Sweet Jiminy Read Online Free PDF Page A

to feel, watching them. She’d looked to Willa to break them up, or let them play. But Willa had returned to grading her papers, forfeiting her prerogative to pass judgment.
    Edward’s niece hadn’t stayed long—not at Willa’s farm, not even in Fayeville. She’d already decided that her destiny lay elsewhere, and no amount of disappointment could sway her from its pursuit. No amount of responsibility, either. She simply shrugged it off, the way happiness had shrugged her.
    Bo, on the other hand, had remained right there in Fayeville from then on, passed around from relative to relative, looked after by the group of them. His mother and grandmother had kept “Waters” as their last name, instead of giving any credence to the men who had dipped into and out of their lives, so Bo blended right in with the family. But he and Jiminy had never crossed paths again. Jiminy had traveled from her home in southern Illinois to visit Willa a few more times, but Lyn hadn’t had charge of Bo during those visits. And then Jiminy had stopped coming altogether once she’d become preoccupied with trying to be an adult.
    But here she was now, walking into the kitchen, all grown. Lyn handed her a glass of buttermilk that she’d absentmindedly poured as she’d reminisced. Jiminy looked understandably confused. Realizing what she’d done, Lyn almost snatched the glass back, but Jiminy was already raising it to her lips.
    â€œThanks,” she said quizzically, taking a sip.
    Just as she had when she was a child, she drank with her eyes wide open. And she still didn’t wince at the sourness.
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    Two hours later, as Lyn sat folding pillowcases by the window, she watched Bo cross the freshly mown lawn to the house. She heard him let himself in the front door, cross the entryway, and knock on Jiminy’s door. Lyn stayed in the kitchen, quiet and still.
    â€œSorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,” she heard Bo say.
    â€œI’m glad you did,” Jiminy answered, so light and free.
    â€œHave you recovered from your allergy attack?”
    â€œNearly.”
    â€œWell, I got revenge for you,” Bo assured. “That grass won’t be bothering anyone for a while.”
    â€œThanks, I owe you one. Are you taking off now?”
    â€œI was gonna go see a superstore about a HORSE. Wanna come?”
    â€œDefinitely,” Jiminy replied.
    Lyn heard them make their way to the door, where they must have run into an unsuspecting Willa.
    â€œWhat’s going on? Is everything okay?” she heard Willa exclaim, her voice mildly alarmed.
    â€œEverything’s fine,” Jiminy replied. “I’m headed into town with Bo.”
    â€œOh,” Willa answered.
    And Lyn knew the exact O her mouth was making.
    â€œDo you need anything?” Jiminy asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” Willa replied uncertainly. “I don’t suppose so.”
    â€œOkay, see you later then!” Jiminy replied sunnily.
    Then the door closed, and Lyn heard Willa sigh deeply.
    â€œShit,” Willa said, thinking she was saying it to herself.
    In the other room, Lyn closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.
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    A few weeks later, Willa sat anxiously by the kitchen window, shuffling Jiminy’s stack of Polaroids and peering out into the darkness every few minutes. Willa had been surprised that Jiminy just left her photos around for anyone to look at, for anyone to judge. She flipped through them again, quickly enough that she created a moving picture of her granddaughter’s last few weeks—a cascading waterfall of captured moments.
    There was Bo holding a basketball at HushMart, and Bo pointing to a diagram of the human heart with a mock-serious expression, and Bo lying on his back in the field behind the barn. There were a lot of Bo. There were a few of Willa, too—looking up from her crossword with a questioning expression, coming in the door with an