Around four o’clock, Eliza took Janie by the hand and headed across the street to the Feeneys’ house. After a day spent unpacking, Katharine and Paul begged off going to the barbecue. They wanted to relax and take naps.
As mother and daughter tentatively entered the fenced backyard through the gate, Susan saw them and hurried over with two little girls toddling behind her.
“We’re so glad you came! Let me introduce you around to everyone.”
Eliza met at least twenty people, trying to remember names and knowing that she wouldn’t, while Janie and James ran away to frolic with Buddy, the Feeneys’ black-and-white Brittany spaniel.
Chicken and steaks were cooking aromatically on the grill alongside aluminum foil-wrapped loaves of garlic bread. A long buffet table was covered with a red, white and blue-striped tablecloth and a huge centerpiece of flowers Eliza recognized as cut from the gardens that edged the yard.
James Feeney offered her a drink. “What will it be?”
“Iced tea?”
“How about a little vodka in that?” offered her host.
She took a seat in one of the chairs, and took a quick count of the guests. An even number of men and women. She assumed she was the only single woman at the party.
“Eliza, if I may call you that,” said one of the women, whose name she couldn’t remember, “I can’t tell you how everyone has been buzzing about you moving into our neighborhood.”
“Please. Of course you should call me Eliza. And I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here. Janie and I were really looking forward to moving out of the city. I’m hoping we can have a more normal, quieter life here.”
“Yes,” clucked the woman. “I read in the paper about the nastiness you went through. I hope you’ll be very happy out here.”
One of the men chimed in. “Well, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but everything’s not perfect in suburbia. Did you hear that there was another robbery? The Palumbos got back from vacation and found their house totally stripped.”
“How many is that now?” someone asked.
“Six this summer, that I know of,” answered another. “And there hasn’t been a sign of forced entry in any of them. Either people aren’t being careful enough about locking up when they leave or someone has a key.”
“What about alarm systems?”
“You know how it is around here. Some of these people have lived in their houses for thirty years. They moved out when it was real country and no one even thought of having security systems installed.”
Eliza had been surprised to learn that the Richardses hadn’t had an alarm system. Louise had arranged for one to be installed for her, but the company was so backed up with orders that they weren’t going to be able to come out for a few weeks.
“Come on, everyone. Come and eat,” Susan called, placing a huge glass bowl full of spinach salad laced with raisins and onions and drizzled with sweet-and-sour dressing on the buffet table. People began to rise from their seats. Susan scanned the yard to make sure everything was in order for her guests. As she looked toward the fence gate, her pleasant expression changed.
Eliza looked over her shoulder to see Larson Richards approaching.
“Larson,” Susan said coolly. “How have you been?”
“I’m fine, just fine, Susan. I don’t mean to crash your party, but I stopped over to welcome Eliza to the neighborhood and was told she was over here.”
How rude of him to come by uninvited. Eliza disliked him even more now than she had at the closing.