The Way They Were by Mary Campisi

forever.”
    Then again, maybe a person really did have to be certifiably insane to want a child.
    “I was just getting ready to walk to Julia’s house,” she said. “She invited me to hang out tonight but you’d already left and I couldn’t remember your cell number and I thought you’d blow a gasket if I just took off.”
    “Julia?”
    “Yeah, she’s really cool. Her dad died a few months ago. Some kind of accident. She’s an only child, too, just like me, so we’ve got this instant bond thing going. Her mom makes these dollhouses. Kind of weird but Julia says they’re cool. I guess they’re miniatures of people’s houses, like with the same exact furniture and everything. Maybe you should have her make a copy of your house.” She giggled. “I’d like to see her put twelve flat screens in a dollhouse. Rourke? You didn’t hear a word I said.”
    Julia Maden. Kate’s daughter.
    “Rourke?”
    “I heard you, Abbie. I heard every word.”
    ***
    “And all these little pieces of wood are what my mom uses to make the balconies and the stairs, and all that stuff.”
    Rourke’s niece seemed genuinely impressed. She was a short, petite thing with spiky auburn hair and sorrowful, brown eyes set deep in a pale, narrow face. She had Rourke’s nose and his jaw. When she smiled, which wasn’t often, Kate thought she saw a bit of Rourke in that, too. She should have known Julia and Abbie would meet. After all, how often did a new person arrive in Montpelier? Abbie’s uncle was the reason Kate had a headache today. She’d slept a total of two hours last night because memories of him, past and present, bombarded her attempts to sleep.
    “This looks like my uncle’s place,” Abbie said, pointing to the Victorian house Kate used as a display.
    Julia gave her an odd look. “He has this house?”
    “Yeah. Kind of.” Abbie walked around the dollhouse and peered inside. “Five bedrooms. Pond in the back.” She scrunched up her nose and whispered, “But he has this dorky heart tub in his bathroom.”
    “Gross.”
    Kate gripped the coffee mug in her hands. “A heart tub?”
    “Yeah, a Jacuzzi. It’s pretty dumb, but he likes it, I guess.” She lifted a thin shoulder. “I told him he should have you make a miniature of his house because I wanted to see how you’d put all the flat screens in there.”
    Kate was still puzzling over the tub. “I’m sure I’d figure out a way to add a few flat screens.”
    Abbie looked at her the way Rourke used to when he thought she was in over her head. “He’s got twelve of them. Sixty-one inchers.”
    “I see.”
    But Abbie was already poking around inside the dollhouse, touching couches, spindles, wallpaper. When she reached the fifth bedroom, she stopped. “You knew Rourke when he lived here, right?”
    Kate forced the word out. “Yes.”
    “Did he call you before he built his house, because this room is in his house.” She squinted and leaned closer, a frown creasing her pale face.
    He’d built the house they talked about? “Lots of Victorian homes have turrets. It’s very common actually.”
    “But are they all this purple color? I mean, this exact shade? And this fireplace in the bedroom? He has this.”
    Julia leaned over too and peeked inside. “I can’t believe somebody actually built that.” She straightened and eyed Kate. “Is he an architect or something?”
    Before Kate could answer, Abbie piped in. “No, he’s like a developer or something.”
    “So maybe he and my mom talked about a house like this when he lived here.”
    Abbie shrugged. “I guess.”
    “I want to meet this guy,” Julia said, her voice pitched with excitement. “He sounds kind of cool.”
    Abbie rolled her eyes. “He is so totally clueless.”
    “Really? Why?”
    “He has no idea what to do with a kid. He lets me stay up as late as I want, doesn’t care what I watch on T.V., and he even told me to go online and get stuff I needed. With his credit card.”
    “So,