Page 90 of Beneath the Blue Moon
“I know.You’re Uncle Ethan’s girlfriend.”
“He’s your uncle?”
“No, I just call him that.”
I extend the plate to her.“I brought this for you.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I hope you don’t mind but Ethan told me about your parents.”Her bottom lip trembles and she stops swinging her feet.“I know how you feel.I lost my mom last year.”
Finally, she turns her sad eyes toward me.
“You did?”
“Yeah.I didn’t even get to say good-bye.”
“Me neither.”
“I was just like you for a long time: sad and kinda angry.Icriedeveryday.”
“How did you get over it?”
“I haven’t really.You don’t get over losing someone youlove, but it gets better.”
“How?”she asks, her eyes pleading.“When?”
I tuck her long, blonde hair behind her ear, and tear-filledgrey eyes meet mine.
“It got better for me when I realized that Mom wouldn’t wantme to be sad.My whole life, she did everything she could to make sure I washappy.If I was sad, she was sad.She wouldn’t feel better until I did.”
“My mom was like that, too.”
“So do you think she’s happy now, seeing her little girl likethis?”I ask.
“No.”
“You want her to be happy, right?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you do that?”
“Stop being sad?”
“Exactly.”
She gives me a weak smile and looks around at her family.
“You know, all this time, no one really bothered to talk tome… only to tell me how sorry they are for my loss.”She places her hand onmine and turns to me once more.“Thank you, Casey.”
“No problem, sweetie.”
She takes the plate and starts swinging her feet again asshe eats.Poor thing, she just feels alone.
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” she answers.
