For Always (book one)

Chapter 25: Fairy Tales

Malyn

As we pulled onto Max's street, I was in awe. I'd never seen where he lived, or even thought to ask him about it, so I was rather taken aback. I thought Dandridge was beautiful, but it almost paled in comparison.

Spanish moss hung hauntingly from the trees, hanging over the street, which was narrow and lined with bushes covered by wisteria vines. The architecture of the homes made me feel like I was in some sort of Disney movie. They were mostly two-story cottages that were nestled right up against each other. And, of course, Max's was the one painted an aqua color while the other ones were more neutral. He had a small porch that connected to a bay window that jutted out the front of the house, which was all trimmed in white. I loved it.

We had stopped in front of his house when I noticed a small drive that ran up the side. "He has a driveway?" None of the other houses did, and they were too close together to add one.

"Yes, he does," Grandmama said as we pulled up the narrow path. "And it leads to a garage."

I looked up and noticed that the path ended at a small one-car garage that was attached to the back of his house. "Private parking and a garage? Bet this place cost him a small fortune."

"I know it did, especially bein' right here near Forsyth Park."

Beau had been quiet for a while, so I looked over to see what he was doing. He was turned around, looking out the back window toward the road. "What are you looking at?" I figured he saw a dead person or something, but when I turned around, I didn't see any.

"The trees. I've never seen anything like 'em."

"Yeah, I've only seen them in pictures. They're beautiful."

We all got out of the car and were looking around when Grandmama went to one of the bushes in front of the house, got down on her knees, and started crawling around.

"What in the Sam Hill are ya doin', Nellie?"

"Lookin' for the key. It's supposed to be under a rock around one of these bushes."

Beau got down and helped her look while I walked up onto the porch and peeked into one of the windows. Since Max lived here alone, I was curious as to how he had decorated.

"Malyn, you could be helpin' us, ya know," Grandmama mumbled from underneath a bush.

No sooner I turned to go help them, Beau found it. "Sorry," I told her. "I just wanted to see the inside." When I turned back around to look into the window, a face was staring back out at me. I jumped back so fast that I fell over the chair that was behind me.

"Malyn? Ya okay?" Beau asked, already coming to help me up.

"In the window!" I turned to show him, but no one was there. "They were right there. I saw him."

"Who?" he asked.

I stood up and brushed myself off. "I don't know." I was getting a little anxious and wasn't as excited to go in as I had been just a minute ago.

"What happened?" Grandmama asked, walking up the steps.

"I went to look in the window and someone was there. They scared me and I fell back. Is someone supposed to be here?"

"Not that I know of." We all stood there, debating on going in or not.

"Here, I'll go in first," Beau said, holding his hand out for the key. "It's not like they can hurt me or anything." He unlocked the door and went in. "Let me look around, y'all wait out here." He went inside, shutting the door behind him.