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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

How had I never heard this story before?

But Maggie wasn’t done. She pointed at my pin, her face hard now. “They gave you an ivy leaf, but didn’t tell you all their little secrets, I guess.” She tapped her fingertips together. “I wonder why.”

Eight Days Until Halloween

EIGHT DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN

TWENTY-SEVEN

Kendra

I took the day off work without telling Cole or Paul. I liked the idea of no one knowing where I was. I had to drop in on the vendor who always supplied free snacks for the kids at the Full Moon fundraiser and stop at the zoning office to grab the permit to close the street off for the party on Halloween.

I had another errand, too. One that I didn’t want anyone else to know about.

I drove out west on the highway. Tall commercial buildings and malls gave way to rural farmland and small towns. It reminded me of my hometown, which reminded me I hadn’t talked to my sister in ages.

I called Chrissie, envisioning her in her farmhouse-style home just outside Milwaukee, acres of land surrounding her.

“You must be a mind reader,” she said when she answered. “Ma was just here, and we were talking about you.”

“Ah. So that was the ringing in my ears.” I put on my blinker, switching lanes to pass a large tractor trailer carrying logs.

Chrissie ignored that. “Ma was wondering if you were coming here for Christmas this year.”

We hadn’t been back to Wisconsin in a few years. We owed them a visit. But I was not excited about it. Traveling to see my family was like slipping back in time. It wasn’t me anymore. I’d long ago grown away from it. “I’ll have to talk to Paul about it. First I have to get through Halloween.”

“Oh right.” Her screen door slammed shut. I could hear barking in the background, her dogs tearing off into the field behind her house. Her two oldest kids were in college, like my Sam, and only her daughter was still home. My niece was a year younger than Cole, and rumor had it she was probably going to be engaged before she graduated from high school. “I don’t know how you do it, Kendra,” Chrissie said. “But you know, Halloween’s never been my cup of tea.”

Chrissie had never liked dressing up, and she couldn’t stomach a horror movie. She was too scared even to walk at night in the dark.

“I blame Aunt Patty for that,” I said.

“Aunt Patty? Why?”

“Don’t you remember when she scared us with the dog mask?” I asked incredulously.

A pause. Dishes clanked. “Gosh, I’d forgotten about that,” Chrissie finally said.