He happily imagined himself pushing a lawnmower across emerald grass, pruning the azalea bushes nestled against the house, and sweeping the dust and cobwebs from the porch. After tidying the yard, he’d sit on the back deck watching purple martins flitter in and out of the multilevel birdhouse Gillian had given him for Christmas and dream about the seedlings he’d buy for his vegetable garden.
Everyone seemed to share in his excitement over 27 Hickory Hill Lane. All of the Christmas presents he received were for his new home. Milla and Jackson had showered him with goodies to outfit his bachelor’s kitchen, Bennett had bought him a fiber doormat decorated with the letter H , and Lindy and Lucy had pooled their money and bought him a pair of rocking chairs with padded seats for the front porch. Supplied with these treasures and his prized custom mailbox, James was itching to get the legal paperwork out of the way, but nothing he could do would speed up time, so he spent his spare moments quizzing Bennett and consoling the Fitzgerald brothers over their failure to apprehend Glowstar’s kidnapper.
“Don’t buy another elf,” Francis had pleaded the day after Christmas. “Even though the kidnapper didn’t show, we’re not giving up on our little green assistant.”
“The abductor came early, which is totally against the rules!” Scott had spluttered when James asked what had happened on Christmas Eve. “We were there just after eleven, but there was a note attached to the book drop and some footprints in that muddy patch near the bin. Now we know we’re dealing with a female. The boots had pointy heels.”
Somehow, this revelation had surprised James. He’d expected a teenage boy to be the perpetrator. “What did the note say?”
“‘Grow up,’” Scott had answered sulkily. “That’s it. Don’t know what they meant by saying that, but it made us pretty mad.”
“Yeah!” Francis had nodded in agitation. “We had to go home and fight a bunch of virtual bad guys just so we could get back in the holiday spirit.”
“Thank goodness for Age of Conan.” James had clapped them fondly on the back. “And I don’t think this mystery girl is done toying with you, so stay sharp and focused. Don’t let her get the better of you two. You’re better than that.”
Their confidence buoyed, the twins spent the majority of their lunch break printing off pages of trivia questions for James to ask Bennett.
Now, the day before Bennett was to leave for Philadelphia, he and James sat at the dining room table of Bennett’s tidy house and reviewed the cards from the Trivial Pursuit Greatest Hits board game.
“I’ll be glad when this is over,” Bennett said after replying that Florida was the U.S. state at 345 feet above sea level. “I used to like facts and statistics and all that, but now I think my brain is finally full.” He waved at a wall calendar. “All I’ve done for half a year is read and study. What am I trying to prove anyhow?”
“Bennett, it’s natural to be freaking out the night before you appear on Jeopardy! Especially since this is one of their rare live shows and you’re about to be on television in front of millions of people, trying to answer question after question of random trivia faster than your two competitors.” James dipped a carrot from the crudités he had made into a small bowl of fat-free onion dip. He waved the vegetable at his friend. “You should have let us drive up with you.”
“Not a chance,” Bennett replied as the doorbell chimed. “I believe I can run off with a jackpot if I’m as focused as an air-traffic controller. So no distractions allowed!” He flung open his door.
“The distractions have arrived!” Lindy called out gaily, carrying a Crock-Pot in her mittened hands. “And I’ve made my special Jeopardy! jambalaya just for you. Whoa! Try saying that three times fast.”
Stepping inside behind Lindy, Gillian attempted the tongue twister. Then she said, “I’ve brought you some tea to drink tonight. Your mind is going to be spinning like a pinwheel when what it needs is to be serenaded and led to a place of peaceful stillness .” She handed Bennett a purple box covered with stars.
“Not more pine bark!” Bennett exclaimed.
Gillian smiled and patted his cheek. “No bark this time. Just some valerian, chamomile, St. John’s Wort, rose hips, lavender, raspberry, orange, spearmint, licorice, and skullcap. All organic and completely decaffeinated.”
“St. John’s Wort? Skullcap? Are those herbs or rat poisons? Couldn’t I drink a six-pack instead?” Bennett muttered. “I’d sleep like a baby, and it would taste a hell of a lot better.”
“By Buddha’s belly, you’d sleep terribly!” Gillian looked alarmed. “Alcohol interrupts sleep. It makes people have fitful dreams and actually decreases effectual rest. You might wake up at two in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep!”
Now it was Bennett’s turn to be concerned. He pried open the purple box of tea and sniffed its contents suspiciously. “Smells kinda nice,” he admitted grudgingly.
“It will serve you well,” Gillian promised, and then she handed him a yellow box of tea covered by silver lightning bolts. “Drink this blend before the show starts. It’s for mental alertness and has stimulating and energizing herbs such as ginger and a mixture of powerful antioxidants.”
“Jeez. All I gave him was a purple rabbit’s foot.” James read the tea ingredients with interest.
“Well, my jambalaya is lucky,” Lindy added. “It’s what I made for Luis on our first real date.”
“Is everything back to snuggle, snuggle, kiss, kiss with you two then?” Bennett inquired.
Without answering, Lindy walked into the kitchen and plugged the Crock-Pot into an outlet. She removed the lid, inhaled deeply, and then stirred the contents with one of the wooden spoons jutting out from a pottery canister on Bennett’s countertop.
“He’s been wonderful when we’re alone together, but he still doesn’t want to go public with our relationship at school. That bothers me!” Lindy’s round face grew flush with anger. “Is he ashamed of me? Am I some fling he’s having on the side? Some bimbo?”
“I doubt that’s it,” Gillian cooed. “Luis is no doubt wrestling with conflicting emotions. On one hand, he wants to celebrate having his mother’s miraculous return to health, and on the other hand, he’s struggling with that final wish she’d made.”
“Marry her friend’s daughter! Over my dead body! That man is mine!” Lindy’s Brazilian temper flared, and her dark eyes were fiery. “He doesn’t even know that girl, and he says he’s in love with me ! Then why doesn’t he prove it by telling the other teachers?”
Bennett and James exchanged worried glances. Neither man had any idea how to pacify Lindy when she was gearing up for one of her rare tirades. Luckily for them and for the jambalaya, which was being stirred, mashed, and nearly pulverized by the hostile jabs delivered by the spoon held in Lindy’s fist, someone knocked on the front door.
“It’s me!” Lucy announced herself and entered the dining room. She placed a square baking dish covered by a checkered dishtowel in the center of the table. “I made cornbread.” Draping her coat on the back of a chair, Lucy sat down and then opened her large purse. “I’ve got something for you in here, Bennett.”