bottle that contained a mix of vinegar and ammonia. Aubrey was
entertaining herself on the grass with her Mattel See 'n Say. Every few
seconds a cow mooed or a pig oinked. And Aubrey never failed to echo the
sound.
By the time Aubrey had switched her affections to her building blocks,
Grace had finished cleaning and polishing the outside of the windows on
the front and side of the cottage and was right on schedule. She would
have stayed on schedule if Mrs. West hadn't come out with tall glasses
of iced tea and a desire to chat.
"I don't know how to thank you for seeing to this for me, Grace." Mrs.
West, the grandmother of many, had brought Aubrey her drink in a bright
plastic cup with ducks on the side.
"I'm happy to do it, Mrs. West."
"Just can't do like I used to, with my arthritis. And I do like my
windows to shine." She smiled, deepening the wrinkles on her
weather-scored face. "And you do make them shine. My granddaughter,
Layla, said how she'd wash them for me. But I tell you the truth and
shame the devil, Grace, that girl's a scatterbrain. She'd like as not
start the job and end up sleeping in the vegetable patch. Don't know
what's to become of that girl."
Grace laughed and scrubbed at the next window. "She's only fifteen. Her
mind's on boys and clothes and music."
"Tell me." Mrs. West nodded so vigorously that her second chin wobbled
with the movement. "Why, at her age I could pick a crab clean faster
than you could blink. Earned my keep, and kept my mind on my work till
the work was done." She winked. "Then I thought about boys."
She let out a hearty laugh before smiling at Aubrey. "That's one pretty
little lamb you got yourself there, Grade."
"The light of my life."
"Good as gold, too. Why, my Carly's youngest boy, Luke? He's not still
for two minutes running and spends every waking hour looking for
trouble. Just last week I caught him climbing up my parlor curtains like
a house cat." Still, the memory made her chuckle. "He's a terror, that
Luke is."
"Aubrey has her moments, too."
"Can't believe it. Not with that angel face. You're going to have to
beat the boys off with a stick to keep them from sniffing around that
sweetheart one of these days.
Pretty as a picture. Already seen her holding hands with one."
Grace bobbled her spray bottle and looked around quickly to make certain
her little girl hadn't grown up while she wasn't looking. "Aubrey?"
Mrs. West laughed again. "Walking on the waterfront with that Quinn
boy--the new one."
"Oh, Seth." The sense of relief was so ridiculous, Grace set the bottle
down and picked up her glass to drink. "Aubrey's got a crush on him."
"Good-looking boy. My young Matt goes to school with him--told me how
Seth came to sock that little bully Robert a few weeks back. Couldn't
help but feel it was about time somebody did. How they doing over at the
Quinns?"
The question was her main purpose for coming out, but Mrs. West believed