Round the Corner

Thorndike Press

Chapter One

ISAIAH 65:24

Evelyn stood in the kitchen of her boardinghouse, PeerbaughPlace. The room was lit only by the light from the fridge. Gonewere Mae's zucchini and bean sprouts, gone were Tessa's labeledTupperware containing dabs of this and that, gone were Audra'sDiet Coke and Summer's yogurt with sprinkles.

Her appetite left her. Who would have thought the food ina refrigerator could tell such a story?

Or rather, the lack of food in a refrigerator.

She shut the door, throwing the room into darkness. It wasdepressing. After vibrating with life for nine months, PeerbaughPlace was empty once more-and had been for two weeks now.

Evelyn let her eyes adjust to the dark before she snaked herway past the kitchen table to the light switch. With the lights blazing,with the clutter of coupons and recipes on the counter and theyellow curtains at the window, it looked like a cozy, lived-inplace. The scent of last night's split pea soup lingered.

But without the sounds of her dear friends-her sisters-itwas a hollow coziness and a phantom family. There one minute,gone the next.

At least that's what it felt like.

In truth, the emptying of Peerbaugh Place had been gradual-and joyful. In the ten months since the death of her husband,in the nine months since she'd opened her Victorian home toboarders, Evelyn had been witness to some wonderful milestonesin the lives of her friends.

Tessa Klein had won a national contest and was off on athree-month world cruise. Just last week, Evelyn had received apostcard from Naples picturing a mosaic wall from Pompeii.History and Tessa Klein were the perfect match-if Tessa didn'tmake a pest of herself correcting the tour guides. But a cruise?Evelyn had trouble imagining Tessa lounging in a deck chair,sipping a drink with an umbrella in it. But maybe her goodfortune had loosened Tessa up. Or not.

And Mae Fitzpatrick was-as of a month ago-Mae Ames,the boisterous and loving wife of their neighbor Collier. Asexpected, she'd defected to Collier's house across the street, soEvelyn still got to see her, but somehow having Mae visit was notthe same as having Mae in-house, akin to ordering a bowl ofapple brown Betty but having someone pull it away after onlytaking a nibble. She felt unsatisfied and a bit cheated.

Evelyn was drawn toward a picture that hung in the place ofhonor above the phone and straightened it. The artist was five-year-old Summer. The biggest blessing amidst the wistfulness wasthat Summer was officially hers now. With Audra's marriage toEvelyn's son, Russell, nearly two weeks ago on the Saturday afterChristmas, Evelyn had become an instant grandma. And once thethree of them got back from the honeymoon, Evelyn wouldresume her child-care duties with Summer on weekdays beforeand after school. That was a continued blessing she needed tocount. But until then ...

The clock in the entry chimed the hour: six o'clock. She'd beenwandering through the house for over an hour. The world waswaking. She might as well get something done besides wallowing,wandering, and worrying.

She was unsuccessful. During the next hour, Evelyn's entireAchievement-other than making herself a cup of coffee andgetting dressed-was to worry and wander some more.

She'd grabbed up her cat, Peppers, and together they hadvisited each empty room, trying to see things as a prospectiveboarder might see them. Though she'd been running an ad in theCarson Creek Chronicle for over a month now-with first Mae'sroom up for grabs, then Tessa's, and now Audra and Summer's-she'd had lookers but no takers. The reasons cited had beenvaried: too small, not enough sun, too much sun, too manyantiques, no modem hookup. Evelyn hadn't dared ask what amodem was.

She strolled through Mae's room, ran a hand along the walnutdresser that had belonged to Grandma Peerbaugh, and straightenedthe seascape painting that now hung over the bed, since Maehad taken her awful Picasso. From the very beginning Evelyn hadremoved most of the family knickknacks, providing space foreach boarder to add her own pretties, but now she wondered ifthe rooms looked too bare. Too sanitized. Maybe if she put thefancies back people would sign a lease?

She moved to Tessa's room. It was painted a pale pink. Waspink in style anymore? Maybe she should paint the walls a neutralbeige. And the quilt on the bed in the room that Audra andSummer had shared ... it had been in the Peerbaugh family forgenerations, but boarders wouldn't care about such things. Theywould see only the faded colors and the slight fraying at thecorners. Maybe she should call her friend Piper over to redecorateall the rental rooms. Piper had been such a help giving the masterbedroom a redo, helping to turn it from Aaron's and Evelyn'sroom into Evelyn's.

Evelyn let her doubts push her onto the bed. Why was thishappening? When she'd first made the decision to open her hometo boarders, the rooms had virtually rented themselves. Withintwenty-four hours of calling out to God in desperation after herhusband's death and learning of the unexpected financial crisis,after getting the idea to hang the old Peerbaugh Place, Rooms 4 Rentsign she'd found in the attic, the rooms were rented. It hadhappened in a blink, as if the thought and reality were one andthe same.

Evelyn never regretted the decision. With the full house andnew friends, she'd found the strength to carry on after Aaron'sdeath.

"But now they've all deserted me." Evelyn hadn't meant tosay the words aloud, and upon hearing her voice, realized howangry she sounded. Did she really begrudge Mae her newhusband, Audra and Summer her son, or Tessa her cruise? Wasshe really that selfish?

She nodded, propelling herself off the bed. Enough of thispouting. She had work to do. She'd call Piper and have her stopover after work and take a look at the rooms. Piper was great atdecorating on a shoestring, which was good, because that's allEvelyn had.

She went downstairs to call, but detoured onto the frontporch, wrapping her sweater around her torso. A scattering ofleaves skittered over the snow and up the steps to meet her. ThePeerbaugh Place, Rooms 4 Rent sign swayed in the breeze, andEvelyn found herself wondering if a coat of fresh paint wouldhelp draw attention to it. Maybe if she used some neon color?

A garish sign on her lovely Victorian home? That wouldnever do. Besides, such a move would shout desperation.

She watched her breath vaporize in the cold yet didn't wantto go in quite yet. The cold woke her up and helped her think. Shehoped she was a smarter landlord this time around. Where she'dfilled Peerbaugh Place with Mae, Tessa, Audra and Summer with-out so much as a renter's application, this time she was prepared.It's not that she'd had a bad experience. Just the opposite. It hadbeen a God thing.

No, that wasn't exactly true. Evelyn knew God was behindthe filling of Peerbaugh Place the first time. But this time, she feltit was her responsibility to be wiser and show God she'd maturedas a businesswoman. She was prepared to have applicants fill outthe paperwork; then she'd check references ... the wholeschmear.

She heard the screen door slam across the street.

"Well, top o' the morning to you, Evie." Mae zipped up a skicoat and headed toward her, diverting through a pile of snowEvelyn had watched...