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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

I pushed the hood off my head. “Can you drive down to the church and see if they’ve got any left for sale? We need five. And if you and Cole have time to carve ours for tonight, that would be grand.”

He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” Then picked up his newspaper again.

I frowned. Was it that hard to have a conversation with me? Weren’t we supposed to be happily married? We needed to make a good impression at the party, show everyone that despite his job loss, the McCauls were just fine.

“What is this?” I picked up a small backpack that was on the counter next to Paul.

Paul peered over the newspaper. “Our old bee sting kit. I found it in the basement when I was cleaning up. Thought I’d give it to Theresa.”

“Theresa?” My husband was getting awfully chummy with our new neighbor. But I had enough to worry about today.

“She’s got a bad allergy.”

“Oh right.” I recalled her reaction to the bees in Alice’s shed.

“Swells up, just like Franny used to when she was a kid,” Paul said about his sister. “Remember when she forgot her EpiPen at the family reunion and we had to take her to the hospital? Franny’s got that little scar, too, on her finger from that. Can’t fit her wedding band there anymore.”

Something clicked then. A white flash connection. “What did you just say?” I asked him.

“She had to get her wedding band resized.”

“No, not that. The hospital.”

Paul’s brow furrowed. “Don’t you remember? Franny got stung in the field, with all that clover. And she’d forgotten her EpiPen.” He went to grab his mug, but overshot the handle and knocked it over. “Shit.” Coffee spilled everywhere, dotting his pajama pants. I jumped back, and luckily it missed my costume.

I helped him mop it up, but something was still nagging at me.

His sister. The family reunion. Don’t you remember?

But I couldn’t. Whatever had been there, was gone.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Theresa

The cul-de-sac was already buzzing with activity late morning. A small tent had been erected in the grassy field between two houses, where the band Kendra had hired would play. Construction horses blocked off the street, and someone had looped black and orange streamers around them and tied balloons on.