In front of me stood three doors, two familiar, the other, I wasn’t too sure if I had ever seen it or not. The first door would lead me to Violet’s home. The middle one, that would take me to my old house. No thanks. The last one was a mystery.

So, it’s one of those “choose your own adventure” kind of dream huh?

I’d normally choose the Violet’s, but since I was aware it was a dream, I tried to conjure up Oliver passing in front of me on a skateboard with a sombrero hat and shades.

“Meow,” he greeted as he rolled past me exactly as I wanted.

“Ok then. I’ll try the mystery door first.”

It had stained glass with flower designs on a dark wood frame with a copper door handle. I opened it slightly and peeked inside.

“A party?”

Not just any party. It was a party thrown by Mrs. Fletcher, the richest person in town. Every year during the summer she’d invite everyone who had money and a business in town to her home, that being more of a small palace than anything else, but that was to be expected since it had been build by nobles in the fifteenth century. Or so the story goes.

The room was well lit, natural light coming from the huge glass pane doors that gave access to a balcony overlooking the garden, the walls and ceiling painted with frescos. To the corner being played was a… well, it’s a type of piano, but not quite. This one is smaller, has a certain mistic to the sound while also sounding more metallic too, and… bourgeois. Harpsomething or whatnot.

There were lots of people in there, and I was curious to know why I was dreaming of this, so I stepped inside. I was in t-shirt and shorts while everybody else had semi-formal wear, but none paid me any mind. Except my mother. She was there too, but off in a corner, talking with someone as she observed me. It was a bit unnerving, but I knew it wouldn’t get any worse than that for as long as I kept my cool. Violet was also sleeping with me, I remembered, so I would make an extra effort to not disturb her much needed rest.

I was now standing in the middle of the room, bellow the crystal chandelier, thinking that Violet could like the setting. Apart from the people, of course.

That was about when I woke up.

Violet slept peacefully by me, her face the usual mess I tried to tame without waking her up because there was no way her hair wouldn’t be tickling her nose and perturb her rather light sleep before rolling onto my back and stare at the ceiling.

I guess this year I won’t be forced to go.

Good. Although… I kinda enjoyed going there, if only to see the inside of the house and listen to the music played in that instrument. It felt like I was visiting a museum—or better yet, being transported to another time. And honestly, of all the events I was always forced to go, that one was one of the better ones. The old lady was kinda nice too, even though she was a bit of a snob.

I was still thinking about it while I was starting to prepare my breakfast. Today I’d go with cereal, but someone had placed my bowl way too high and I was doing my best to reach it, but stretched my body as I could, I still couldn’t reach it. That was when I felt Violet body getting pressed on my back as she held me from behind, her hand resting on my bellybutton.

“Dad, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t put Abby’s bowl so high up, otherwise she can’t reach it.”

“Hehe, morning sleepyhead,” I greeted her, pulling her collar so Violet would lower her head for me to land a kiss.

“M-morning,” she stammered, not having expected a smooch right in front of her dad.

“Sorry, but still, she could pull a chair.”

“Violet gets mad if I do that. She fears for my safety if I do it.”

“Right, I forgot she can be quite the mother.”

“Oh, shush you two. Don’t start teasing me right after I wake up, ok?”

I would comply with Violet’s demand, but only after she did her part. My hand was still on her collar and my eyes on her face, waiting for her to realise she was forgetting something in her previous greeting.

She finally either remembered or understood I wouldn’t let go until I got what I wanted. She gave me a nice squeeze and a very nice smooch to my cheek, her face sinking in it.

It was a bit of a shame I got up before she woke up, otherwise there would have been a lot of nuzzling and smooching in bed. Oh well, I supposed we could do that after breakfast.

“What’s wrong?” she asked me while we ate. “You’ve been awfully quiet since we got up. Did you have a bad dream?”

I told her about the dream without skipping any detail.

“Hmm… I wish I could have that level of control in my own dreams,” she said, still sounding a bit dulled by sleepiness. That made me wonder to what extent did she hear me. “Maybe you dreamt about it because it’s the time of the year when it happens?”

“That’d be my guess too.”

“Funny that you bring that place up, the lady hired us to build her a website.”

I looked at Stan, my expression asking him to elaborate on that. What use could she have for a website?

“She’s turning that place into a fancy B&B.”

She certainly had the facilities for that. I mean, big house, with lots of empty rooms while she lived there all by herself with only a four of five people working there to keep the place? Yeah, it was better to put those rooms to use while turning a profit.

“Wanna go check the place or are you too tired today?” I asked Violet.

“Hmm… I think I’ll… Hmm… let’s go check it.”

There was a change in what she was going to say and what she said, and I pointed that out, along with that it was fine with me if she wanted to stay put in one of her few days off, but she shook her head, rattling her brain in her skull and making Violet hold her forehead due to the dizziness that brought.

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“No, erm, we’ve been shut inside for so long. I mean, I’m fine with that, but you? Yeah, I think it’d do us good to go for a walk.”

“…In other words, I’m being taken for a walk like a doggo,” I joked.

She stared at me very serious-like before letting out a chuckle.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s kinda like that.”

“Hehe, will I also get any treats?”

“Fufu, naturally.”

“Yay!”

Picking my clothes when it was time for our walk was proving more challenging than it needed. The reason? I wasn’t too sure if I looked right. I was thinking I looked too childish. I know, I know. This again? It’s not like that. I mean, it is, but at the same time, it isn’t. It wasn’t in the “woe is me, I’m too childish and it sucks” mentality, more in a “maybe I could put some more effort or change my style a bit” one.

“Everything ok?” Violet asked as she patiently sat on the bed, watching me facing the mirror and analyse each and every angle. Oliver was there too, looking at me while using one of her feet as a pillow.

I looked at her, saw how elegant she looked in that dress with the sandals and looked back at my reflexion.

“…Do you think I should change?” I asked.

“Abby, I told you before—”

“Ah, no! I’m talking about my t-shirt.”

“Oh… I mean, it looks fine to me.”

“Hmm…”

Her honest answer didn’t scratch the itch I was feeling.

I opened the door of the closet and considered my options. After a few seconds, I grabbed the short-sleeved button-up shirt that belonged to my school uniform and made the switch. That was more like it. I didn’t tuck it in my shorts, but it didn’t look too long because the skirt it was used with was waist-high.

“Better?” I asked.

“What was wrong with what you had worn before?”

“I guess I want to look a bit more mature.”

“Haah, Abby you—”

“It’s not like that. I’m just feeling like updating my style.”

“Is that so? Why?”

“Dunno,” I told her with a shrug. “Maybe I grew up a bit.”

She giggled and got up, coming closer to me.

“I doubt it,” she said with a smirk as she gave my head a rub.

“Hehe, jerk.”

◊◊◊

I wonder why the people of old built this town like this. Houses that look like miniature palaces on the hill Abby and I were walking and then, nice houses at the city centre. How did the town look like back then all those centuries ago? It mad me think about the human condition and how insignificant our permanence was in the flow of time.

“Boop.”

For some reason—my guess it being me not paying her attention for a while, Abby bumped into me and hugged my arm, snatching my focus away from such weird philosophical thoughts.

“This place is nice, isn’t it?”

It sure was. On one side, there was a small wall that prevented people from going tumbling down the hill, trees covering the incline and providing us with shade. Occasionally we could see the rest of the town through the tree trunks.

On the other side, there were the houses we came to see. None were any similar to the next. Yes, they all shared the same style, but the way they expressed it was completely different. Different accents, colours, shapes, all of it. I was amazed at how much it varied, specially when compared to the street I lived at and places where I spent my time. Those places were looking awfully dull and boring in comparison.

“Have you picked one for us to live already?” she asked jokingly.

“Hmm… honestly, if we were to simply start living in one we picked, I wouldn’t be able to choose.”

At least just from looking at the outside.

“We are here,” she announced as we approached an iron gate in a red wall. “This is the place where…”

She grew quiet, and I didn’t ask why because I was having the same reaction. Mathilda was staring at us from the other side of the gate, looking just as surprised as we were.

“Well, will you look at that,” Mathilda said, her smile growing. “I came to check if I had locked the gate and who do I see? You two. What are you doing here?”

Abby started telling here why we were here and before I knew it, we were being ushered in. I zoned out of their conversation and took to looking around. There was a small garden in the front cut in half by the stone path we were walking on that led to the heavy looking front door. That was accessed by the porch that had stone pillars supporting the upper floor carved in the shape of twisting ropes. The walls were painted in the same brick-red colour of the surrounding wall with the stone surrounding the windows very elaborately carved in nautical themes and the roof was green, almost fish scale-like.

Inside was also amazing, but my amazement was reeled in when I felt a set of fingers gently pushing my mouth shut.

I grew red while Abby impishly grinned at my flustered reaction.

The air was cool, but not too much. I got the feeling the house could get a tad cold in the winter, but not in a manner that would be unpleasant, at least compared with mine.

“Auntie, I brought some friends,” Mathilda announced.

Friend!? Since when!?

That thought was switched with me thinking where I had seen the lady in question. It wasn’t that big of a mystery, it could only have been at the restaurant.

“Ah, Eleanor’s daughter! It’s been a while.”

“Hello Mrs. Fletcher. Have you been well?”

Hearing this side of Abby again was uncanny. And it wasn’t just her voice and tone, but her posture. It made me worry.

“…Have I seen you before?” the lady asked me.

“I believe we might have met at the place I work at.”

“She works at the Le Perrot,” Mathilda added.

“Oh, that dreadful French restaurant?”

I did no effort in defending the place. In fact, when she asked me about some stuff about the restaurant, I told her the honest truth instead of the usual speal I had to say when working.

“I commend you for being honest despite working there. I don’t think I could work at such a place.”

“She’s thinking about quitting soon.”

“Is that so? Hmm…”

We now all sat around a tea table by an open window. A nice breeze permeated in perfume from the greenery wafting inside. I was feeling a slight chill though, that coming from the pale blue eyes of the old lady sitting across me and Abby with which she analysed me as she sipped her drink.

“As flawed as that place is, the employees are good mannered and you look the serious and trustworthy type. I just had an idea, but to be frank, you look a bit meek to me.”

“Trust me auntie, she can be quite the firebrand when needed.”

I turned all shades of red remembering every single thing Mathilda might have been referring to.

“If you say so. How about you coming to work for me after I get this place ready?”

“At your B&B?” I asked dumbfounded.

“How do you know about that?”

“Oh erm… m-my dad is the person doing your website.”

“You’re Mr. Stanley’s daughter? Yes, now that you mention it, I can see some resemblance in the two. And yes, I mean at my B&B. To be more precise, I’ll need someone to help Jeoffrey every so often during the week and to then serve the tables during the weekend.”

“You’re too kind m’lady.”

I gave a third tiny jump in my chair from his sudden appearance. That old man moved so silently and blended so well with the background, it was scary.

“Excuse me, but when you said ‘every so often’, how many times would that entail?” Abby asked.

She didn’t answer, instead looking at Jeoffrey.

“That would be for a couple of hours on Tuesdays and Fridays.”

“Hmm, in total, that would be less than half the time you’re currently working,” Abby told me.

It was much less than half, practically a third of the time. I’d have a lot more of free time and still some extra money to spend on dates with Abby. All in all, it was a nice offer.

“And of course, if you prove yourself a good worker, I’m willing to pay you the same they are paying you now. Since you’re a friend of Mathilda and she vouches for you.”

An already tempting offer got even more tempting. There was just one small issue. Abby. I had planned to quit so I could have all the time in the world to spend with her.

“I’m sorry but… for now I think I’ll refuse.”

“May I know why?”

“…I… I want to have as much free time as possible to spend with Abby.”

“But we’ll still have plenty of time for that.”

“I know, but… it’s been two weeks since school ended and I feel like we barely spent any time together… I mean, decent time that I’m not dead tired or us doing chores. I’d like to at least have a full month for us to simply going out and spend… quality time… together.”

Abby turned as red as I was and had another giggling fit as she did her best to hide her face in my armpit. I wished I was her right now because while Abby had a nice place to hide her face, I had to suffer the attention of everyone as they stared at us, most certainly wondering what was going on between us.