Free Pages of the Past (Bellingwood Book 9) by Diane Greenwood Muir Page B

before we do laundry."
    "That's cool. Now, what do you need to take from the bathroom?"
    "I'll be right back. My toothbrush and hairbrush, right?"
    "That should just about do it."
    Kayla ran out of the room and in a flash, was back with the necessary items. She put them in the bag on top of her clothes and grabbed the handles. "I'm ready."
    "Do you want to take Silver tonight? It would be okay."
    "Can I?"
    "Sure. I'll drop Silver and your bag of clothes at Stephanie's work before she picks you up at the library tomorrow."
    "I had fun today. Thank you for letting me come over."
    "Honey, you can visit any time. Work it out with Stephanie and Rebecca and you're always welcome."
    Kayla hesitated as she stepped forward and then stopped. "Thank you."
    "Can I hug you?" Polly asked.
    The girl rushed in to Polly's open arms, hugged her tight, then held on for a few extra moments."
    "Shall we?" Polly gestured to the door when Kayla stepped back. She let the girl walk through and flipped the light off in the room, then followed her to the front of the trailer.
    "I want to turn the outside light on for Steph," Kayla said. "I always do that when she comes home late and it's dark."
    "That sounds like a good idea. Which one?"
    Kayla flipped the living room light off and the outside light on and they pulled the door shut behind them. Polly waited for Kayla to climb up into the back seat, stepped up on the running board and into her own seat.
    "Who's that?" Jessie asked, pointing at the teddy bear.
    "That's Silver."
    "I think Silver should meet my Durango."
    "You have a teddy bear?"
    "No, Durango is a purple horse. But he sleeps with me every night."
    "Really?"
    "Oh yeah. I'd be lost without him."
    When they got back to Sycamore House, Rebecca took Kayla upstairs to drop her things off and then they ran down to spend time with Sarah.
    "I'm totally worn out. I just want to get into sweats and die," Jessie said, once she'd puffed her way up the steps.
    "You get comfortable," Polly said. "Henry and I will take care of the animals. If you need anything, just holler."
    Polly sat at the top of the steps snuggling with the cats while Henry took the leftovers to the refrigerator. Obiwan and Han had followed him, hoping they might be rewarded for simply being dogs. He came back with Han's leash.
    "I don't know why I'm so tired," he said. "But this has been a long day."
    Polly nodded. "That was weird at the restaurant tonight with Aaron and Lydia."
    "Yeah. What's going on?"
    "I have no idea." She shook her head. "But I can't imagine Lydia is going to let this go on much longer."
    "Maybe it has to do with the guy who was killed the other night."
    Polly wrinkled her forehead and looked back at him as they went out the back door. Henry put Han down on the ground. He tried to surge ahead to follow Obiwan, but had quickly been learning that the leash was stronger than his desire.
    "Makes sense to me." Polly mused.
    Obiwan had stopped to smell a clump of grass and Han ran over to help him make sure that it was safe.
    "How far are you planning to go to rescue Stephanie and Kayla Armstrong?" Henry asked.
    "I have no idea what you mean." Polly walked away from him and nudged Obiwan to keep moving. This conversation could only go badly for her.
    "I mean... what's the next step in making their life better?"
    "We do need more employees. I don't know what Stephanie can do or what she'd want to do, but surely we pay better than the convenience store and our hours are more stable."
    "Uh huh."
    Polly spun around to see Henry grinning at her.
    "You're the one who set Jessie up to work at your business," she said. "Don't you be giving me trouble about this."
    "I just tell everyone that I'm in training. You're the master."
    "I'm not going to do anything right away, but if something comes up..."
    "That'll take about a week, maybe two, I'm guessing."
    Polly gave a low whistle and Obiwan ran to her side. "Come with me, big dog. We're going back inside and leave the man and