JACK (25 page)

The card I’d picked out to send to Elliot had the old Union train on it. I’d hoped he would know who it was from. In the letter Elliot begged me to call him. Told me he loved me and hoped I was happy. Elliot and Mikey had both signed it.

I was very happy.

The little farm house we lived in was old and drafty but the walnut trees were thick, and when the wind made them sway the dappled light on the grass almost looked like ripples in the ocean. A path in the back cut down to Lake Lanier so there was even water and a place to fish.

Helen let us live here for free. It was close to the barn so if her show horses fussed at night I could just walk right over to check on them.

One day, Noah and me would have our house on the beach, but for now we were happy, and after weeks of sleeping anywhere dry we could find and digging through garbage and scrounging in the dark like raccoons, I wasn’t about to complain. We had warm clothes, a mattress to sleep on, money to save, and each other.

I read the card out loud to Noah. “You’d like Elliot and Mikey.”

He took the card from my hand. Noah had started looking at magazines a couple of weeks back but I wasn’t sure he could read them and I was kind of afraid to ask. He was drawing again though, and that was more than enough.

I offered Noah another piece of watermelon and he took it from me. He smiled as he pressed it to my lips. Sweet and sun warmed, it was almost as pleasant as his kisses.

Almost.