Free Fixing Perfect by Therese M. Travis Page B

hadn’t even taken a bite.
    “Who helped him? Whoever it is deserves a reward.”
    Sam sighed. “Oh yeah. Believe it or not, Donovan’s the one who rescued him. The creep got away, but both Kerry and Donovan got a look at him so the police put together a sketch, and they’re going to publish it tonight. Well, I gather Kerry was pretty confused, but Donovan was really specific. So now we have an idea of who we’re looking for.” He stared at her.
    Robin wanted to point out that if Donovan had rescued Kerry, he couldn’t be all bad. But she let it go. Sam had to realize that Donovan had some good qualities now, but she wouldn’t make him admit it out loud. She’d give him that much pride.
    “I’m going to go talk to his mom. Kerry shouldn’t be out alone for a while.” She rewrapped her own sandwich and put it, along with Sam’s, back into her pack. “Come with me? We can offer to sort of—not babysit. He’s too old for that, but we’ve got to do something.”
    “I agree.” Sam stood and helped her pull her backpack over her shoulders. “Be his back for as long as he needs us.”
    She fitted her crutches to her arms and gripped them hard. The walk to the Wright’s house was farther than she’d planned to go, and she always had to portion out her energy to last the day. But Kerry meant more to her than a bad afternoon.
    “Why don’t we go get your cart?” Sam asked.
    “It’s not charged.” She made a face. “I forgot to plug it in last night.”
    He didn’t move for a minute before he pulled out his cell phone. After a short conversation, he smiled. “Kerry’s mom will bring him down here. Really. Anyway, Kerry always likes to take a walk, and that’ll give his mom something to do with him.”
    “What? Kerry can walk that far, but I can’t?”
    His mouth went tight and straight and his eyes narrowed. “Will you stop being so doggone proud? There’s some things you can’t do. So what? Get over it.” He flipped his phone open and jabbed at the keypad.
    Robin sat down, her cheeks burning. That told her what he thought of her. If it weren’t for Kerry, she’d go home. If it weren’t for her crutches, she’d run away.
    Ten minutes later, during which neither of them ate any of the lunch Robin had provided, and neither of them spoke, Mrs. Wright trudged down the hill with Kerry next to her. Usually he was either a few feet behind or a few feet in front. Today, it looked like she’d threatened him to keep him as close as possible. He didn’t even smile when Sam said hi.
    As soon as his mother let go of his hand, he lumbered to the bench where Robin sat and plopped next to her. “I can’t go anywhere. I can’t go to the park ‘cept on team day, and I can’t go for a walk or nothing. I can’t go to Ray’s house. I can’t do anything by myself.” His eyes and tone told the whole saga of injustice.
    “We’re going to help with that.” Robin put her arm around his stiff shoulders. “Sam and I are going to hang out with you whenever we can.”
    Kerry looked from Sam’s face to Robin’s, still frowning. “Can we go places?”
    “Sure.” Not that Avalon offered an array of entertainment, other than for the tourists, but Kerry wouldn’t know that. He’d grown up on the island, just like Robin had, and as far as she knew, he’d seldom been off.
    “Will you take me for rides in your golf cart?”
    Robin laughed. “Sure.” At least one person in the world saw her as something more than a cripple. She glowered at Sam for half a second and decided to let the anger go. He probably hadn’t meant to hurt her. He thought he was being realistic.
    Mrs. Wright wriggled Kerry’s hand. “Did you hear that, Kerry? Now you can have a little more freedom with either Robin or Sam.”
    He twisted to face his mother. “And Donovan.”
    “Oh, sure. You can go places with Donovan. That’s fine. But he hasn’t offered to take you anywhere.”
    “But he saved me.” Kerry’s limbs tightened