Page 59 of His Heart

She gave me a small smile and brought two plates of waffles to the table. I got out a bottle of syrup and forks.

“Do I smell food?” Charlie came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck up at a weird angle.

“See?” I said.

“Um, yeah, I made waffles.” Brooke put two more on a plate, then handed it to Charlie.

“Thanks,” he said.

We all sat at the kitchen table to eat. Brooke was right, she did make good waffles.

“I didn’t poison them,” Brooke said, looking at Charlie.

He hadn’t taken a bite yet. “That’s not what I was thinking.”

Brooke just smiled. Her bruises still showed, although the ones on her arms were getting lighter. Her black eye had faded to a dull purple. It would probably be gone in a few more days.

We ate in silence for a while. Charlie inhaled his food, then helped himself to two more from the stack Brooke had left on the counter.

Her plate was only half empty, but she put her fork down. “I haven’t done a very good job of thanking you guys for what you’ve done for me. Waffles don’t mean very much, but I want you to know I’m really grateful that you came when I called you.”

“Actually, these waffles are really fucking good, Brooke,” Charlie said.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I’m glad we could help,” I said.

“Well, if I’m really doing this, I need to get my act together,” she said. “I’ll get a job and find a place to live. I don’t want to be in your way any longer than necessary.”

“It’s really no big deal,” I said. “But you can use my laptop to look for jobs, and we’ll help you get around if you need a ride.”

“I can probably help with the place to live part,” Charlie said. “My grandparents own this house, and they own a few more. They rent them out. I don’t think my gramps will rent to someone who’s unemployed, so you’ll need a job first. But they have a rental that’s not far from here. You know the one, Seb, the little red house. It’s been empty for a couple of weeks while they’re doing some maintenance on it. If I put in a good word, I’m sure they’ll rent it to you.”

“Wow, that would be amazing,” Brooke said. “Thank you so much.”

I met Charlie’s eyes and nodded. He shrugged and went back to his waffles.

“I have so much to do, I feel like I need to make a list or something,” Brooke said. “This whole starting over thing is a little overwhelming.”

“Here, let me get you something.” I got up and rooted around a couple of drawers until I found what I was looking for. I took the small spiral notebook to the table and handed it to Brooke. “I usually keep these around, for school and stuff. I don’t think this one’s been used.”

She stared at it, flipping through the pages of the little green notebook. The paper swished through her fingers. “Thank you.”

“Pretty neat invention,” Charlie said. “You know, paper held together in a little book. You can even write on it.”

“Shut up, smartass,” I said.

Brooke shook her head at Charlie. “No, it’s just… never mind.”

Someone knocked on the door and I looked at Charlie. “Is Kimmie coming over?”

“I don’t think so,” he said.

“I’ll get it, then.”

I got up and opened the door to find my mom standing on the other side.

“Oh, Mom, hi,” I said. What was she doing here? “I didn’t know you were coming. And so early.”

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