“I think there’s a very good chance that she’s the best secret keeper of us all.”
A few days later, Lenni was at the kitchen table, nose pressed into a math textbook.She was in the middle of an equation, attempting to write with her left hand, when the doorbell rang.
“I’ve got it,” I said, drying my hands on a dishrag and bringing her another cookie that had recently come out of the oven.
“You’ll spoil my dinner,” she said but then grinned.
“Dinners are meant to be spoiled,” I remarked.“Sometimes.”
I looked through the peephole and saw a man in a delivery uniform standing on the porch.I opened the door.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey there,” he greeted.“I’ve got a delivery for Lenni Murphy.”
“Lenni,” I called out.“You got a delivery.”
Lenni came up next to me.“I’m Lenni.”
The man looked at her and then back at me and then handed me his tablet.“Sign on the line for her, please.”I signed the tablet and then the driver took it back and then went to his delivery van and opened a large sliding door.
Six boxes in the hallway later, the door was closed and Lenni and I stared at the pile.
“Nancy sent your stuff, I’m guessing?”I asked her.
“I think so, yeah.”Concern flashed across her face.
“You want to open them?Or you want to wait?”I asked.
She nibbled her lip.“I think I want to open them.”
Nodding, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a pair of scissors and began slicing the boxes open.They were full of Lenni’s warm-weather clothes that she’d probably already outgrown.Picture frames of Lenni and her mom throughout the years.A box full of her mother’s sweaters.
Lenni reached out and touched one, her hand shaking with emotion.
Another box with Christmas decorations.
We’d cut down a tree and it was in the living room, currently naked of adornment—the three of us had planned to spend an afternoon shopping for decorations, but now ...
“These are perfect for our tree,” I said to Lenni, reaching into the box and pulling out a popsicle stick ornament.
“No.”
She attempted to snatch the ornament from my hand, but it dropped into the box.It broke on impact, and a sob escaped Lenni’s throat.Without a word, she rushed up the stairs and then a moment later, her door slammed shut.
Mildred woofed from her dog bed and then ran after Lenni.Her collar jangled as she made it up the stairs and she pawed at the door.It opened and closed almost immediately.
I sighed and took out my phone and opened it to the group chat.
Me
Boxes of Lenni’s childhood stuff just showed up including Christmas decorations.She ran upstairs crying.
Hadley
Tell us what you need.
Me
