One Summer Night
Emily Bold
Contents
Eight Months Before, on A Summer Night
Prologue
Alyssa’s Fifth Birthday
It was the first warm day of the year. The patio doors stood wide open, and a mild spring breeze floated through the rooms in the house. The fragrance of the pink hyacinths growing in the flowerbeds outside mingled with the delicious smell of muffins – freshly baked for Alyssa’s friends. Blueberry, her favorite. Alyssa had personally assisted in mixing the batter and pouring it into thin paper cups. She had also taken advantage of her position by gobbling up more than half the berries before the batter was even finished.
Happy and satisfied and with bright-blue stains on her T-shirt, the little girl was now playing outside in the yard. Tim could hear her laughing and chatting over the fence with Heather, their grandmotherly neighbor.
He pulled himself up on tiptoes to reach the colorful party garlands that he was trying to hang from the light fixture above the big kitchen table, all the way to the lamp behind the living room couch. He could have done with a second pair of hands, as the string kept slipping from his fingers and the paper fairies were forever sinking down to the height of his belly button. If someone were to look in from the outside, they would have observed tiny glittering fairies dancing on the table.
‘This is ridiculous!’ he muttered as he finally tied the last knot.
He eyed his work sceptically, but for now – with the emphasis being on ‘now’ – whimsical pink and purple paper fairies were artfully dancing above his head, just as they were supposed to do.
He let his eyes wander over the lovingly set birthday table. The muffins with their shiny frosting were piled up on two large platters, one on each end of the table; each place setting with its own colorful plastic cup and drinking straw; each paper napkin patterned with bright, fun polka