Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand

Author:Jennifer Beckstrand [Beckstrand, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

Lia didn’t watch for them. She wasn’t so pathetic as to stand at the kitchen window all afternoon and hope to catch a glimpse of Rachel and Moses picnicking in the woods.

But she happened to be washing dishes when her sister came stumbling out of the trees with her arm around Moses and his arm securely around her. Rachel looked quite satisfied with herself and Moses did not look particularly annoyed. The air in the kitchen suddenly became unbreathable. Lia let her rag sink into the dishwater as she hastily dried her hands and ran down the hall and into her bedroom. She didn’t want to hear about the picnic, and Rachel would surely want to tell. Better to be unavailable when Rachel came skipping into the house.

She should have known better. She heard the front door close and Rachel’s light footsteps tripping down the hall.

Rachel pounded on her door. “Lia, I’m back.” Rachel opened the door without waiting for Lia to let her in. She sprawled on Lia’s bed and let her feet hang over the side.

Lia stood in the middle of her tiny room as if she were a propane lamp waiting for the darkness. She didn’t speak but she tried to smile. She should rejoice in Rachel’s happiness.

Rachel sighed as if to expel every bit of air from her lungs. “What a glorious, glorious day. I told you we needed time alone together. Moses couldn’t have been nicer.”

“You weren’t gone very long.”

“I didn’t want to walk far in my bare feet.”

Lia clicked her tongue. “You should have worn shoes.”

Rachel sat up, straightened her legs, and studied her feet. “Men think bare feet are sexy.”

“Sexy? What a word!”

“The magazine at the grocery store said so.”

“Did he like the chicken?”

“He ate two pieces. And the rolls. He loved the rolls. He finished off every last bite of jam, and you didn’t think I should bring it.”

“I always have good fortune with that roll recipe.”

“But he didn’t eat one bite of pie.”

Moses had to know she made the pie. “He didn’t?” A sudden headache pounded behind Lia’s eyes.

Rachel leaned back on her hands and pinned Lia with a critical eye. “I’m not stupid. You like him.”

“Of course I like him. He was my friend before you even knew him.”

“You’re going to get your feelings hurt, and I don’t want you to get your feelings hurt.”

Lia decided she didn’t like her bedroom so much when Rachel sat in it. “I’m going to finish the dishes.”

“Moses is interested in me, not you. He held my hand, Lia. Held-my-hand. And he put his arm around me.”

Anna might marvel at Moses’s change of heart, but not Lia. Rachel knew how to make herself irresistible. “Then you have nothing to fear from me.”

Rachel stood and put her arms around Lia in a sisterly hug. “I’m saying this for your own good. I’d hate to see you make a fool of yourself. Moses cares about your feelings too.”

Lia wanted to melt in a puddle of tears and run into the woods where she could be alone.

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