with a healthy dose of half-and-half. “I’d start crying as soon as my dad got here because I never wanted to leave.”
“Jessie always cried, too, when she knew you were leaving.”
Grace held up her index finger on her left hand. “Someone told us this finger was the one that had the blood right from your heart. Jess and I decided one time we wanted to be blood sisters, so we cut our fingertips and mixed our blood together. We thought that would mean my parents couldn’t take me back to Pennsylvania.” Grace took a sip. “We were so bummed when my mother told us it didn’t work that way.” She stared at her finger. “If you look real close, you can still see the tiny scar.” She smiled and looked up at Liddy. “We obviously had no conception of anatomy or where veins were. We cut a little too deep, and we both bled profusely.”
Liddy reached for Grace’s finger and studied it, then ran her thumb over the barely visible scar. “Did Jess have a scar, too?”
Grace nodded. “Not more noticeable than this one, I’m sure.”
“I never saw it.” She stared at the scar for a moment longer, then released Grace’s hand. “Gracie, did my daughter ever tell you she’d thought about taking her life?” When Grace drew back in apparent shock at the unexpected question, Liddy said, “I’m sorry. I should have led up to that better. It’s just, seeing you here, remembering how close you two were, I just wondered maybe . . .”
“No, Liddy. If Jess had ever given me any hint she was thinking about doing something like that, I’d have talked to her, I’d have told my mom, she would have told you.” She shook her head. “Uh-uh. But please remember, we didn’t see much of each other after high school. I came up here in the beginning of the summer with Mom and Natalie after graduation, but I only stayed for a few days before I left for the study program in Spain. After that, we both went to college, and I hardly ever saw her again. The few times we did see each other, it was sort of like ships passing in the night. She was living in Boston, and unless she happened to be home for the weekend when we were here visiting my grandmother, we just didn’t connect. I’m very sorry. If I knew something, I’d tell you, but by then, we’d really grown apart. If she’d confided in anyone, it wouldn’t have been me.”
“I just had to ask.” Liddy patted Grace’s hands. “So tell me why you were at the little house at seven in the morning.”
“Actually, I was there at six,” Grace confessed. “I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and got ready for work, but it was still so early, and I’d had this idea about some furniture of Mom’s from the Bryn Mawr house. So I walked to the little house, and I was mentally placing those pieces around, you know how you do?”
Liddy nodded, wondering where this was going.
“So, I started thinking . . . oh, but first, does the little house have a separate address from your house?”
“Yes. I’m pretty sure I told you it’s deeded separately, and Jim didn’t want business mail coming to the house and family mail going to the office. So he arranged to give that property its own number, which it would have had if a regular-size house had been built there. It’s two-oh-eight, by the way.”
“Two-oh-eight Jasper Street. Got it.” Grace took a deep breath. “I’m thinking I would like to buy the place rather than rent it. What do you think?”
“I have no use for it, Grace. And frankly, since you want to put so much money into it to fix it up, you should own it. I think I said that before. So, sure.”
“How much would you want for it?”
“I have no idea what it’s worth. I imagine most of the value is in the property.” Liddy shrugged. “I have no idea how big the lot is.”
“Let’s get it appraised so I can make you a fair offer.”
“Honey, I’d sell to you for one dollar.”
“Uh-uh. Fair value. I’m not going to take advantage of you because our families are close.”
“If I’m willing to sell to you for a dollar, you’re not taking advantage of me. That’s my price.” Liddy folded her arms across her chest.
“So if I were Joe Blow from Rhode Island, the price would be one dollar?”
“Well, no, but . . .”
“My point. Let’s get it appraised and see what it’s worth, okay?”
“Were you this tough in court when you were practicing law?”
Grace smiled. “Much tougher. So how do we make this happen?”
“Let me check around and see who we can call.”
“Great. Thank you. We’ll go from there.” Grace finished her coffee and stood. “I’m going down to the shop now. I still have some work from yesterday. I’ll see you there.”
Liddy saw her to the front door.
“Do you happen to know how old the little house is?” Grace asked from the porch.
“Not sure. It was already there when Jim’s father inherited it from his father. One of the reasons he wanted to keep it was to have his business there. Jim and I bought it from the estate after his dad passed away so Jim could maintain the agency in the same place it started. But when it was built?” Liddy shrugged. “I guess there’s some way to figure it out if you need to know.”
“I’m just curious. Maybe I can find out by looking at old maps.” She bit her bottom lip. “Maybe the library in town has some.”
“That’s probably the best place to start.”
“I’ll see you at the shop. Thanks for the coffee.” Grace went down the steps, and was halfway to the sidewalk when she turned and waved.
Liddy waved back and watched the young woman swing her bag over her shoulder and cross the street. She stood in the doorway until Grace was no longer in sight.