Spark (34 page)

Hugo pulled into the drive and parked in front of one of the three garage doors attached to, but placed at an angle from, the house. Not sure exactly where guests should park, he momentarily considered backing up and parking on the street but decided against it in case there was some sort of neighborhood association rule against doing so.

Before he got out of the car, Hugo took a few deep breaths. He was nervous—probably because he felt so out of place in this neighborhood with the huge houses and perfect façades, but also because he knew he’d be seeing Brooke and Finn again. There was a slight possibility he’d be meeting Erin as well.

Hugo reached into the passenger seat footwell and pulled up a box which looked a lot like a fishing tackle box. One more deep breath, and he was opening the car door and braving his way to Kevin’s entrance. A turquoise-painted door with a heavy bronze knocker shaped like a pinecone stood before him. Hugo rang the doorbell instead. It was a few minutes, but soon he could hear Kevin’s footsteps.

“You found it,” Kevin’s happy voice said even before Hugo could fully see him. “Come in.” Kevin kissed Hugo on the mouth and pressed their chests together for a few seconds, large hands warming his back. “Take your shoes off and make yourself at home. What’s that?” he asked, looking at the tackle box.

“The beads and tools to help Brooke finish up the BFF necklaces for her and Serena.”

“That’s right. She’ll be excited about that. The kids should be here any minute, so why don’t I give you the nickel tour in the meantime?”

“Sure. That would be nice. The front yard was impressive all on its own.”

“Thanks. We wanted more privacy out front than a lot of the neighboring houses had with only the huge front yards, so we opted for shrubs and perennials and smaller ornamental trees over the ever-present maple and oak trees to keep gawkers from easily looking in the windows.”

“I like it.”

“Out back, we basically have a forest. We can barely see our neighbors back there. Anyway, you are in the entrance.” His voice mocked a tour guide speaking to people who didn’t quite understand their location, and it made Hugo laugh. “Follow me.”

Hugo did as told and was shown the formal living room and a tiered deck beyond, a formal dining room and an eat-in kitchen that also included stools lined up near one counter, as well as an office. He saw a kid’s playroom/family/game room in the basement along with a couple guest rooms and a kitchenette. Upstairs were the family bedrooms, baths, and laundry. Every room had high ceilings and seemed to be painted in fairly neutral colors ranging from white to beige to a dark brown up in the master suite. The only real pops of color were in the kids’ rooms and on the front door. The house was huge. Probably five times the size of Hugo’s little apartment, and he could see what Kevin meant about it being way too much house for one person. You could practically get lost in it.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Kevin asked, and Hugo accepted a glass of chilled water from the fridge. “Oh, I almost forgot. Let me show you one of my favorite places to spend time.” Kevin led Hugo through a door off the kitchen and up a few steps into a sunroom, fully equipped with a natural gas fireplace along the inside wall. The room was surrounded by windows that stood nearly floor to ceiling, and Hugo really saw the backyard and forest Kevin alluded to earlier. A door and curved stairs led out to the deck and enticed his gaze to follow a path leading to a patio below where he saw a grill and lots of comfortable seating. It was idyllic.

Inside, matching red couches and chairs were scattered about, standing out from the warm wood tones all around the sunroom with the help of some very garish floral pillows that didn’t seem to fit Kevin’s style at all. That must’ve been Erin’s influence. There were books piled on a lower shelf under the coffee table, and a mug sat on top of a partially completed crossword puzzle. That setup looked more like Kevin.

“Nice. I can see why you enjoy spending time out here. It feels like a tree house for adults.”

“Yeah, I know. Isn’t it great?”

“It really is.”

The doorbell rang, but Hugo heard footsteps and a shouted voice. “Dad! Is Hugo here? Is that Hugo’s car with the equals sign?”

“Hey, Pickle. Where’s Olive?” Kevin leaned down and gave Finn a hug and a kiss.

“I don’t know.” Finn gave an exaggerated shrug as he reached and curled his little fingers around Kevin’s index finger. “Prob’ly with Mom, being polite by waiting at the door, but it’s
our
house, so I don’t see why.” Finn shook his head and turned his attention to Hugo, asking, “So are you gonna teach me how to walk on my hands this weekend?”

“I’m going to try, buddy.”

“We’ll have time for all of that,” Kevin said, easily heading off any whining before it even had a chance to start. “Let’s go see if there are any instructions we need to get from your mom first. Hugo, do you want to meet Erin?”

Hugo just nodded, afraid if he spoke his voice would waver or, God forbid, crack like it did when he was a teen. He followed Kevin back through the house to the front door where a woman, who had to be Erin, knelt with her back to the door as she talked with Brooke.

“Hey, Olive. Everything okay?” Kevin asked as he looked at Brooke with concern and to Erin, having a silent conversation. Brooke seemed unwilling to speak, so Erin did.

“She’s upset about having to choose between soccer and gymnastics tomorrow, but there’s just no way to get them both where they need to be with one adult driving.”

“I saw the schedule. Maybe I can make it work. Oh, I should introduce you to my friend, Hugo.” Kevin stepped aside, and Hugo finally got a good view of Erin, not that he’d been hiding behind Kevin or anything nearly as cowardly as that.

Hugo stepped forward and held out his hand to take her smaller, softer hand in his own. “I’m Hugo. It’s good to finally meet you, Erin.”

“You too.” She smiled, and she was so much more beautiful than Kevin had captured with his camera in the photo setting on the mantle in his lake home. Her eyes were bluer, if that were possible, and her skin was even more luminescent. He almost considered asking her what foundation she used but bit back his thought before it tumbled out of his mouth. “The kids have been talking about ‘Hugo and Summer this’ and ‘Hugo and Summer that’ since the lake,” she said with a warm smile. “Brooke has been carrying around those pieces of tumbled glass you helped drill almost all the time. I thought she’d end up breaking them with all the handling she’s been giving them. Thanks for helping her.”

“I love working with my hands, so it’s really a treat for me.” Hugo turned his attention to Brooke, who was just staring at him wide-eyed. “I brought some things for you to sort through. We’ll see what you’d like to use to finish making your necklaces.” Brooke raised her brows in excitement, lighting up, so Hugo told her she could find the box of jewelry supplies on the kitchen counter.

“Well, I’ll let you hammer out the details about tomorrow. Again, glad I met you, Erin. Have a good weekend.”

“You too, Hugo.”

Hugo nodded and ducked his head, giving a quick wave as he left the room.

“H
OW
about a pearl?” Hugo wondered as he held up the necklace he and Brooke had been working on for the last half hour. It needed something extra but nothing they’d tried seemed to work. He wanted to find something that had a different texture and would dress up the glass and silver wire they were already using.

“Where did you get all this stuff?” Finn asked from the seat next to Hugo as he sorted through the small divided sections of the tackle box.

“Various places.”

Finn quirked his brow in confusion. “Where’s various?”

Hugo chuckled and shook his head. “No.
Various
means
different
. I found all of these beads in different places. Some I bought at bead stores, some I found at antique shows where I bought a huge bag of old jewelry and pulled the jewelry apart for the beads, and some of it even came from old costumes.”

“Costumes? Why do you have costumes? Adults don’t dress up for Halloween,” Finn said with conviction.

“Sure they do,” Kevin countered from the other side of the room where he was cooking a meal he’d described to Hugo as a surprise.
Thank you very much for staying out of the kitchen.

Hugo had quickly gotten involved in helping Brooke design her matching necklaces where she was trying to incorporate two vastly different senses of style together to make two cohesive pieces that both looked like they belonged together and around the neck of each girl who would wear them. It was harder than Hugo had imagined, but he loved the challenge. They’d already found a charm unique to each girl and that had satisfied Brooke. He’d gotten so involved in their work he’d forgotten about Kevin’s mysterious meal until he’d spoken up.

“Did I
not
dress up as Fred to your Shaggy?” Kevin continued.

“Oh yeah. I forgot.”

Hugo smiled at the thought of Kevin dressed as a character from one of his all-time favorite cartoons and wondered if Erin and Brooke were in on the dressing up as well. “Who was Scooby?”

“Our dog, Sammy. He’s dead. He died from his guts being turned and twisted inside out.” Finn told the story without a hint of emotion in his voice, as if reciting dry facts rather than the death of a beloved pet.

“Oh, wow. That doesn’t sound good.” Hugo looked up to Kevin, not knowing what to say.

“Gastric torsion,” Kevin answered with a sad half smile. “It wasn’t pretty, and we got him to the vet too late. We weren’t home, and it happened so fast.”

“When was this?” Hugo couldn’t help but ask.

Finn found a cool bead and was holding it up to the light to look through it. “I was in Miss Sara’s class still. So, what’s this one made of?”

“Nearly two years ago,” Kevin answered Hugo’s question.

Apparently, the conversation about the dog was over for Finn. Hugo wasn’t sure he’d ever had a conversation bounce around to so many topics in such a short amount of time. He was having a hard time keeping up. “That’s glass, probably handmade, not pressed, from what it looks like.”

“A pearl?” Brooke reminded Hugo what he’d been initially looking for.

“Sorry. Let’s see. Can I borrow this box a minute, Finn? Thanks.” Hugo dug around a bit and finally found it—a blue-gray pearl that had been pulled off a hat made in the forties, which had seen better days due to the moths that had decided to eat it. The few beads scattered sparingly along the net veil had been actual pearls, so Hugo salvaged them.

“These,” Hugo said with delight as he presented the pearls to Brooke. “What do you think?”

“They’re beautiful,” she said, studying them like they were the most precious things she’d ever seen.

“I have a little silver filigree setting….” he trailed off, words dying into thoughts as he searched the box again and then worked quickly putting pieces together. “Viola! How’s that for gorgeous?”

Brooke gave an overexaggerated nod, and her eyes grew wide with excitement. Placed alongside the wire-wrapped glass, Brooke had two tiny charms, a silver shell for her own necklace and a turtle for her friend Serena’s. They threaded the pendant mountings Hugo had affixed through silver chains and held them up.

“Well? Does that meet your expectations?” he asked.

“Wow, Hugo,” Kevin interjected. “Those are… those are beautiful.”

“Brooke did a great job picking everything out, didn’t she?” Hugo asked.

“She sure did. What do you think of your creation, Olive? Do you like it?”

“I love it. I never knew I could make something like this. Thank you, Hugo.” Brooke threw her arms around his neck and squeezed.

“Let’s try it on.” Hugo encouraged, hoping that would be one way to extricate himself from the near chokehold she had on him. She turned around and lifted her long, dark hair so he could clasp the necklace, and then she turned back. “Beautiful. It brings out the midnight blue in your eyes. Go look in the mirror.”

She dashed off and quickly returned for another hug and a kiss on the cheek this time. “I can’t wait to give Serena hers. I’m going to have to hide mine or maybe not wear it until I give her hers. I’m so excited.”

Kevin chuckled from the other side of the kitchen, throwing a towel over his shoulder and leaning on the counter. “Thanks for that. Do you think you can be ready to eat in about fifteen minutes?”

“Sure.”

“Awww man! There’s no way you can teach me to walk on my hands before supper,” Finn cried.

“I promise I’ll do it after supper. Well, not
right
after supper because I don’t really want you throwing up on me. But we’ll do it before bed.”

“Go wash up, and tell your sister to, too,” Kevin distracted. “I need help setting the table.”

“I can help,” Hugo offered.

“It’s one of their chores. They can do it. Besides, you have a mess to clean up.” Kevin pointed at the table with a wink and was then pulled away by the timer buzzing on the oven.

Kevin shooed Hugo out of the kitchen when he tried to help after cleaning up the beads and washing his hands, handing him a damp dishcloth to wipe down the dining table instead. Soon the kids had the table set, and Kevin was bringing warm bread, cool fruit, and a salad to the table. In the center, he set a metal trivet and asked everyone else to sit down. Hugo sat and unfolded his napkin, laying it in his lap and taking a sip of water.

“And finally, the pièce de résistance,” Kevin said as he set a casserole dish in the center of the table. “Tater Tot hotdish. Your mom’s recipe,” he said with an impish smile.

“Are you kidding?” Hugo asked, and Kevin shook his head. “Do you know this was my most favorite meal? Is this actually Mom’s recipe? How did you get it?”

“Slow down,” Kevin chuckled as he took his seat. “I’ll tell you everything, but first, we should dish up.”

“Prayers,” Brooke said, and the rest of the family bowed their heads and said a quick prayer in mumbled tones. Hugo hadn’t prayed before a meal since he lived at home, but he wasn’t unfamiliar with the words, so he joined in.