The morning Harold and Lacy Penn announced they were getting a divorce, Amanda was hiding in the attic. The overpowering humidity dampened her t-shirt to her back and plastered her honey-gold tresses to her temples. The golden rays poured from the octagon window, illuminating the worn mattress and a handful of boxes forgotten there years ago.
Amanda watched the scene unfolding below through the hole in the floor; it was the perks of cabin homes, the holes. They never seemed to plug all the holes. The place was drafty all year round, but apparently that was the charm.
Harold and Lacy were a pretty couple, the kind everyone rooted for. They were the sort of people that made apple pie for their neighbors and dressed up for dinner in pearls and suits. Lacy was something from the 60s, all coiffed hair and beaming smiles while Harold was handsome in a classical sense. Watching at them, the crowd gathered below felt a hit; if Harold and Lacy Penn couldn’t make it, then did the rest of them stand a chance?
Amanda didn’t understand it. She’d been watching the pair for a little over a month, the full length of their couples getaway, and she was as baffled as everyone else; they had appeared so happy.
And even now, standing there with their arms around each other, smiling at the bewilderment darkening the faces of their friends, they continued to look… delighted.
No, Amanda did not understand it at all. But then again, maybe it was human nature, fooling those closest to you into seeing what you wanted them to see. The people that graced the inn usually had a story, a reason they walked through the doors. Only Amanda was ever privy to it.
“Amanda?”
From her secret place, Amanda winced. She drew away from her peephole and scrambled to the trap door across the room, careful not to let her sock-clad feet touch any of the creaking floorboards. Dust stirred in the air, lifting and clinging to the beam of light glowing through the window. She snatched up her sneakers from beside the door, opened the hatch and slipped out, reaching the bottom just as her mother rounded the corner, wringing her meaty hands in her apron.
“Amanda!” Man-sized fists pierced ample hips. “Where have you been?”
Inconspicuously, Amanda tucked her sneakers behind her back and shrugged, blinking wide eyes. “I was just hanging around.”
Mother’s squinty eyes narrowed. “I hope you weren’t spying on the guests again! You know what I told you about that!”
Because it was required, Amanda nodded solemnly. “At Sanctuary Inn, we respect our guests’ privacy and do our best to make them comfortable.”
“That’s right! Now stop your dallying about and get back to the kitchen. Penn and company are about to make their big announcement, as if everyone here doesn’t already know.” Mother grinned a little, softening the harsh lines around her mouth. “No one missed the second helping of ice cream Mrs. Penn had for supper last night, and that bump… oh yes, I know exactly what her big surprise is.”
Amanda smiled on the inside, showing nothing outwardly. Oh, her mother was about to be very surprised, and a few dollars short after she paid cook for losing that bet they made the night before while everyone was sleeping, because when it came to knowing the goings-on around Sanctuary Inn, Amanda was the fly on the wall.