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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

“Let me see it.” Pia wiggled her fingers, and I handed the phone over. “Well, that’s better than some of the messages I get from guys on OkCupid anyway. Lame.” She passed the phone to Bettina, who read it without comment.

“Don’t y’all see who it’s from?” Alice asked.

I took the phone back and clicked through to the person’s profile, but Alice narrated it for everyone. “Ivy Woods. And look at the profile picture.”

I squinted. “Seriously, Alice. It’s so small. Can’t you blow it up?”

She snatched it back from me, annoyed. “It’s the Browns’ house.”

A piece of wood popped and crackled, shooting sparks. In the trees that framed the back of the yard, we could hear an animal furiously burrowing. We could hear the leaves rustle.

Pia sighed. “So, what you’re saying is the Browns—who don’t even live here anymore—are sending you cryptic notes about bees?”

“The principal lives there now,” I added incredulously. “I highly doubt he’s into anonymous threats.”

“I don’t know,” Alice said, tossing up her hands. “But I don’t like it, y’all. Thirteen years. That’s an unlucky number.”

I turned to Bettina, who was hunched low in her chair, unusually quiet. “Surely you don’t believe in this shit.” The last thing we needed right now, as party planning geared up, was for Alice, or any of us, to lose it over an urban legend.

It took Bettina a second to come around, and I almost thought she was going to jump on Alice’s little bandwagon. Finally, she said, “It’s just a snotty message, Alice. Don’t flip out.”

I grinned, stood up. “Now, since we’ve got such a nice fire here, I’m getting more wine. Anyone else?”

HALLOWEEN

The mothers are so selfless. So giving. They do the party because they love it. They work so hard, little bees buzzing and buzzing, for the good of the neighborhood. For the reputation of Ivy Woods. They say they can’t remember year from year from year—a blur of sugar and strobe lights.

They will remember this year. I’m certain of it.

It’s their houses that are always the centerpieces of the party. Look there, the house with the giant spider, eight feet tall at least, even taller if you’re just a kiddo. It moves, too, which will scare you shitless the first time you visit, but the next year you’ll remember it and after a long time it becomes just another part of the story, the nostalgia, the memories.