Free By Summer's End (Christian Fiction) by Rosemarie Naramore Page A

with
interest.
    “It’s back home, I guess.  Well, it was
probably sold, along with…”  She sighed.  “I suppose the creditors took it.”
    Holly entered the room and saw the
troubled look on Brianna’s face.  “Hey, you okay?” she asked, laying a gentle
hand on her head.
    “I was just thinking about my laptop and
all my other stuff.  I hadn’t really thought much about it.  I guess…”
    “What, sweetie?”
    “I guess everything is gone.  I mean, it
really didn’t belong to us…”
    “Let’s try not to think about…”
    Brianna seemed to gather herself
together and forced a smile.  “I won’t.  It wouldn’t do much good.  And
besides, Holly, it’s like you said, ‘things’ don’t mean anything.”  She eyed
the chair where Ryan was sitting.  “I’ve been thinking about that chair…”
    “You have?” Holly said, sounding
surprised.  She sent a quick glance at Ryan, who was watching the two of them
quizzically.  A part of her wanted to silence Brianna, to tell her they’d talk
later, when this stranger was gone, but…  Brianna had been through so much and
she was opening up more and more, but slowly.  She hated to stifle her now,
when she was prepared to talk.
    “Go on,” she prompted.
    “It means something,” Brianna said
softly.  “We have one and we worked hard to find it and to get it.  When
you restore it, it’s going to be beautiful again, and we’ll appreciate it even
more.”
    “You’re right about that,” Holly told
her with a smile.
    Ryan watched the exchange between the
two.  He sensed there was much more to the story, and that the chair wasn’t the
core of the issue.
    “Back home, Mom switched out our
furniture all time.  She’d refurnish the whole house and then decide she didn’t
like it and start over again.”  She shook her head.  “I don’t think there was
anything that could make her happy.”  She caught Holly’s gaze.  “I wonder why
nothing could ever make her happy.”
    She dropped her head, but raised it
slowly and searched Holly’s face.  “And Dad…  He’d buy a new car and trade it
in a month later.  Who does that?”  Her face contorted and she began to cry. 
“I think he would have traded me in if he could have.”
    “Oh, honey.”  Brianna sat down beside
her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  A quick glance at their guest
surprised her.  He was watching them with concern and had inched forward in the
chair, as if wanting to help, but uncertain how.
    Brianna cried for a moment and then
seemed to remember their guest.  “Oh, I’m…  I’m so sorry.  I’m so …
embarrassed.”  She turned to Holly.  “I’m going to…”  She rose.  “I’m going to
clean up and I think I’ll see if I can find Dave.”
    Holly nodded and rose from the floor. 
She extended a hand to her sister and tugged her off the floor.  With a final
embarrassed smile, Brianna hurried from the room.
    “Is she okay?” Ryan asked.
    Brianna gave him a reassuring smile. 
“She’s going to be,” she said confidently.  “She’s going to be.  Oh, I’m
sorry.  Your water…  Where did I put it?”
    “It’s on the floor,” Ryan told her,
smiling softly.
    “Oh, yes.  Sorry.”  She picked it up and
eyed it for several long seconds.  Finally, she shook her head and seemed to
remember Ryan again.  “I am so sorry,” she said awkwardly.  “Uh, may we go into
the kitchen and I’ll get you a fresh glass?”
    “That one’s fine,” he replied, standing
and taking it from her.  He drank it down and smiled.  “I could use another one,
however.”
    “Certainly.” 
    He followed her into the kitchen.  It
was sparkling, much like the entire home.  “You’ve been busy cleaning,” he
observed, and then would have kicked himself for his stupidity, had she not
given him a questioning glance.
    “You’ve been here before?” she asked
eagerly.
    He nodded.
    “You knew Uncle Ben?” she cried.
    “Very