Our Fragile Hearts by Buffy Andrews

Author:Buffy Andrews [Andrews, Buffy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781474054881
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Mary

When I got out of the car, Piper ran toward me. I wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic welcome and it warmed my heart. I opened my arms to give her a big hug. I turned to make sure I’d shut the door and noticed a man looking at the car. He looked a bit disheveled and it worried me that Rachel and Piper were living in an apartment complex with such shady looking characters.

I watched him walk away and then I walked with Piper to where Rachel stood. “Who’s that man?”

Rachel shrugged. “He had the wrong address.”

“Well, thank goodness because he looked like a hoodlum.”

Piper patted my arm. “What’s a hoodlum?”

I smiled. “That’s what my father called boys who were bad. They were hoodlums.”

“Justin was a hoodlum today,” Piper said.

I patted Piper’s head. “Who’s Justin?”

“A boy in my class. He was mean to Jacy. He pulled the little braids on top of her head.”

I nodded. “That was bad. And Jacy’s the little friend you met the first day, right?”

Piper nodded. “She’s my bestest friend. She even made me this necklace.”

Piper leaned forward and touched the necklace around her neck. “See.”

“I see. That’s a very pretty necklace. It’s especially pretty because Jacy made it for you.”

I held up the bakery bag I was carrying. “I stopped on the way here and picked up a French baguette. If you have bread, you can put this in the freezer.”

Rachel smiled. “Thank you, Mary! A fresh baguette. Perfect. Much better than the sliced white bread I was going to serve. Should I warm it up?”

I nodded. “You can. Just wrap it in foil and stick it in the oven for a few minutes.”

We walked into the apartment and Rachel went to check on the lasagna. Piper pulled me toward the dining room. “I want to show you what I did.”

She pointed to a place setting. “I set the table all by myself!” She pointed to the outermost fork. “And this is the salad fork and this is the dinner fork. Outside in.” Her toothless smile made my day.

Then she ran over to the desk in the corner and picked up a picture she’d drawn and handed it to me. It was a picture of the three of us and had a big, bright-yellow sun in the corner and flowers on either side of us.”

“What a beautiful picture. Thank you, Piper. I’ll have to put this on my refrigerator with the others.”

Piper pulled up her shirt.

“Piper, what are you doing?” I asked.

She pointed to a squiggly line on her stomach. “I have a scar just like Madeline.”

My hand flew to my heart. She had drawn a green appendectomy scar on her belly using a magic marker.

“I’m as brave as Madeline!”

I thought my heart would melt all over the floor. “You’re braver, Piper. You’re the bravest little girl I’ve ever met.”

Piper pulled down her shirt and took my hand, pulling me toward the stairs. “Come, Miss Mary. I want to show you my room.”

Rachel had just walked into the room and I looked at her, wondering if it would be okay.

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