Of course not We’re the same age remember Emily teased But you almost Yeah I almost got hit by a truck so now she thinks she needs to help me cross the street And back at the house Natalie and Abby are probably still giggling about my belly flop And everyone will be talking about it at dinner tonight Grace’s face heated and her eyes burned Some days the ache for her birth mom was worse than others Emily stayed so quiet she blended into the background and fit in anywhere they went People automatically liked her But Grace always always did things that made her stand out in a crowd and in her family But not in a good way At least it seemed that way
Chapter Two Instead of heading for Miz Ida’s front door Grace walked up the long driveway and veered toward the side yard of the one-story house where a tall wooden fence enclosed Miz Ida’s garden Most mornings that’s where Grace found her elderly friend Miz Ida had told her she was welcome in the garden any time and Grace visited as often as she could after the never ending chores of caring for the animals at Second Chance Ranch As soon as Grace unlatched the gate her spirits lifted The heady aroma of roses greeted her She cupped one of her favorites the Secret and tipped her head to inhale the sweetness of the cream rose She loved the pink tint on the outer edges and the gold hidden near the base of each petal that only showed when the rose opened She guessed that secret gold had given the flower its name but she’d have to ask Miz Ida Breathing in the scent always calmed Grace and a sense of peace washed over her Miz Ida knelt on the cushion she used for her arthritis pulling up weeds in the vegetable garden Near the back fence the tomato plants stood tall and green against the six-foot stakes and plump red tomatoes hung heavy on the branches Grace had helped to place rocks by each tomato plant to save the plants from drought during the dry summer weather The bean plants had wound their way up the poles and green beans dangled among the leaves Everywhere she looked plants were healthy and blooming including Miz Ida’s roses
Grace waved to get her attention and Miz Ida’s wrinkled face lit up I was hoping you’d show up today I could use some help She pointed to the bucket on the steps Could you bring those scraps over and put them on the compost pile Sure Grace picked up the bucket from Miz Ida’s concrete steps The bucket held slimy lettuce leaves and decaying vegetable peels This part of gardening turned her stomach but Miz Ida assured her plants loved the icky smelly mess Grace wanted to hold her nose when she dumped the scraps onto the compost pile but she’d been trying to prove to Miz Ida that she was a good gardener Did you remember to add some brown Miz Ida asked after Grace rinsed out the bucket and set it on the back stoop Oops I forgot Grace went back and sprinkled some dry leaves and straw over the top Miz Ida had taught her that food scraps were called green and the grasses leaves straw and twigs were brown A good compost pile needed layers of both She’d explained about brown being rich in carbon and green adding nitrogen but Grace hadn’t listened much
after that All she remembered was that the stuff in the bottom of the compost bin fed the plants When Grace rejoined her Miz Ida smiled How are you this fine day Although the roses had calmed her Miz Ida’s question reminded Grace of the reason she’d fled to the garden Mad sad embarrassed The words flowed out of her mouth and when Miz Ida raised her eyebrows to encourage Grace to continue Grace wished she could stuff those words back inside But now that she’d let them out Miz Ida wouldn’t let it rest until she found out the whole story so Grace recounted the incident in the barn and the tinkling laughter that followed After she finished Grace added Maybe they didn’t mean to hurt my feelings but they did And they do it all the time Really Miz Ida tipped her head to the side like the little chickadees perched on the fence All the time Well not all the time Grace admitted Only some of the time And they’re mean on purpose Grace squirmed Usually Miz Ida let her talk without judging her or criticizing her but today she seemed to be contradicting everything Grace said Grace wanted to stamp her foot First Emily now Miz Ida Why did everyone have to be so logical and so right Why couldn’t they just agree with her Okay so they’re not mean on purpose Grace said grudgingly But they didn’t have to laugh at me That hurt your feelings Miz Ida said
