Page 53 of Coffee Shop Girl
He tucked his hands into his pockets. His chocolate eyes stared back at me.
“He needs some sugar too.” Millie dug into her large purse. “Mac is fixing a tractor today, so Devin came to fish while I work. If you need any help around here, let him know. He’s already bored, even though it’s summer.”
“I see you out there fishing,” I said to Devin with a warm smile as I rummaged in a drawer for his favorite hot chocolate mix. In the summer, he took hot chocolate on the rocks. “You must love it.”
Ellie stirred. She remained in the shadows, crouched like a cat on the balls of her feet.
“Yeah, I love fishing.”
“My dad used to fish out there.”
The light in Devin’s eyes immediately faded. Millie put a hand on his shoulder and said to me, “Your father used to fish with Devin all the time. They would sit on the back porch and tie lures together. He misses his fishing buddy. Said he wants to go into the military like your dad. He told him to go with the Marines.”
My heart caught as if a string had just been pulled through it. “Oh. I didn’t know that, Dev. I’m sorry.”
“He was teaching me fly-fishing,” Devin mumbled.
“You know, I hadn’t thought of it before now, but I think he has all kinds of tackle and stuff in the attic. Would you like to have it?”
“Really?”
The joy returned to his expression in a heartbeat. I felt immediately better. Without Dad at my side, the fun of fishing had died for me. Slippery, cold fish were gross, but I could deal because Dad loved it so much. The joy had gone out with his death. Devin clearly still loved it.
He turned to his mom.
“Mom, maybe he has my lure! I might have left it in his box on accident.”
“Devin has a lucky lure,” Millie said as I grabbed an empty cup to fill with ice. “We haven’t been able to find it for months now, and his fishing has drastically suffered as a result.”
Ellie rummaged around in the pantry and knocked something over—an empty cardboard box filled with trinkets. She stood, strode out in her bare feet, and walked right up to Devin. Her hair swung in locks around her face as she extended a fist.
Devin regarded her, looked at his Mom, then back to Ellie. She opened her clasped hand to reveal several lures and fishhooks.
“Where did you find those?” I asked.
“Hey!” Devin cried. “That’s it! That’s my lucky lure.”
“I found it outside,” Ellie said quietly, as if this wasn’t the second time I’d heard her speak. As if it was so easy for her to do so when she wanted to. “It was in the reeds, tangled around a piece of bark.”
“Near the big rock?”
“About thirty paces to the west of that.”
He grinned. “Thanks. Will you show me where? There might be others.”
She nodded, grabbed his hand, and tugged him out the back door. I stared, wide-eyed in shock. Lizbeth shrugged when I turned to her in question. Had Ellie actuallytouchedhim?
Millie peered down the now-empty hall, then turned back to me. “Who,” she asked, “was that?”
Lizbeth peered at me from over the top of her book but went back to reading as if the world hadn’t just shifted. As if Ellie hadn’t acted totally normal and without fear for the first time in what must have been years.
“That is my half-sister,” I said, overcoming my shock. “Her name is Ellie. She’s eleven. Our sister Lizbeth is right behind you. They’re here to stay.”
Lizbeth waved a hand, eyes glued to a romance about bakeries and magic.
“From your mom?” Millie asked.
I nodded.
