Free The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker by E. D. Baker Page B

the first place.
    Alphonse puffed and grunted as he pulled it out of the shed. “I saw a smaller version at the shop. I was very impressed … that it powers itself with cut grass … and has never-need-sharpening blades. The salesman … talked me into buying … the biggest one they had, although they didn’t … have any in stock at the time. He said it would … cut the mowing time in half. I’m sure … it would, if only I could use it. Do you … think you could handle it?”
    â€œHow do you start it?” Cory asked.
    Alphonse plucked a few blades of grass and sprinkled them into a recessed cup in the top of the mower. There was a soft hum and a light went on. The mower vibrated and moved a few inches forward. Cory took the mowerfrom the pig and started pushing. It was hard at first because the grass was so tall, but after she’d pushed it a few feet, the light grew brighter, the hum grew louder, and the mower rolled through the grass easily, leaving a clean-cut swath behind. All Cory had to do was steer.
    â€œJust push the red button to turn it off,” Alphonse told her, gesturing to a place on the handle.
    â€œI can do this!” said Cory, thinking it wouldn’t take long at all.
    â€œGood!” said Alphonse. “Then I’ll leave you to it.” Cory was aiming the mower to the edge of the yard when he turned to his brother and said, “So, Roger. Were you picking my flowers again? Bertie, we have to talk about the way you act with strangers …”

Chapter 8
    It took only a few hours for Cory to mow the three little pigs’ lawns. When she finished, Alphonse paid her well and asked her to come back the following week. Cory flew home to find that her uncle was still at work. She took Noodles out, threw away yet another threatening message from the TFG, and went to her room to change her clothes. She was pulling a soft yellow shirt with fluttery sleeves over her head when she noticed an old blue shirt that had been mixed in with the rest of the clothes. The shirt had belonged to Walker back when they were in Junior Fey School, and he’d given it to her when they went swimming one day and the weather had turned cold.
    Seeing the shirt brought back the hurt and angerthat she’d felt when she saw him with that girl. He was cheating on her and thought he was getting away with it! Walker was a lowlife, a lying worm that didn’t deserve her as a girlfriend! No, that wasn’t right. He was worse than a worm! He was … Cory shook her head. He wasn’t worth her time or her tears. Swiping furiously at the damp streaks on her cheeks, she told herself to forget him. When everyone had told them they were the perfect couple, she’d wanted to believe it was true. When her friends wished they had boyfriends like Walker, she’d been happy knowing that he was hers. Apparently, she’d been deceiving herself all along. The real Walker wasn’t the person she’d thought she was dating. That person would never have done something like this!
    â€œMarjorie was right,” Cory told herself. “It’s time for a new start.”
    Opening her closet door, she took out one of the boxes she’d used to move her things to her uncle’s. The blue shirt went in the box first. Rooting through her clothes, she weeded out those that Walker had given her and had once seemed so special. After that she went through the few mementos she’d brought to her uncle’s house, and picked out the ones from Walker, like the tooth-shaped toothbrush holder and the saber-toothed-tiger tooth necklace. She hadn’t noticed before that aside from hisold, used clothes, the only things he’d given her were tooth related.
    The box was only half full when she closed the lid. She thought about putting it out with the trash, but decided to leave it on Walker’s porch instead. Torn between never wanting to see him again and