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and helpless little girl who needed everyone to do everything for her! 
    “Brady said he’d give me a ride,” she answered, surprised that her voice was steady and even. 
    “That was nice of him,” Gretchen smiled, her eyes twinkling.  “That Brady is a cute boy!  Has he asked you out yet?”
    “No.”  And he wouldn’t.  She and Brady Fletcher were just friends.  End of story.
    “Eh, I’m sure he will.  Maybe he’s just working up to it,” Gretchen offered, placing the pan of lasagna on the center island and bending over it to take a whiff. 
    Lanie nodded, but said nothing on the issue.  Again, she loved her aunt, but she did not want to discuss this sort of thing with her.  She was perfectly capable of managing her own social life.
    “Why don’t you pour us some sweet tea and I’ll cut some slices of this bad boy,” Gretchen beamed, straightening up and going for a knife.
    Lanie obeyed, going to the cabinet for a couple of glasses and pouring out some of her famous sweet tea from the pitcher in the fridge.  She’d learned how to make it from her Granny and it was as sweet as nectar and smooth as silk and would put about ten pounds on a girl’s thighs if she drank too much of it, but it was worth it.
    Once she had the glasses back on the center island, she pulled her phone from her back pocket and knocked out a text to Brady to tell him to pick her up on his way to the field.  He almost immediately texted her back, saying he’d be there at 4:30.  Well, what the text actually said was, I”ll b thr arund fur thrity , but she could decipher it.  Poor Brady.  He was so technologically inept that it was scary.
    Lanie sat with Gretchen and ate a plate of lasagna while listening to Gretchen jabber away about how it was perfectly normal to be emotionally overwrought after losing a close friend, that it was just a part of the stages of grief.  Lanie just smiled and nodded and watched the time, waiting for Brady so that she could escape and trying very, very hard not to let her annoyance show on her face.
    She did not need a talk about the stages of grief.  Firstly, she was not emotionally overwrought.  She was perfectly clear headed and calm.  She was sad and upset, yes, but she was not overwrought.  Secondly, she knew all too well about the stages of grief.  She’d already lived through losing her mother to a sudden heart attack, so she knew all about sorrow and being distraught.  This was not that sort of situation.  She was absolutely fine, even though no one wanted to believe her.
    She and Stacy were friends, but they didn’t exactly have sleep overs and do each other’s hair.  She liked Stacy Miller, but it wasn’t like when she’d lost her mother.  This was hard, but she knew she would get through it with more ease than when her mother had passed away.
    After finishing the lasagna that was foisted upon her, Lanie helped clean up the kitchen and then discreetly slipped out of the house to wait for Brady on the front porch, feeling a sense of relief as she closed the door behind her and dropped into one of the rocking chairs.  Maybe she shouldn’t cancel her date with Chase after all.  Going out with him would keep her out of the house for a while longer and maybe by the time the date was over, Aunt Gretchen would be gone. 
    She actually thought about that for a minute, but that would mean she’d have to be with Chase, who’d probably want to talk about…things, which was exactly what she did not want.  Despite what her aunt thought, she didn’t want to have people around to support her.  She really just wanted to be left alone for a while.  She needed some space and some time to breathe. 
    Outside, the afternoon was quiet and peaceful.  The world was nodding beneath the pale blue sky, being soothed off to sleep by the soft wind that was whispering through the tree tops and the plaintive sound of a few lonesome birds who had not yet decided to join their friends in a