Libby and Madeline pulled up behind a sports car in front of a little green house on Elm Street where the Kendricks now lived. Madeline was surprised by how tiny the house was. Lights were blazing in every window, and she could see the forms of people moving around inside.
“How well do you know the Kendricks?” Madeline asked as Libby pulled down her visor and applied lipstick.
“Not that well. I was in the same grade as Leo, so I’ve seen them around.”
Libby opened the driver’s door and stepped out. Madeline juggled the flowers she’d brought, and climbed out a little less gracefully. She stood at the car a moment, looking at the green house. She thought of the stately ranch house high above town compared to this one. She knew how it felt to leave a comfortable home and move into something that was much less so. She was struck by a strong pang of guilt that the Kendricks had suffered it, too.
Libby had already walked through the gate and past the empty doghouse; Madeline hurried to catch up. She could hear laughter from inside, and her old nemesis, her fear of what people would think of her, began to get the best of her. Her stomach was in knots by the time she reached the porch.
Libby apparently had no such fears; she stepped up to the door and rapped loudly. A moment later, the door swung open. A woman with a short bob of gray hair and a barrel chest smiled out at them. “Well, Libby, I recognize you,” she said. “You still have that beautifully curly hair.”
“It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Compton,” Libby said politely.
The woman looked past Libby to Madeline. “And you must be Madeline. I’m the boys’ Aunt Patti. You girls can call me Patti,” she said, pushing open the screen door. “Now come on in.”
Libby went through without hesitation. Madeline held out her handmade bouquet to Patti Compton. “I, ah… I picked these from Mrs. Kendrick’s garden.”
Patti gasped and put a pudgy hand over her heart. “Well,” she said, “isn’t that sweet? Oh Lord, but Cathy had the greenest thumb. She would have loved these.” She smiled brightly at Madeline. “I’m Cathy’s sister. So, thank you, hon,” she said, and took the flowers from Madeline as she pushed the screen door open wider. When Madeline didn’t move, she put her hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be shy. You have to jump in with both feet when the Kendricks are together or risk getting run over. Especially if someone rings the dinner bell.”
Madeline hesitantly stepped across the threshold, standing just inside the door. There were so many people crammed into the tiny living room that she felt claustrophobic. Libby had already made her way through the room—Madeline could see her leaning up against the doorjamb, talking to someone in the next room.
“Now that’s my husband, Greg,” Patti said, pointing to a man with a very large belly. “And that’s my brother-in-law Bob—he’s the one who owned the ranch, you know. Of course you know Luke.”
Madeline had never been so grateful to see anyone in her life. Luke smiled, and she instantly felt lighter. He looked sexy in a gray button-up shirt tucked into black jeans. The shirt matched his eyes exactly. “Hi, Madeline,” he said, as if they had only just met. “You look great.”
“Thank you.” A blush of pleasure was rising in her cheeks, and her smile broadened.
“Ex-cuse me!” a man bellowed behind Luke. “What am I, a piece of the furniture?”
Luke smiled. “Madeline, I’d like you to meet my brother, Leo,” he said, and stepped aside.
Madeline froze. She hoped her face did not betray the utter shock she felt in seeing Leo, his body twisted unnaturally, his head cocked at a strange angle. Luke had said he had a muscular disease, which she’d interpreted to mean something like muscular dystrophy—nothing like this.
She realized she was staring. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “Hi, Leo.”
“Not to worry,” Leo said cheerfully. “You’re not the first to be caught off guard by my studly good looks. Wow. You really do have blue eyes.”
A woman stood up from the couch. She said something in Spanish to Leo that made him grin crookedly. “Hello, Madeline,” she said in an accented voice. “I am Marisol Fuentes. I am the zookeeper.”
“Marisol helps us keep up with Leo,” Luke said beside her. “You met my aunt and uncle, and you’ve met my dad,” he said.
Madeline said hello to them, exchanging small pleasantries.
“And you know Jackson.”
Jackson was sitting in the corner, looking dapper in his skinny jeans and leather jacket. He smiled, tilted his beer bottle at her. “Hey, Madeline!”
“Where’s Libby?” Leo called out. “Where’d she get away to? Hey Libby, sweetcakes, I’ve been dying to talk to you probably as much as you’ve been dying to talk to me!”