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"Very well, Ms Franklin, is there anything else I can do for you today?" he asked, sliding an old-fashioned key across the table As I picked it up, I felt a thrill roll through me My key It was ood! So which way is it?"

"Just down the main road a bit here and then curve down Maple Street You can’tall the paperwork for , pro," I answered, shaking his hand and then practically prancing down the ay

Turning down the street, potentiallyback An entire summer I’d spent here, the sun on my face and the sand underneath my feet This town had beenwithin the same space I’d often wondered if I’d had the chance to coical, as picturesque, as quaint? As coain, but this was neverand winding driveway that led up to Seaside Cottage, I was struck by how much more it was It was even better than I had remembered it Set apart from the town by maybe not even a quarter of a mile, the house stood sentry over the ocean as it had for more than a hundred years

I pulled the car into the driveway, the gravel crunching underneath the tires I gazed up at the two-story Victorian, the tall pitched roof concealing the enorrand and stately all at the sahtline was all house and ocean Once I started for the front porch, the cliff behind was revealed, with the winding wooden staircase I re down to the beach below

Looking around to le as I practically danced up the front steps Whitewashed and bleached out from the sun and salt, the wooden bannister felt warm beneath my hands, solid and perfect And as I ascended the last char creaky stair, I stepped onto the wide expansive porch, dotted with ferns and flower boxes filled with a riot of color Purples, pinks, sunny yellows, and--whoa!

My left foot went through the floorboard, pitchingacross the planks

I took a moment to mentally assess Foot? Still attached Shin? Felt scratched up a bit but not too bad I cautiously pulled ht on the surrounding planks I’d shredded my already ripped jeans, and it looked like I had a nasty scrape, but I was otherwise unharmed

"Nice work, Viv, you broke the house," I chidedin from the ocean M back together Undaunted but with a slight lirand front door, thejust above the doorknob covered in a lacy curtain

Would it look the sa my memory run wild I recalled the front entryway, deep burnished oak halfway up the walls with a built-in bench just inside for shoes and boots, the space above studded with old-fashioned hooks for jackets and coats A long er than it really was Wide, shining planked floors leading the eye to a grand staircase of more honeyed wood The scent of wood soap and leleaed to get the old key to work Twisting it this way and that, I finally got it to turn I heldthrough a pictureon the west side, I stepped inside

I breathed deeply, waiting for the leot wasmildew? It was dark inside, and I letopen the yellowed curtain on the door to let so it all in

Dull, scratched ork Stacks of oldthe stairs Dust bunnies the size of their nale hat that had ever been athered on a hat tree that was leaned toward

I went further into the house, the for room now almost buried under piles of old calendars, boxes full of what looked like teacups, and again, stacks and stacks of azines And old tin buckets; everywhere with the buckets The dining room? The old table was still there, covered with dolls of all shapes and sizes and about an inch of dust Into the kitchen I went, and pro the counter were industrial-size cans of Beanee Weenees, stacked three high like so ready to cook for a summer camp

Beanee Weenees What the actual fk?

Terrified of what I would find, but deterh, I cli at how loose the bannister was and hodery and al up the stairs looked The entire staircase used to be grand and glea of how creaky the steps were as I lasses stas of what looked like tube socks

The upstairs hallasn’t any better An Oriental rug runner that had seen better days ledbanners, and an actual suit of arht be, but the knight’s s were in residence in the hallway I peeked into one, two, three guest bedrooms and found s And stuff It was just s and stuff