Heart Finds by Jaime Berry

Author:Jaime Berry [BERRY, JAIME]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

15

MONDAY AFTERNOON, JASPER AND I GET OFF THE bus and walk to Whispering Pines together. Another whole weekend with no hunts, no finds, no trash-to-treasure projects, and I’ve been in a mood all day. Jasper bumps me with his elbow and says, “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong if you don’t want to. But I just thought I’d let you know you could. If you feel like it.”

I kick at fallen leaves and keep my eyes on the ground. “I just want Grampa back home, and sometimes I worry that whatever I do, I won’t get back to the way things were. Grampa always says if it can be broken, it can be fixed. But I don’t know anymore.”

Jasper stops walking for a minute.

“What?” I ask.

“Never mind,” he says, and gives me a smile that’s small and tight.

It’s my turn to stop walking. “What is it?”

“You know I live with my grandma?”

I shake my head.

“My dad got injured and then fired. So, we moved here to live with my grandma because she knows the director of the nursing home and got Mom this job. Now we all live in the house my mom grew up in. It’s okay, but it’ll never be like it was before; it can’t be fixed.” Jasper shrugs. “I have to accept it. My mom says we have to think of ways to make right now better instead of wishing we could go backward.”

“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I say.

Jasper nods. “But this, making money to help you, is different. This we can do something about.” He smiles. “And like you said, you never know what we might find.”

I nod and smile back and stare up ahead at Whispering Pines. What if he’s right though, and this whole mess is something that can’t be fixed no matter how hard I try?

“So, what’s our next mission?” he asks.

“The mall on Sunday afternoon. We’ll have to be extra careful.”

Jasper nods. “Why extra careful?”

“Well, there are security guards there. They work inside the mall, but if they see us, they might ask us to leave.” Maybe it’s because I’m afraid he won’t go with me, but I don’t tell Jasper that Grampa and I’ve never been there together. Whatever Grampa’s reasons for staying away, they can’t be more important than my reason for going.

There’s a man in mint green scrubs working the front desk this time. He’s on the phone when he buzzes us in to Whispering Pines, and as we pass by, he holds out a hand for Jasper to high-five.

The custodian walks past the elevators as we get on.

“Hi, Mr. Jeffries,” Jasper says.

“Hey there, Jasper.” He points a finger in our direction. “Don’t cause any trouble today.”

“Can’t make any promises,” Jasper says. As the doors close, Mr. Jeffries cracks up.

We get off on the third floor and are met by a woman waiting to go down. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite young man,” she says.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Flannigan. You’re looking lovely as always,” Jasper says.

“And you’re an excellent fibber.

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