“Hey, let me see that book again.” I shook my head as though it would dispell my morbid thoughts. Jade put her book on the table, and I began to read it to her. When we were done, I watched the way she looked longingly at the girl on the stage. Then I got an idea.
“Jade, do you really want to be in the Candy Choir?” I had no idea whether or not Mrs. Allen would let Jade try out for anything on-stage with a private group. But since they always performed in the school’s spring talent show, it just might qualify as a different matter entirely. They practiced in the school cafeteria after school as it was. And I had a feeling I just might know how to make certain arrangements, even if Jade couldn’t read. But first, I needed the little girl to be on board as well.
Jade nodded profusely.
“What if,” I said slowly, “we started practicing now? They don’t have tryouts until several weeks after school starts, which means we could get a lot of practice in. But that’s a lot of work. Are you sure you’re up for that? I mean, I can’t promise anything,” I hastened to add. “But we can try.”
Jade’s eyes sparkled so brightly I had to laugh.
“All right, kiddo. That’s what we’ll do then. As long as your mom is okay with it, we’ll start practicing.”
Jade started going on and on about the costume in the book, and a sense of peace settled over me as we planned.
This. This was why I lived the way I did. Because God had given me the chance to change my little corner of the world. Jade. My other students. My parents. Everyone. And if I didn’t make my corner better, who would?
My mother, as much as I loved her, would just have to wait to watch me sail off into the sunset with the guy and life she imagined. Because right now, my happily ever after was here.
15
Thank You
Derrick
After two long hours in the car…two and a half, if you counted all the bathroom stops we had to make for Jade and Jessie, we finally passed the sign that saidCrater of Diamonds State Park.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” I muttered.
Jade, who was looking at her torn and beaten copy ofA Geologist’s Guide to Minerals, ignored me completely, but Jessie flashed me a daring grin.
“And why not?”
“I’m serious. Jade wanders sometimes, and you know that. And when she doesn’t want to come back, she hides.” I tighten my grip on the steering wheel. “A cave…a mine is the last place she needs to be. And I’m still upset at you, by the way, for Tuesday, when you took Jade without asking.” I’d been giving her the stink-eye for four days now, but she just wasn’t taking the hint.
Jessie just rolled her eyes and twisted around in her seat to face Jade. “Guess what, Geode? It rained last night, which means we have a better chance of finding a diamond this morning.” She looked back at me. “And I don’t know what all your fuss is about. I returned her safe and sound and with a smoothie. No sugar added. You’re welcome.”
I bit the inside of my lip. Geode wasmynickname for my sister. What had possessed Jessie to think she had any right calling my sister by that name? Probably the same thing that had convinced her it was okay to take Jade to some doctor appointment without letting her family know where she was.
Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things. Half the reason I was even taking us on this stupid danger hunt was to take pictures and prove to my parents what kind of places Jessie was willing to take Jade. And just to spite me at that.
“You need to lighten up.” Jessie leaned back and stretched. Her cheeks had a rosy color to them, and she was still wearing that self-satisfied grin. Beneath the white baseball cap with a yellow rose patch sewn onto it, which she swore was to protect her from the sun, she actually would have looked really cute.
If she hadn’t been bound and determined to ruin my sister’s life. And mine.
“After all,” she added, her green eyes flashing, “don’t you want a little adventure in your life?”
I ignored her as she giggled to herself, and I focused on turning off the highway to follow the signs.
Had I not been so ticked with Jessie, the day would have been a beautiful one. The trees, which grew thick as carpet in central Arkansas, had thinned a bit and given way to more open fields, complete with white fences and flat green hills dotted with cattle and horses. The trees soon swallowed us up again, though, which Jessie claimed meant we were getting close.
I glanced at her again out of the corner of my eye. What on earth did she need the hat for if we were going to be in a mine?
Jessie struck up some counting song with Jade as we went. She said it was meant to make the time pass faster, it felt as though a year had passed when we finally pulled into the parking lot.
I stepped out and tried to see where the mines might be. But all I could see were trees and a tan, metal-roofed building on the far side of the parking lot. Jessie fussed with Jade about wearing her hat and putting on sunscreen before turning to me and holding up the can.
“All right, your turn.”
“I’m not putting on sunscreen for a walk through the parking lot.”
