Hummingbird Lane by Brown, Carolyn (ebook reader for comics .txt) 📗

“We were inseparable until we were about twelve years old.” Sophie stepped up onto the porch. “Then she had tutors that came to the house to educate her, and I stayed in public school. The first semester of college we saw each other some, but I hadn’t actually seen her in more than a decade until today. She went to one college and I went to another, and they were only about fifty miles away from each other, but she went home after the first semester.”

“I hope she finds peace here,” Josh said.

Peace might be stretching her expectations for Emma. If she could just gain a little self-confidence and be like the little girl that Sophie had known all those years ago, that would be a great start.

“So do I.” Sophie opened the door and went straight to the short bar separating the kitchen from the living area. “Supper has arrived, Em,” she called out as she set the pot of chowder down. Josh handed the pan in his hands off to Sophie, bobbed his head in a quick goodbye, and was out the door before Emma made it to the kitchen.

“I haven’t had chocolate cake in forever,” Emma said. “Oh!” Her voice showed more emotion than it had all day. “A cat! Can I pet it?”

“Yes, you can pet her. She’s very tame. Her name is Coco, and she loves attention,” Sophie answered. “Did Victoria ever let you have a pet? I remember that you always said you wanted a cat when we were kids.”

Emma dropped down on her knees and picked up the cat, hugged her to her chest, and kissed her on top of the head. “I love cats, but Mother says they shed all over everything, and she said that I’m probably allergic to them anyway.”

“Well, we don’t care if Coco sheds, and you aren’t sneezing, so I don’t think you’ve got an allergy,” Sophie said. “Coco brings us all so much joy that we’ll gladly brush the cat hair off the sofa or run the vacuum over the carpet. Out here in the boonies, you can enjoy her all you want. You want some chowder? It’s been hours since you had lunch.”

“We had a snack up near Odessa when you stopped for gas,” Emma reminded her. “I’d rather have a piece of that cake right now.”

Sophie cut off a big slab and plopped it down on a paper plate. “We don’t have a table, so do you want to eat it on the bar or sitting right there on the floor?”

Emma’s eyes showed a faint bit of light. “Right here on the floor, and after I eat it, maybe I will have some chowder.”

“Remember that old saying about life being short?” Sophie got misty-eyed at the idea of Emma getting so excited over chocolate cake.

“Eat dessert first,” Emma finished the old adage. “I should sketch those words in fancy lettering and make a plaque to hang on my wall if I ever get a tiny house.”

“Sounds like a plan to me, but first you have to pick up some brushes or at least crayons,” Sophie said.

Emma held her plate above the cat’s head and took the first bite. “This is so danged good. When I was in college, I ate whole boxes of chocolate cupcakes, but they didn’t taste like this. I remember when Rebel let us have a picnic on a quilt one time. We had peanut butter sandwiches, and Rebel had brought chocolate cupcakes that she’d made. They tasted like this, but I felt guilty later. You never came back to my house again. Mother said that Rebel left because she didn’t like me. I asked her what I’d done so I could apologize, but she just gave me one of those looks and said that I drove her best housekeeper away. For weeks afterward, when she was interviewing women, she would tell me that it was all my fault that she had to take time to find another one. I was careful to never make friends with another housekeeper again.”

“Oh, honey.” Sophie tried to take in Emma’s rambling that jumped from cupcakes to housekeepers, and just the idea that her friend wasn’t thinking straight put tears in her eyes. “That’s not the reason we left, and you did nothing wrong. Your mother thought your father was having an affair with my mother. Mama tried to tell her it wasn’t true, that she would never do that, but Victoria wouldn’t listen and told her to get out.”

Emma’s eyes filled with tears, too. “I’m sorry. I always thought Rebel was sent away because of me. Why would Mother do that?”

“You don’t have to apologize. You and I did nothing.” Another wave of guilt washed over Sophie for not trying harder to stay in touch with her friend. She was beginning to think maybe Rebel was right about Victoria driving Emma crazy so that she could have attention for taking care of a delicate child. That didn’t sound like her, though. She didn’t want to take care of anyone but herself. She would have an agenda, but what could she gain by treating Emma like she did? Why would a mother do that to her own child?

“Mother told me once that she had never wanted children. Maybe she was ashamed of me because I wasn’t strong like her,” Emma said.

“I wouldn’t know about that, but you are going to get strong while you’re here,” Sophie said. “How’d your conversation with her go? I guess not well, since you murdered your phone.”

“She said she was sending Jeffrey to bring me home. I told her that I was staying right here. I’ll need to use the house phone or yours to call her each night. She gets really angry if I don’t call, and she’s horrible when she’s mad,” Emma said.

“You can use anything that’s here anytime you want, but why did you destroy your phone?” Sophie brought