Chapter 206

Uncle Scooter gripped her hand a little tighter—there wasn’t a sidewalk where they were, and sometimes the cars came by really fast. It was scary and Billie was happy he chose to walk closer to the road with her tucked on the inside. “I know you are, sweetheart,” he said. “And that’s only to be expected. You’ll be sad. It’s okay. But we can’t just stop livin’ because someone we loved has left us. Your mom wouldn’t want that.”

Well, she hadn’t exactly been sad before he said that. She was a little sad. She missed her mom. She missed her home. But she hadn’t been ready to cry until he said anything. She jerked her hand out of his grip. “She doesn’t want anything anymore because she’s dead!”

“Hey, Mister Stahl,” someone yelled. One of the girls from Billie’s class ran up to them, leaving her parent behind with a startled, “Kendra!”

“Oh, hey,” Uncle Scooter said, turning. “Billie, you remember Kendra Casper, right? She’s Jody’s sister, and D’ante’s niece.”