Free Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green Page B

breakfasts every day, always something hot. Sometimes oatmeal, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, with orange juice and a beautifully set table.
    Sophia loves it. Emily usually sleeps through it, although in her junior year she always grabbed something when she thought Andi wasn’t looking, stuffing it into her bag for later.
    Children need a good breakfast . Andi’s mother’s words echo in her head as she cracks the eggs in the bowl, pausing to pour herself some fresh coffee, checking to see she still has fifteen minutes to herself before she wakes Emily.
    These children, in particular, need a good breakfast. Children who are so neglected when they are at their mother’s, who, if they’re lucky, manage to get enough money to go down to the deli and get their own dinner.
    And look at how appreciative Sophia is! See how she comments on the delicious smells as she walks into the room, look how her eyes light up when Andi places French toast and bacon in front of her.
    If their own mother won’t do it for them, Andi will. And she will do it better than anyone else.
    *   *   *
    Andi and Brooke do not have a relationship. She has heard the entire story from Ethan, and lately, from Sophia, who would never directly criticize her mother; but Andi can hear Sophia on the phone, hears the sharp barbs Brooke constantly shoots at her daughters, and the upset in Sophia’s voice.
    On some level, the girls know that their mother is an alcoholic. A couple of years ago, when they were having friends for dinner, Sophia, who had been about to turn eleven, had wandered into the kitchen just in time to hear Ethan ask one of their friends what they would like to drink.
    “She’ll have wine.” Sophia had grinned. “All grown-ups drink wine all the time!” Her voice was a singsong of innocence. “It’s like”—she paused, thinking—“it’s like the grown-up version of juice!” She was delighted with her explanation and didn’t see the look that passed between Andi and Ethan.
    “No,” Ethan quickly said. “That’s not quite true.”
    “It is!” Sophia had giggled. “Mommy drinks wine all the time!”
    Later that night, Andi left their guests to go and tuck Sophia in. “Not all grown-ups drink wine all the time,” she said. “I know sometimes it seems like that, and some grown-ups drink more than others, but many don’t drink at all. Look at me. I hardly drink wine at all. It gives me headaches.”
    Sophia thought for a while. “So what do you drink?”
    “My favorite is cranberry juice and seltzer,” she said, thinking vodka martinis were probably not what was called for here.
    “I love those!” Sophia said. “And ginger ale and cranberry juice!”
    “Yum! You have to understand that all grown-ups are different, and some drink wine, but many don’t.”
    Andi didn’t know how else to explain to Sophia, sweet innocent Sophia, that there is another path; not all adults are like her mother; not all adults drink wine like water, and please God let Sophia choose the other fork.
    *   *   *
    Andi has met Brooke less than a handful of times, and then, mostly, by mistake.
    Long before they met, she read the e-mails Brooke would send, accusing Ethan of being a terrible father, blaming him for her financial woes, telling him she would take him back to court to get full custody.
    Or Brooke would phone the house, leaving slurred, drunken messages on their voice mail, telling the girls they had to do something, reminding them to hand in some homework,
    It felt, always, as if she was staking her claim. She refused to accept Andi as an equal: she was the mother of the girls, and she wasn’t about to let Andi forget it.
    “Tell your father’s wife,” Brooke would say disdainfully to the girls, never referring to Andi as their stepmother.
    The first time they met was in Whole Foods. They were on their way back from a hike, and ran in, dividing and conquering as soon as they got through the doors—Andi to the fresh