Free Here in My Heart: A Novella (Echoes of the Heart) by Anna DeStefano Page A

would.
    “So,” Sally said, “stop talking about stuff you don’t understand. Lisa and Officer Douglas and Cade and me.” She headed back to the kitchen, leaving Lisa behind. “I have potatoes to cut. Go home when you’re done with the napkins.”
    The kitchen door shut behind Sally before Lisa could say she was sorry. She’d messed something up again. All she’d meant to do was ask a question, but she’d said too much, just like always. She never knew when people wanted her to stop talking until it was too late and they were already mad at her. She looked down at the napkins and tried not to care that maybe Sally didn’t want to be her friend anymore.
    No one ever wanted to be her friend for long.
    Lisa threw the napkins to the ground and ran out of the Dream Whip, racing down the street toward the Dixons’ house, even though it was a long way away and Mrs. Dixon was supposed to pick her up in an hour. If Lisa made it back to the house early, she’d maybe be able to score some extra computer time with Matthew.
    He never got mad at her. He was in her same grade, but at a different school. He never treated Lisa like she was stupid or annoying. He’d never stop being her friend. She ran faster.
    He’d said last time that his parents might drive him over from Atlanta one day. That he wanted to meet her. She’d said no. Everyone said kids should say no when someone online asked them to meet, that there were a lot of bad people online who hurt kids. But not Matthew.
    Not that she was going to meet him, not anytime soon, anyway. Even if he’d meant what he said, even if his parents really would drive all this way, it was Thanksgiving next week. She’d never be able to get away by herself over a holiday. But she could talk to him about it, say yes, and dream about having a real friend like him, who understood how hard it was for her to act right, because he had ADHD and had to try as hard as she did not to mess up the rules.

    “She’s sleeping as comfortably as can be expected,” said Vivian’s floor nurse at Harmony Grove.
    Dru had called the center as soon as she’d closed the Dream Whip and driven home to the Douglas house.
    “Her grandson spent most of the afternoon here,” the nurse continued. “He left for a while so she could rest—to meet up with her oncologist at the hospital, I heard him say to Ms. Vivian’s hospice coordinator—and then he sat with her while she had some dinner. Last night took a lot out of her. She’s not resting more than a few hours at a time these days. Her team’s talking about upping her meds, but she’s still telling them she wants to wait.”
    Dru nodded her head.
    Can the bullshit, Dru.
    She’d meant to stop by and see Vivian once the dinner rush slowed and the counter staff had things under control. She could have trusted them to close the place up tight. But she’d have run into Brad. Travis had stopped by the restaurant and had just talked with Brad, who’d been returning to Harmony Grove from the hospital.
    “I’ll be by in the morning for breakfast,” she said to the nurse. “Let her know for me, please, if she wakes up before I get there.”
    “You know I will. You’re so sweet to spend so much time with her. Don’t you worry. We’ll take good care of Ms. Vivian.”
    Everyone Dru had met at Harmony Grove would. She’d never doubted that, even as challenging as Vivian could be at times, wanting things her own way. The palliative care the center provided gave Vi choices she wouldn’t have at a hospital. A doctor’s goal was to prolong life for as long as possible. When a terminal case was transferred to hospice, the focus shifted to quality of life, for as long as that could be preserved.
    Vivian had lived a good life. At ninety-one, she’d lived a long life. And she’d embraced the chance to control as much as she could how that life would end. Dru was grateful for each good day Vi’s compassionate hospice team could give her. And Dru would be