Free A Smidgen of Sky by Dianna Dorisi Winget Page B

boom simulator ride at the air show. I had three dollars saved up—surely there were enough pennies to earn me the other four dollars I needed. “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
    Miss Claudia clapped her hands like a little kid getting a present and said, “Well, bless your heart.” She lifted the edge of the quilt hanging over her bed. “There’s a whole sack of penny rolls under the bed here. Do you mind savin’ my old knees and getting them for me?”
    I groped around in the dark until I found the paper bag. It was so coated with dust that it made me sneeze. I dumped a bunch of penny rolls out onto the carpet and pushed the bag back under the bed.
    â€œJus’ holler if you need me,” Miss Claudia said. “I got some kitchen towels I’m making for your mama, to go along with the potholders. They’re just the cutest things—red and green like a watermelon.”
    Her saying “watermelon” made me think about Ginger dropping her wedge on account of the hornets. I wished I could go just one single day without thinking about her, or Ben, or the wedding. I stacked pennies into little towers of ten and fretted over Operation Finding Tina. I didn’t know what the next step should be, or if there even
was
a next step.
    I’d piled thirty-four penny rolls into a pyramid when Mama stopped by to tell me she was headed to work. She paused out in the living room to talk with Miss Claudia, and after a bit I noticed she’d dropped her voice down low. I crawled over to the doorway.
    â€œ . . . after four years, just out of the blue,” Mama said.
    â€œWell, I’ll be hog-wallered,” Miss Claudia said. “What could she be thinking?”
    â€œMaybe it’s some sort of control issue. She wouldn’t tell Ben how she knew about the wedding. Just said she knew more about things than he thought.”
    I went limp as a dishrag with relief. Ben had talked with Tina and she hadn’t tattled on me. Maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she liked making Ben puzzle over the mystery.
    â€œI surely wouldn’t worry too much over it,” Miss Claudia said. “I just don’t see how that girl would have a leg to stand on after walking out the way she did.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t think,” Mama said. “But I’m afraid she walked out because of Ginger, not Ben. I think she loved him.”
    â€œWell, surely she doesn’t think she can waltz back in and pick up right where she left off?”
    â€œNo, Ben set her pretty straight on that. But she could still cause trouble for us if she wants.”
    â€œYou know what that girl’s problem is, don’t you?” Miss Claudia said. “Jealousy. Pure and simple.”
    â€œI think so, too. I’m just praying Ginger doesn’t get hurt over it.”
    â€œNow, that little girl is one hundred percent Ben’s, and her mama knows it.”
    â€œMaybe,” Mama said. “But you know how things work nowadays. She could demand visitation, maybe even sue for custody.”
    Goose bumps popped up all over my arms. What if Tina tried to take Ginger away from Ben? Never in a million years would I have thought up such a thing.
    Miss Claudia heaved a big grumble of a sigh. “Well, it’s like the Good Book says, Heather: ‘Each day is sufficient for its own badness.’ So don’t fret too much about what could happen when it likely won’t happen at all.”
    â€œCourse you’re right,” Mama said, and I could tell she was smiling. “And now I better skedaddle ’fore I make myself late. You know, I do so appreciate all your help with Piper Lee while I’m at work.”
    â€œMy help? Why, she’s the one in there helpin’ me right now.”
    â€œBye again, Piper Lee,” Mama called.
    I skittered back to the middle of the room. “Bye, Mama.”
    I was all in a flap