Autumn Blue by Karen Harter

Author:Karen Harter [HARTER, KAREN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781599953021
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2009-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

REBECCA AND SIDNEY appointed themselves to be cheerleaders for the peewee football game. Rebecca already had pom-poms; Sidney couldn’t remember when or how she acquired them. Sissy practiced her cheers noisily in the backseat of the car, using a pair of canary-colored feather dusters. After a bout of sneezing, Sidney asked her to refrain from slapping them together until they arrived at the field where they were to meet Jack.

“How come we have to bring Ty his lunch, Mom? He should have just brung it himself.”

“Brought,” Sidney corrected. Sissy was right. Ty was old enough to take responsibility for himself. She had to let go, for his sake as well as her own.

“Mom”—Rebecca hesitated—“I know this doesn’t sound very nice, but sometimes I wish Ty didn’t live with us anymore. It was happier at our house when he ran away. I wish he could just live with Mr. Bradbury.”

“Yeah,” Sissy added. “We could wave at him sometimes from across the street.”

Sidney laughed at the comment despite its deep connotations. “I know he’s not nice to you lately. He’s not very nice to me either. But we’re a family. We’re going to stick together and get through this. Ty is not a happy young man right now. Something has hurt him. Our job is to love him no matter what. Can we agree to do that for your brother?”

“Okay,” Sissy chirped.

Rebecca didn’t respond for a moment. “But what if he never changes? What if he gets worse?”

Sidney glanced over to where Rebecca sat in the passenger seat. She took her daughter’s hand. “Love never fails, Becca. It’s never wasted.”

Here she was echoing her own mother, that wonderful, wacky woman of faith. It occurred to Sidney that she was passing on mere tidbits to her children instead of the smorgasbords of truth that her mother had served up to her. This world was a dangerous place to venture without it. Ty had blasted through childhood like a movie on fast-forward, and the girls were right behind him. She was running out of time.

She drove down Digby. It was easy to spot the house. It was the only pink one in the neighborhood, and a Sheriff’s Department patrol car was parked out front. She pulled into the driveway of the modest little cottage. Tyson and Deputy Estrada looked up from their labors on the front porch. “I’ll only be a minute, girls. Wait here, please.”

She stepped out and walked up to the porch. “How’s it going, guys?”

“Good.” They looked as excited to see her as if she were an approaching rain cloud.

“Here’s your lunch, Ty.” She turned to the deputy. “What time should I expect him home?”

“About three. Maybe three-thirty.” The deputy wiped sawdust from his brow with a bare forearm. It was a shame that he had the personality of an abused guard dog; he was an incredible specimen of a man.

The front door opened. “Hello.” Sidney turned to see a pleasant-looking gray-haired woman.

“Oh, hi.” She held out her hand to the woman.

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