smooth and tender, so fragile. “Not at all. You’re even good citizen of the week.” She indicated the star chart.
Charlie traced her finger around the big gold star. “I wish my mom knew that.”
Lily put her arms around the little girl. “She does. I promise you, she knows, and your dad does, too.” Oh, God, she thought. How do I do this? In her mind, Charlie had connected her own misbehavior with her parents’ deaths. She had to leave that notion behind. “What happened is not your fault,” she whispered in Charlie’s ear. “It’s so important for you to understand that.”
Charlie nodded. “I’m trying,” she said, her voice muffled against Lily’s shoulder. “I hate how different everything is.”
“I think we all do,” Lily admitted. “Tell me one specific thing you hate.”
“Mom used to cut the crust off the sandwich in my lunch, and Uncle Sean never does.”
“Boy, I hate that, too. I never eat the crust,” Lily said. “What else?”
“I used to get to stay up until nine-thirty, but Uncle Sean says that’s too late. He wants us in bed a whole hour earlier.”
Good for you, thought Lily. “I can see why you don’t like that,” she said. “Maybe after school’s out, you can stay up a little later. Tell me something else you don’t like.”
“Summer, even though it’s not here yet,” Charlie stated. “Mom promised us a cruise and Dad promised us Hawaii.”
“Did your uncle promise you anything?”
She raised and lowered her shoulders in an elaborate shrug. “You could ask him, I guess. He’s got news, too. Kind of.”
“What news?”
“Well, Red’s coming to see him this week. He keeps calling him, wanting him to play in tournaments and stuff.”
“So why doesn’t he? Isn’t he any good?”
“He’s great. He’s going to the next level. Red says he could be even better than my dad, but Uncle Sean says he’s too busy with us to do any tournaments.”
Lily tried to imagine what that might be like, turning down a second chance at your dream. “And what do you think?”
“Same as Red,” said Charlie. “A racehorse has to run.” She sent Lily a meaningful look.
Lily walked her to the door, straightening the badge sash on her shoulder. “The conference is about you, not about golf. Tell you what. Give me one specific thing to tell your uncle that you don’t think I’ve thought of.”
Charlie paused. “I feel better,” she said, a tentative smile playing about her lips. “I quit crying a zillion times a day. Sometimes I only cry once, and some days, not at all.”
Lily felt a rush of affection. You idiot, Maura, she thought. Look at what you walked away from. Lily immediately curbed her thoughts. Who was she to judge? Just a short time ago, she had believed herself perfectly content to live alone forever. It had taken a life-altering tragedy to shake her awake. Perhaps Maura would learn her own heart without suffering such a loss.
“That’s good,” she told Charlie. “And I’m giving you a special badge today.” She took off the runcible-spoon brooch and pinned it to Charlie’s Brownie sash. “You earned this, and it’s for keeps. It’s the feel-better badge. Now, scoot.”
A twinkle flashed in Charlie’s eyes and she headed for the Brownie meeting with a spring in her step. Lily carefully waited until she was gone. Then she darted a look at the clock. Sean Maguire would be here any minute. She dove for her purse, hoping she’d find a lipstick there.
chapter 34
Sean cleared his throat and straightened his sports jacket. He had no idea how to dress for a parent-teacher conference, so he’d dressed up a little. He wanted to make sure Lily knew he took this seriously. Then he pushed open the main door of the school and followed the signs to the office. Emptied of students, the place looked completely different.
A woman with long silver hair and a flowing dress greeted him with a smile of Zen-like serenity. “Mr. Maguire,” she said. “Edna Klein. I was at the funeral.”
“I remember,” he said, shaking her hand. “Thank you.”
She wrote down his name and the time he checked in, then sent him to Lily’s classroom. Peering through the door, he saw that it looked like Munchkin Land, all bright, primary colors and undersize furniture. He knocked at the half-open door. “Hello?”
“Sean, hi, please come in.” She looked slightly flustered as she greeted him, a gleam of fresh lipstick on her mouth. She had a truly gorgeous mouth, he thought, and then decided that was