Free A Promise Of Home (A Lake Howling Novel Book 1) by Wendy Vella Page B

accommodating either,” Branna, added.
    He got off his bike and rested it carefully on the ground, which told Branna he treasured that thing, as most kids just dropped theirs when they climbed off.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Michael Tucker. What’re you doing?” he added, coming forward to look down at the small patch she’d weeded.
    “Baking double chocolate muffins.” He snuffled a little laugh that made Branna smile.
    “I could help, seeing as I hurt you and all.”
    “Now, that’s an apology.” Branna pointed to the shovel she’d found leaning on the house. “You get that and start digging a hole over there so I can plant something in it.”
    He did as she asked, and soon they were both working.
    “What are you putting in?” Michael asked.
    “I’m thinking a small row of trees around the back to shelter the garden first; it was something Georgie always wrote to me that she wanted done, but just never got ‘round to it.”
    “She sure loved her garden.”
    “Why aren’t you in school?” Branna looked at him as she asked the question, and was glad she did, because he looked guilty as hell.
    “We don’t got to go in today.”
    “I don’t have to go to school today,” Branna, corrected him. “So, the school just decided to give you all a break?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t think so,” Branna added. “You’re playing hooky?”
    “I hate school; it’s boring.” He dug the spade into the dirt with force.
    “You’re breaking my heart, Mikey. You want to try working for a living. Then you’ll have something to moan about.”
    “You’re not working.”
    “Why is it boring at school?” Branna asked, ignoring his statement, as she did need to get back to work, but hadn’t found the enthusiasm to do so yet.
    “They don’t teach us anything new, so I just sit there all day bored.”
    “How old are you?” He was tall and thin, all knobby elbows and knees.
    “Ten and a half.”
    “You smart or something?”
    “Maybe.” He muttered the word, and Branna wondered if he was like her. “You read, Mikey?” If he was like her and Georgie had found out, chances were she’d had him reading all the books she loved, like she’d made Branna do.
    “Molly Browning says reading’s for people who ain’t got any friends.”
    “Have not got any friends sounds better,” Branna corrected him.
    He stopped digging and looked at her again, with those big brown eyes that could melt a person in seconds.
    “Georgie used to say things like that.”
    Branna swallowed the lump in her throat at the mention of her dear friend. “Yes, well, she was right.”
    They carried on in silence for a few more minutes.
    “So, I’m guessing this Molly Browning’s real perky? Pretty face, popular with the boys, plenty of giggling friends hanging around?”
    “Kind of, she’s not that pretty, though. She has real pointy ears that she tries to hide under her hair. She can be pretty mean when she wants to be, but Georgie said there will be something nice inside her somewhere.”
    Branna had also received that particular speech from her friend.
    “So, what does your mom think about you playing hooky?” Branna sat down on the dirt, because she was tired all of a sudden and her arm was beginning to ache, even though she’d been using the other one.
    “She’s in L.A. for work.”
    “Someone has to be looking after you. What will they say?” Branna questioned him.
    “Gran won’t find out, she doesn’t leave the house much, and Connor doesn’t care about that kind of thing.”
    “Connor being?” Branna slowly dragged the information out of Mikey, until she found out his gran cared for him, while his mom traveled about with her job, and Connor was his uncle and sounded like a size ten asshole, but she kept that to herself. The man didn’t seem to work, just lounged about, living off his sister and grandmother. There was another uncle who was a lawyer and lived in Boston, and an aunt who lived in Portland.