“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner but I was on a shopping mission.”
Delia hooked her fingers around the belt loops of his jeans and pulled him closer. “I had a moment of panic,” she said. “Is this really my life now? J Bird knows this terrain like the back of her hand. I’m new at the bakery world. I feel like a big fake.”
Mike took both of her hands in his, folded them together, and kissed them. “Face it, she’s the leader of the pack. For now. You’ve been breaking the trail long enough.”
Knock, knock. “They’re here!”
Delia pulled her hands back. “I thought they weren’t coming!” She pulled open the door and looked past the diners, out the new, sturdy windows that Greg said would withstand a hurricane. Coming up the walkway were Ira and Pat Garvey. Ira campaigned for two months for Pat to take over Delia’s job. He had even promised her one lobster roll a week for the first year until she accepted and gave her notice in Dalton. “Totally worth it for the lobster rolls,” Pat said. Behind them was Erica, and then a woman and little girl. Claire and Hayley.
J Bird handed change to a customer. “Go. I can take care of business.”
Delia met them on the front steps. She wouldn’t have recognized Claire, whose face was soft and filled out, all the sharp edges of her jawline tempered with food and safety. A blue skirt, leggings, and short boots.
Delia knelt down and said, “Hello, Hayley. I’m so glad to see you.” Her heart caught on each word and her throat tightened. Hayley looked older, the way kids can so suddenly. She had on stretch pants and a hoodie. Her hair was longer and fluttered in the breeze.
Mike bent down and said, “Hi, there. I have someone in the bag who would like to speak with you. Igor sent him.” He pulled out a long-eared stuffed rabbit, silver and tan with pink satin lining the ears. He wiggled the rabbit near his ear. “What? You want to go live with Hayley? Let me ask.”
Hayley looked up at her mother. “I told you about Igor, Mom.”
Mike sat the rabbit on his shoulders. “He wants to know if he could come and live with you at your house.”
Hayley reached over and ran one hand along the rabbit’s face. “What’s his name?”
Mike looked stumped. As wonderful as he was, he hadn’t thought to give the rabbit a name. “Igor said you should name him.”
Hayley held the rabbit in her arms. “I think his name is Louie.”
Delia caught Erica’s eye. “We brought Louie. He loves car rides.” They had parked across the street and there was Louie, standing on the seat, paws on the window.
“I never had a chance to properly thank you,” said Claire. “Ira filled me in on what you did for us.” Delia stood up. “Hayley and I brought you something for the café.” She reached into a Whole Foods Market bag and pulled out a six-pack of plant starts. “They’re cucumbers. Hayley thinks you can grow them and use them for the café.” She stepped forward and hugged Delia. She whispered, “Thank you for taking care of my daughter. All of you.”
* * *
The café closed at two. By three, even Greg was gone, the floor was swept and mopped, dough was prepped for the next day, J Bird had a long list of supplies to order, the closed sign was out, and Delia sank into one of the chairs. “So this is what a bakery is like. When is my first day off?”
J Bird laughed. “Welcome to my world.” Baxter lay in the doorway to the deck, half in, half out, a sleepy contentment on his face. Hayley had asked to see him, and she threw his gooey tennis ball off the back deck. The child was still more comfortable with animals than humans. Now J Bird slid down and sat next to him, rubbing his belly. Someone knocked on the front door.
“Oh, no,” said J Bird. “Another customer. Tell them we’re closed; there’s not a crumb to be had.”
An older woman with a dog on a leash pressed her face against the window. Delia stood up, intending to mouth the words through the glass door to the woman. There was something about the dog, its champagne color, the exuberance.
“I’ve driven for hours,” shouted the woman. “I read that you were opening today. Are they gone?”
J Bird and Baxter came to either side of her, shoring her up as they had done for months. Delia unlocked the door. “Who are you talking about?” said Delia.
The woman gripped the blue leash, but when the door opened, Baxter trotted forward with such assurance, his chest out, tail high, and the woman’s dog startled, as if seeing something amazing, like the Grand Canyon. Then the dog whirled around the woman, injected with a canine euphoria. In the excitement, she dropped the leash and both dogs twirled around each other.
“It’s okay,” said J Bird. “They seem to like each other. A lot.”
“My name is Shirley, and I was hoping to see the woman I found in the barn last year. Claire? I’ve not wanted to interfere, but when I learned the café was opening today, I just took a chance. . . .”
Delia reached out and took Shirley’s hand. “They were here, Claire and her daughter, Hayley. But I’m sorry; they’re gone. Do you want to leave a message for them? I’m sure I can contact them.”
Shirley’s hair was short and stuck out thickly beneath a baseball cap. “I wanted to know if they were okay. I felt compelled to see how the story turned out. That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? You never really know how a story turns out.”
Baxter rolled on his back as the other dog leapt over him.
“I see your dog isn’t neutered,” said Shirley.
J Bird put her hand up, apologetically, palm out. “He has an appointment next week. He will soon be among the legions of neutered dogs.”
Shirley smiled. “I knew there was another reason for us coming all the way up here. Chelsea is a hero. There may not be another dog like her with all that heart, and persistence, and bravery. If she hadn’t found Claire, if she hadn’t defied me, we’d be having a different discussion right now. She’s come into one heat and will soon do so again. Would you consider breeding your dog? Before he joins the neutered legions, I mean.”
Delia and J Bird looked at each other. “We do love to deal in heart, persistence, and bravery,” said Delia.
By the time Shirley and her dog, Chelsea, left, the sisters had agreed to bring Baxter to Massachusetts soon as Shirley called them. Would Claire let Hayley have a puppy? If there were puppies.
* * *
They locked the café doors again and walked to Willard Beach.
They could talk about anything now. Delia was flooded with questions now that she had allowed the pileup of roadblocks to be disassembled, all the barriers that had grown after their parents’ deaths. “I used to worry all the time that you’d go crazy like Dad,” she said, stopping to sit on a massive tree trunk that had washed ashore.
J Bird stretched her legs out. “I never thought I was crazy, but I had serious doubts about you.” She rolled her head from side to side, stretching out tight muscles. She untied the scarf and loosened her long hair.
“What if Dad left us the part that is just crazy enough to hear bread rising, methane gas escaping from the yeast mixture? Do you remember what he said about truly great food being a conductor of energy from the cook to the patron?” asked Delia.
“None of that is crazy. It’s just who we are, not normal at all. Who would want to be normal?”
“You’re right,” said Delia, feeling lighter than she ever had before. “I like who we are.” And she was sure that their parents would be cheering for them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My most heartfelt thanks to:
My agent, Jenny Bent, and her team at The Bent Agency. We are in it for the long haul.
My editor, Michaela Hamilton, publicist Lulu Martinez, and the powerful network of people at Kensington Books. What a joy to have found you.
The two writing groups that support me. Members Marianne Banks, Jeanne Borfitz, Jennifer Jacobson, Celia Jeffries, Kris Holloway, Lisa Drnec Kerr, Patricia Lee Lewis, Alan and Edie Lipp, Brenda Marsian, Ellen Meeropol, Lydia Nettler, Pat
ricia Riggs, Morgan Sheehan-Bubla, and Marion VanArsdell.
The women who gave me insight into the complex emotion and spirit of food: Julie Copoulos and Amanda Milazzo of Small Oven, Unmi Abkin of Coco’s, and Anna Fessenden of AnnaBread.
The people who represent the best of social work and foster care: Mia Alves, Linda Dugas (Linnie), and Pat Riggs.
Detective Sergeant Steven Webster of the South Portland Police Department, who helped me through the layers of investigative work.
Tom Foley, for your brave and generous heart.
My medical references, Kim Connly, who understood the medical consequences of starvation, and Bryna Greenspan, who walked me through addictions.
Tom Clark, friend, neighbor, and captain in the Northampton Fire Department.
And lastly, to my friends and family who were still there when I emerged after disappearing into the world of this novel. You may never know how good it was to see you all when I surfaced again.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
THE TIGER IN THE HOUSE
Jacqueline Sheehan
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
Here are some questions that may help you start a lively conversation with your book-loving friends.
Discussion Questions
1. What would you do if you spotted a little girl, splattered with blood, walking alone down a road where you were driving?
2. Who do you think is responsible for children who have been separated from their parents? Is their protection only the job of government agencies? Or do we each have some personal responsibility for such children?
3. How would you describe the relationship between Delia and J Bird? How was their relationship changed by the deaths of their parents? How have their adult lives been affected by the relationship forced on them by the tragedy?
4. How are the sisters’ differing characters shown in the choices they make in the book?
5. How do the big sister/little sister dynamics change over the course of the story?
6. Were you surprised by any of the revelations you learned about the book’s characters and their past?
7. Do you think communities are taking the right steps to halt the spread of prescription drug addiction? What do you think society can do about this problem?
8. In the course of the story, the sisters must face the consequences of crimes committed by others, including some they loved. What personal qualities help them to face those consequences? What lessons do they learn through this process?
9. Do you think animals have the power to help children (and adults) get through difficult times?
10. How does Louie, the Maine coon cat, offer comfort to Hayley?
11. How would you describe Baxter’s personality? What essential qualities does he offer to Delia and Juniper?
12. What treatment modalities are used to help Hayley talk about traumatic events?
Here’s a recipe for an easy-to-make treat that
will add a tasty dimension to your conversation.
J BIRD’S FAMOUS RECIPE FOR APRICOT GINGER SCONES
Ingredients . . .
3¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅔ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup dried apricots, diced
⅓ cup candied ginger, diced
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 cup buttermilk
Parchment paper (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter. Add the apricots, ginger, and lemon peel. Add the buttermilk and stir until just mixed. You may need to add a little more buttermilk, depending on the humidity level of the day. Knead for five turns, folding and pressing with the heels of your hands. Form into two logs and place on greased baking sheets (or use parchment paper instead). Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut into hearty triangular wedges. Serves one entire book group. Enjoy!
—Recipe from Morgan Sheehan
Photo © 2014 by Jane Green
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D., is a fiction writer and essayist, as well as a psychologist. She is a New Englander through and through, but spent twenty years living in the western states of Oregon, California, and New Mexico doing a variety of jobs, including house painting, freelance photography, newspaper writing, clerking in a health food store, and directing a traveling troupe of high school puppeteers.
She is the acclaimed author of the novels The Center of the World, The Comet’s Tale, Lost & Found, Now & Then, and Picture This. She has also published travel articles, short stories, and numerous essays and radio pieces. She lives near Northampton in western Massachusetts. Her Web site is www.jacquelinesheehan.com.
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