Twenty Wishes (Blossom Street #5)(45)

6. Find a reason to laugh

7. Sing again

8. Purchase a home for me and Baxter

9. Attend a Broadway musical and learn all the songs by heart

She was considering a line dancing class, which was a wish she’d erased earlier. The St. Patrick’s Day performance had inspired her interest in dancing again.

“The wishes don’t need to be practical,” Anne Marie went on to explain. “That’s why they’re called wishes instead of resolutions or goals.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t necessarily expect them all to happen.”

“If you don’t expect them to happen,” Ellen asked, regarding her quizzically, “then why are you writing them down?”

“Because they’re wishes,” Anne Marie said. Finding a pen, she added a wish she’d erased two or three times.

10. Travel to Paris with someone I love

That encompassed the essence of what she sought—love, adventure, new experiences.

Ellen stared down at the recently entered wish. “Can anyone make a list like this?”

“Of course.” Anne Marie set the timer on the oven. They’d gotten into a routine, the two of them, during the past five days. It felt as if Ellen had been with her much longer. One obvious difference in her life was that Anne Marie now regularly cooked dinner.

Ever since she’d started living alone, she’d fallen into the habit of grabbing something quick and easy or skipping dinner altogether, which she could ill afford to do. But Ellen needed regular nutritious meals and a daily structure. With everything else in the girl’s life in upheaval, Anne Marie could at least offer her that.

The phone rang and Anne Marie picked it up immediately before Call Display could even register the number. She was expecting to hear from Elise, whom she’d been trying to reach all afternoon. “Hello.” She figured Elise wanted to share her news, which Anne Marie had already heard via the neighborhood grapevine. Elise had taken a part-time job working for Lydia at A Good Yarn.

“Anne Marie, it’s Brandon.”

“Brandon! It’s great to hear from you,” she said with genuine pleasure.

“I’ve been meaning to call you for a couple of weeks,” he went on. “Melissa told me what she did. I can’t believe my sister sometimes. And as for my father…”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” That was mostly true.

“You’re sure?” Brandon pressed. “To be fair to Melissa, I doubt she realized how hard you’d take that business about Dad. And she was pretty devastated herself.”

“Really, it’s okay,” Anne Marie lied, brushing off his concern. The last thing she wanted was to talk about her husband’s indiscretion—or even think about it. She felt a rush of pain whenever she remembered and constantly guarded herself against the image of Robert with Rebecca. In his office, on the couch…

“You’re sure?” he asked again. He didn’t seem convinced.

“Yes. Positive.” As much as possible she made light of the incident.

Her stepson hesitated a moment, then blurted out, “Let me take you to dinner tonight. I know it’s short notice, but we could talk and—”

“I can’t.” She hoped he’d take her at her word, not force her to explain.

“Why not?” Brandon’s voice fell with disappointment.

“I have a visitor.”

Her announcement was met with a short silence. “Anne Marie, are you seeing someone?” he asked somberly.

“No, of course not!” The question amused her. “Melissa asked me the same thing.”

“Of course not? Why say it like that? You’re young and beautiful and—”

“I’m with a…friend.”

“Ah, the mystery intensifies.”

“It’s not a mystery,” she said, smiling at his teasing banter. “It’s Ellen. She’s eight and she’s living with me for the next week or two.”

“You have an eight-year-old living with you? Is she a relative of yours?”

“No, I met her through a nearby school—the Lunch Buddies program. Why don’t you join us?” she said impulsively. “I just put a casserole in the oven and it won’t be ready for another forty minutes.”

“You made dinner?”

“Don’t sound so shocked. I did a lot of cooking in my time.”

“Okay, I’d like that. Thanks. Give me a few minutes to finish up here and I’ll drive straight over. You’re still living above the bookstore, right?”

“For now.” She really did hope to purchase a house, and soon. Spring, especially May and June, were the best months to look. As soon as Ellen was back with her grandmother, Anne Marie had every intention of beginning her search.

“Brandon, one thing…Melissa’s and my conversation…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to discuss it, all right?”

He hesitated. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” she told him, keeping her voice firm.

Anne Marie hung up the phone and turned around to discover Ellen perched on a chair at the kitchen table, staring blankly into space. She had the end of a pencil clamped between her teeth.