The Charm Bracelet(34)

Lolly looked at Arden and Lauren. She’d never asked for help her whole life. Arden smiled at Lolly, who couldn’t help but wonder and worry, What happens when Arden and Lauren go home?

As Lolly stared into Lauren’s eyes, she felt loved, and that calmed her.

“The most important thing is to spend time with friends and family,” Jake said. “To live in the moment. Enjoy every second.”

“Good advice for all of us,” Lolly added, smiling.

“Do you mind if I dig into this ice cream?” Jake suddenly asked, pointing to the container sitting on the table. “I love Dolly’s ice cream.”

“Help yourself,” Arden said. “I don’t need any more sweets. I haven’t worked out in days.”

Jake returned to his chair with a heaping bowl of blackberry ice cream. “You look like you’re in great shape,” Jake said, looking at Arden.

Arden’s face flushed thinking about the shower now that she saw him clearly. So do you, she thought before catching herself.

“I couldn’t help but notice the unfinished jigsaw puzzle on the table,” Jake mumbled through a mouthful of ice cream. “And all the framed ones on the walls. Do you like puzzles? They are great for the mind, and great for the memory.”

Lolly smiled.

“Oh, yes. I’ve loved puzzles my whole life. They’re like”—Lolly stopped and held up her bracelet—“my charms. You don’t really understand the whole picture until you understand the parts. Would you like to hear about how I got interested in puzzles, Jake?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jake said, using his spoon for emphasis.

Lolly lifted her charm bracelet, positioning it in a shaft of light shooting through the screen. She spun the charms as if she were playing roulette, before her fingers stopped—as if by memory—on a charm that resembled a single jigsaw puzzle piece that read BEST.

“Jo still has the interlocking piece that says FRIENDS,” Lolly said with a smile, eyes shut, remembering something from long ago. “She always will.”

When she opened her eyes again, they were damp and a tear trickled down her cheek. “This charm sums up the importance of friends in our lives: Friends are the pieces who complete us, the pieces that complete life’s puzzle.”





Sixteen





1954



“You have to get out of bed, Lolly. You have to go outside. It’s summer.”

Lolly Dobbs pulled the covers over her head and shut her eyes. She only wanted to close out the world.

Lolly heard her bedroom door open and felt her mattress shift. She knew her father was sitting on the edge of her bed.

“I know you miss her more than anything,” Vern Dobbs said, his voice barely a whisper. “I do, too.”

When her father spoke softly, his voice sounded like a bullfrog. Or, maybe, a pickup truck driving down a dirt road. He sounded exhausted. Lolly knew—like her—he had been crying. Alone. In his bedroom.

Lolly couldn’t leave her room. Every place in the cabin reminded her of her mother. Memories of Vi were left dangling—aprons still on the clothesline, cookies in the freezer, her scent in the air—like the last leaves on a tree in fall. Her mother had even made the quilt on her bed. Lolly felt like she was in quicksand, unable to move. Every breath was painful.

“We have to move on, sweetie. We won’t ever forget her, but we have to go on with our lives. She would want that. She would want you happy, not sad. She would want you to have friends.”

Lolly yanked the covers off her head and screamed, “I don’t want any friends! I just want my mother!”

Vern’s jaw quaked. He lay down on Lolly’s bed and pulled his daughter into his arms. “I do, too, sweetie. More than anything.”

His tears were hot as they dropped onto Lolly’s face.

“I have something for you,” he said. “Your mom wanted you to keep it.”

Lolly heard the jangling and knew what it was before she saw it.

“I can’t!”

“She wanted you to have it,” he said, laying Vi’s charm bracelet on Lolly’s stomach. “Her memories are yours now. But you know what?”

Lolly shook her head.

“Now, you have to make some of your own. She wanted your bracelet to be as full as hers someday. But that means you have to get out in the world again and have some fun. Just like she wanted.”

Lolly looked up at her father. He kissed her gently on top of her head.

Lolly gave her father a weak smile and held her mother’s bracelet over her head. It shimmered and sparkled, and suddenly Lolly could see her mother’s face, smiling down on her, as she had when Lolly was little, and the charm bracelet had seemed like an incredible mobile dancing above her.

“Would you help me put it on, Daddy?” Lolly asked, holding out the bracelet and her wrist.

Her father fastened his wife’s bracelet around his daughter’s wrist. “I’ll always be here to help you, my baby,” he said, giving her a hug.

As soon as her mother’s bracelet was secure, Lolly felt safer and stronger, as if her mother were here in the room hugging her tightly.

“I have two charm bracelets,” Lolly said, shaking both her wrists. “I have double Mommy.”