Mending Fences. Sherryl Woods

      Dani studied Caitlyn’s scared expression. In the five years she’d known her, she’d never once seen Caitlyn scared, not even when they’d ridden this totally awesome, terrifying roller coaster on a trip to Disney World. Because there was a two-year age difference, Caitlyn tried hard to act as grown-up as Dani. Sometimes Dani even forgot she was only ten. At other times, Dani felt that two-year age difference was as vast as the ocean. She felt grown-up at twelve, almost a teenager, and sometimes like now, she felt responsible for the younger girl.

      “You okay?” she asked when Caitlyn, who was never silent for more than a minute, hadn’t said a word for way longer than that.

      Caitlyn shook her head. “Something’s going on at my house.”

      “Like what?”

      “I don’t know. Every time I walk into a room my mom and dad get real quiet, like they don’t want me or Evan to know something.”

      “You think they’re getting a divorce?” Dani asked, her own voice trembling and barely above a whisper. That was her own biggest fear, that her mom and dad would wake up one day to the fact that they hardly ever saw each other and decide to split for good. She’d never heard them fight, but she knew being apart that much couldn’t be good. Moms and dads were supposed to do stuff together. Even though Mr. Carter worked all the time and could be a real jerk, the Carters still did more things together than her own mom and dad ever did.

      Caitlyn’s eyes widened at the question. “No!” she shouted, then promptly burst into tears.

      Filled with regret for making the suggestion, Dani moved to her side and draped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s probably not that,” she insisted. “I was just guessing. They probably just had a fight or something.”

      Caitlyn shook her head. “I think maybe my dad’s sick.”

      Dani frowned. “Why would you think that?”

      “Because he’s been home every day this week.”

      “Couldn’t he be on vacation?”

      “He’s never taken a vacation. He didn’t even take a day off to go to Disney World with us, remember?”

      “Still, that doesn’t mean he’s sick.”

      “Then what could it be?” Caitlyn asked.

      “I don’t know,” Dani admitted. She looked at her friend. “Maybe you should just ask your mom.”

      Not that she wanted to ask her mom if she’d ever thought about divorcing her dad. For one thing, her mom would probably tell her it was personal and that she didn’t need to know, which was bogus. A divorce might be between her parents, but it affected her, too. And Josh, though he was oblivious to what was going on right under their noses. Plus he was fourteen, which meant he was oblivious to everything except sports and girls.

      Beside her, Caitlyn sighed. “I don’t think my mom will tell me anything. She probably thinks she and my dad are doing a great job of keeping this, whatever it is, from me and Evan.”

      “What does Evan think?” Dani asked.

      Caitlyn gave her an incredulous look that was wise beyond her years. “If it doesn’t involve a ball or a bat, he doesn’t think about it at all.”

      Dani grinned. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” she commiserated. “Brothers are a pain, huh?”

      “A royal pain,” Caitlyn agreed.

      Silence fell and, once again, Dani was the first to break it. “I’ll bet things will be okay any day now and you’ll have done all this worrying for nothing.”

      “Probably so,” Caitlyn said.

      But Dani could tell, looking into her eyes, that she wasn’t buying it.

      

      For the first time in forever, Emily went for a couple of weeks without catching more than a glimpse of Marcie. What little spare time she had was spent with Paula, who was not only sick as a dog from the chemo, but showing signs of depression. Emily and her other friends from school were spending as much time with her as possible trying to lift her spirits and take care of some of the household chores. Emily did laundry during her visits, others brought casseroles, and any one of them dusted or straightened up if the house needed it. Marcie was driving her to appointments, which were mostly in the morning, so they rarely crossed paths.

      Paula’s kids were tiptoing around the house trying to be quiet, trying to be brave. It broke Emily’s heart every time she saw them.

      “Why don’t you let me take the kids home with me tonight?” she suggested to Paula. “You and Dave can have an evening on your own.”

      “To do what, stare at each other and avoid the one topic neither of us wants to talk about?” Paula responded.

      Emily regarded her with surprise. “If you want to talk, then you probably need to take the lead. I suspect Dave is trying not to upset you.”

      Paula sighed. “No, the truth is we’ve run out of things to say. I mean, really, it’s not as if anything’s changed. I had surgery. Now I’m doing chemo. No one knows how any of this is going to turn out. What is there to talk about? Funeral arrangements?”

      “Stop that!” Emily said, dismayed. “You’ll be old and gray before you need to worry about that. Maybe what you need to tell your husband, though, is that you’re scared. You have a right to be, you know. This is scary stuff.”

      Paula’s eyes suddenly welled with tears. “When the doctor first told me and we came up with this whole plan, it was, like, okay, good. There’s a plan. I know what to do. Then all of a sudden, I realized, I could actually die…” She frowned when Emily started to interrupt. “No, you know it’s true. Why deny it? There is no guarantee in this plan that I won’t die.” She choked back a sob. “My kids aren’t even in high school yet, and I could miss seeing them graduate or get married. I could miss having grandkids.”

      “But you’re not going to miss anything,” Emily said. “You are going to beat this. I insist on it.”

      Paula chuckled, then swiped at her damp face with a tissue. “God, you sound just like Marcie. You spend too much time together. You’re starting to sound alike.”

      “Are you kidding? She’s much more refined than I am,” Emily said.

      Paula gave her an odd look. “Why would you say that? Because she spends a fortune on clothes and you don’t? Because she bakes cookies and makes gourmet meals? None of that makes her one bit better than you.”

      Emily sighed. “I’m sorry. I sound as if I have a bad case of petty jealousy, don’t I? And I don’t, not really. I adore Marcie.”

      “Me, too,” Paula said. “She’s been a godsend with all these appointments.” She frowned slightly. “Have you noticed that she seems a little off lately?”

      Emily regarded her with a puzzled expression. “Off how?”

      “I’m not sure I can explain it, just not her usual upbeat self, as if there’s something weighing on her.”

      “To be honest I haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks, but she was okay last time we were together.”

      “Maybe you should give her a call. I asked if everything was okay, but she blew me off. You two are much closer. Maybe she’ll open up with you.”

      “I’ll call her the minute I get home. Thanks for saying something. Now you just need to say something about how you’re feeling to your husband. I’ve never seen a man more devoted to anyone than Dave is to you. Don’t shut him out, Paula. Let him be there for you.”

      “I just feel he’s had to accept so much already,” Paula said. “The mastectomy, me starting to lose my hair, being sick all the time. It pretty much destroys the mystique that marriage needs to stay