Rachel Goddard 01 - The Heat of the Moon

eating, barely moving, he seemed on the mend.
    “Rachel?”
    I jumped at the sound of Michelle’s voice. Pushing past the shrubs, I came out onto the lawn where she stood. The flashlight in my hand cast a bobbing light over her face, making her blink and avert her head.
    “It’s spooky out here,” she said.
    I switched off the flashlight. “Then why did you come out?”
    She ignored the question and raised her eyes to the sky. In the moonlight her long hair had a silvery sheen. “Your comet’s gone. I never understood why you liked watching that thing so much. You had to stand out here an hour just to see any proof it was moving.”
    “Is Mother all right?”
    “She seems fine.” After a second’s pause, she added, “What’s wrong between you two? Are you still upset because—”
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “How can I help worrying about it? I feel this tension in the house—”
    “Maybe I should think about getting a place of my own.” The words came out of nowhere, and left me feeling mildly shocked.
    “What?” Michelle stepped closer. “What on earth for?”
    “I’m almost twenty-seven. I ought to be on my own by now.”
    “But you were gone so long, and it seems like you just came back—” Her voice was high and breathy. “Can’t we keep the family together for a while before you leave again? Why do you want to be alone?”
    “It’s just something I might think about.”
    “So you’ll have a place to bring Luke Campbell?” She made it into an accusation. “Where you can have privacy?”
    “A little privacy might be nice. Mother still treats us both like children sometimes, Mish. She doesn’t want us to have men in our lives.”
    “That’s ridiculous. Didn’t she just ask you to bring him home so she can meet him? She’s willing to accept him.”
    “Oh, really? The same way she accepted Kevin? Right after he came to dinner, you broke that sailing date with him just to please her, didn’t you?”
    “What are you talking about? I told you why—”
    “She sat you down and convinced you it’d be a bad idea to get involved with him, didn’t she?”
    “I have a mind of my own, you know.” She folded her arms across her chest. “For your information, Mother and I never discussed it.”
    I didn’t believe her, but the more I prodded, the more adamant her denial would become. “Oh, to hell with it,” I muttered. I stared into the blackness under the tent of trees. Crickets sawed and frogs sang on the creek.
    Michelle touched my arm. “Rachel.” A soft plea. “I just hate this.”
    When I didn’t answer, she dropped her hand and said, trying to sound upbeat, “Are you ever going to tell me about Luke? I want to hear all about him.” She drifted into wistfulness as she added, “You used to tell me about the guys you dated.”
    Two sisters sharing confidences. I wanted to weep, for a closeness that seemed lost forever. I faced her. A breeze thrashed the branches above us and cast shifting shadows over the planes of her face.
    “I’ll talk to you about Luke if you’ll talk to me about Kevin,” I said. “I know you’re seeing him. Why do you feel like you have to hide it from Mother? Can you answer that?”
    I sensed rather than saw her body stiffen. She stepped back. “I’m going in.”
    She spun around and strode up the moonlit lawn, hurrying as if afraid I’d try to stop her. I waited until she was in the house before I followed.
    ***
    Outside Mother’s bedroom I stood for a moment with my hand raised before I made myself knock. “Mother, are you all right?”
    I expected her to open the door. Instead she called out, “I’m fine, Rachel. Go on to bed. Good night.”
    I bit down on my disappointment, telling myself she wasn’t rebuffing me, she was just tired and didn’t want any more fuss.
    In my room, I locked the door, then ran a hand under the mattress and slid out something I’d hidden: The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing . Settling on my little couch, I found the chapter titled “Decoding, Picking and Emergency Entry.”
    ***
    “All done.” I eased the last stitch from Maude’s shaved-bare forehead. “Pretty as ever. And what a good girl you are.” I kissed the basset hound’s muzzle and she caught me on the cheek with a wet swipe of her tongue.
    Mrs. Coleman laughed. “You’ve gotta move fast to dodge Maude’s kisses.”
    I tore a sheet from the paper towel roll by the sink and dried my face with it while I scratched