Read Ruin for Free Online

I've got work to do," he said.
    We walked side by side to the back of the kitchen. The water heater looked as ancient as the house, but was probably only a few decades old. He checked it out while I hovered nearby, not sure whether to stay or go. In the end I stayed because he looked mighty fine as he got all hot and greasy.
    After fifteen minutes, he shook his head. "It's about to die. Mrs. Merriweather will need a new one."
    "Oh. She can't afford it." I looked at the tank and swore under my breath.
    "You can get cheap reconditioned ones, although I don't recommend them. She's better off buying a new one. It'll last longer."
    "Probably longer than her."
    "But not Jane."
    "No, but she may not stay around long enough to get the maximum benefit of it."
    "Why would she leave? Look at this place."
    I barked out a laugh. "It's falling apart!"
    "Yeah, but..." He sighed. "It would be a shame to give up so much family history and memories. She must love this house."
    I shrugged. "Once Mrs. M has gone, she'll probably move on, start a life of her own somewhere there are people our age."
    He blinked at me. "Right. Okay."
    He didn't get it. Clearly he wasn't someone who'd lived in any place long enough for it to get stale.
    "So Mrs. Merriweather is sick?" He squatted beside the toolbox, not looking at me. He didn't take out any tools, just rummaged through them.
    "She's been sick for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure what's wrong with her. Hypochondria maybe."
    He picked up the box and stood. "How long has Jane been taking care of her?"
    "Her parents died ten years ago. They all lived here. After their deaths, Mrs. M became Jane's guardian, but as Jane grew up, it was difficult to tell who was looking after whom. Now, it's very obviously Jane taking care of her Gran."
    We walked together to the front of the house, past the tangle of vines and overgrown shrubs. I decided that I'd spend more time up here this summer and try to tidy it up a little. It would be hard work through the heat of the day, but there was little else to do in Winter. Maybe when Beth returned she could help too. Her parents had met her at college, and they'd all gone to the beach together. Some families did that. Not mine. Our fourth friend from school days who still had a connection to Winter, Lucy, probably wouldn't be coming home at all. She'd got herself a summer internship at a law firm. I'd miss her. It would be the first summer in Winter where one of us was missing.
    "What's Mrs. Merriweather like?" Ben asked.
    "Old, grumpy." I smiled. "But she can be funny too, although I don't think she means to be. The kindest thing you can say about Mrs. M is that she's a product of an upbringing in a time when the world was very different. She was a society diva back in the days when Winter was a thriving town in the Fifties. Apparently she had many beaus before she settled on Mr.
    Merriweather." I shrugged. "I don't know how much thought went into the arrangement though."
    He stopped and rounded on me. "Why do you say that?"
    His reaction threw me. "I, um, well the Merriweathers were the richest family in town and hers, the Forsythes, was the second. They ran the two mills. I guess it would have been natural for them to marry." I shrugged. "That's all. Why?"
    He walked on, his strides longer than before so that I had to race to keep up. "Just curious. How many children did they have?"
    "Just the one, Jane's father."
    He took a breath and I thought he was going to ask me something else, but he must have changed his mind. We'd reached the front porch. He set the toolbox down and picked out a screwdriver.
    "What are you doing?" I asked.
    "The loose and broken tiles need to come out before they can be replaced. Wouldn't want anyone to trip over them, would we?" He winked and I couldn't help thinking that I wouldn't mind tripping over them again if he was there to catch me.
    "Is there another one of those in the toolbox?"
    He pulled out a smaller screwdriver. "You