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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

“Mom, Jesus Christ. They’re going to take back the river.”

“Hello? Real life here?”

“Real life? As in all this stupid haunted girl stuff?” He shook his head dismissively. “I hate this holiday. It’s the worst.”

His comment stung. This type of behavior always seemed to rear its ugly little head right around this time of year, just when things were busiest, when I had so much else on my mind. As a kid, it had been nightmares—no, night terrors—a semi-conscious state where I couldn’t get him to wake up and he’d sit howling in my arms for what felt like hours. These last few years, he had been acting sullen, disinterested. He’d decided he hated Halloween, as if just to hurt me. As if to shun all the work I put into it.

He shook the doll at me, pieces of grass dropping to the floor. “Ooh spooky voodoo magic.” Then he shot it, free throw style, into his trash can, where its twig feet stuck up over the lip. “Two points for the win.”

EIGHT

Theresa

I was now a person who attended bake sales in high school cafeterias. A joiner, a helper. Eager and willing. If Lily’s old school had ever had anything remotely like a bake sale, I’d never known about it. The closest I’d come to attending a parent event in Philadelphia was when I’d gone to get the laptop Lily had left in her locker and accidentally walked in on a school board meeting.

Yet here I was on a Saturday morning with a bright smile and a tray of mini blueberry tarts that I’d bought at a local bakery. They were fancy enough to impress, but not so fancy that I couldn’t have whipped them up myself. Considering my baking skills ended at brownies from a box, there was no way I was going to show up with anything homemade.

The room was bustling with women. All women, in fact, which was not surprising. The mothers in this town, I’d learned over the past couple weeks, were the ones that made things happen. And once I’d started showing my face at events—Adam’s welcome night, the football games—they wanted me to participate in everything. I was a new recruit. I’d been invited to chair the library’s book donation project, judge a student journalism contest, and join Alice’s weird pyramid scheme lotion-selling business. I’d even attended an awkward Pilates class with Pia. It was nice to feel in demand. The only person I hadn’t really seen was Kendra, who was always busy with work and various projects. Each time I tried to return the blanket she’d let us borrow at the game, no one was home.