Thirty-One and a Half Regrets Read Online Free PDF

“Ewww…” erupted from the boys.
    “But it smells like she’s dyin ’!” Andy, Jr. waved in front of his face and burst out laughing again.
    I gave the boys a frown before scooping Muffy into my arms. “Y’all are gonna hurt Muffy’s feelings.” I looked down at Andy, Jr. “What are you supposed to be?”
    “I’m a pirate.” The six-year-old tugged on the patch covering his eye. His three little brothers crowded around him, dressed as Spider-Man, a dinosaur, and a cowboy. Heidi Joy came out her front door with the baby, who was dressed as a puppy, on her hip. She was wearing a long-sleeved black T-shirt with a baby-sized skeleton overlaying an adult-sized skeleton.
    Andy, Jr. held up his plastic sword and spoke in a growl, “Give me your buried treasure or I’ll make you walk the plank.”
    I considered telling him he wasn’t getting anything after making fun of Muffy, but decided I could be more mature than a six-year-old. “I left you some treasure on my front porch, but it’s not buried. It’s hiding behind my pumpkins.”
    The boys ran onto the porch while I shifted Muffy’s costume back into place and put her in the truck with my tote bag, hoping she wouldn’t hurt herself by trying to get the costume off in there. The boys’ squeals of delight made me smile.
    “We each have our own bag!” four-year-old Keith shouted.
    “You spoil them, Rose.” Heidi Joy shook her head with a smile as she transferred the baby to her other hip.
    “They’re not bags full of candy, I promise. I put coloring books and a puzzle in each of them. I figured they’ll get enough sugar tonight.”
    “Like I said, you spoil them.”
    “I’m headed to Violet’s. Can you keep an eye on my house? After all the craziness in the neighborhood over the last few months, I’m worried about what the older kids might do, especially Thomas and his friends.” Thomas was a high school senior who seemed determined not to graduate and had gotten mixed up with Daniel Crocker’s friends. He’d made no secret that he didn’t like me and had insinuated that Crocker’s men were upset with me for helping putting their boss behind bars.
    I suddenly wondered if Bruce Wayne’s disappearance was somehow tied to Daniel Crocker. When the police threatened to arrest him for the murders committed by Jonah’s mother, he’d sought refuge at Weston’s Garage, the former headquarters of Daniel Crocker’s drug and stolen car parts ring. Bruce Wayne had worked for Crocker a year ago, before he was arrested for the hardware store manager’s murder, and Crocker’s men were loyal to their own. But if Bruce Wayne had sought help at Weston’s Garage, what had scared him in the first place?
    Horror spread across Heidi Joy’s face, and I realized that all the drama in our neighborhood had nearly toppled her over the edge. “Oh, don’t worry.” I tried to look comforting. “I don’t expect anything to happen. It’s a just-in-case type thing.”
    She nodded, worry furrowing her brow. “Sure. Of course.”
    My head tingled with the tell-tale sign of an oncoming vision. I saw a moving van outside Heidi Joy’s house, her husband Andy and his friend carting furniture into it. Autumn leaves littered the yard.
    “You’re moving.” I said.
    Her eyes widened and her tongue seemed tied. Finally she said, “How did you know?”
    I glanced at the baby skeleton on her belly. “Call it a hunch?”
    “I love having you for a neighbor, Rose. You know that. But now that it’s getting colder, it’s harder than ever to entertain these boys in that tiny house. I told Andy when we moved in that it was too small. A two-bedroom house with five boys? And another on the way…” Her voice broke.
    I didn’t want to confess that I’d had those same thoughts when she’d moved in months ago. Instead, I pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry.”
    “Listen to me, belly-aching. We’re lucky to have somewhere to live after Andy lost his job and we lost