The Night I Gave My Best Friend's Brother a Child novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Bus Stop

On Monday morning Bridget stood alone at the bus stop outside Dot's Diner with two suitcases.

I had not meant to go.

Effie made me.

She had spent Sunday afternoon at Edith's kitchen table with a box of markers, and when I asked what the picture was for, she said, "Aunt Bridget's going away. Edith told me. You have to give someone a picture when they go away."

"Baby, Aunt Bridget did something wrong."

"I know." Effie frowned at her drawing. "She pinches. But she still gave me Gerald."

So at nine o'clock I parked across from the diner with my daughter in the back seat, and Rhett's truck pulled in behind us.

He did not get out.

He looked at me through the windshield and nodded once, and stayed where he was.

I took Effie's hand and crossed the street.

Bridget had on a gray coat and no lipstick.

I had known her nine years and had never once seen her without it.

Her eyes looked small and tired, and her blazer collar was crooked.

She saw us coming, and she stood up very straight.

"Bailey," she said. "I wasn't going to ask."

"She asked me."

Effie held up the paper in both hands.

"I made you a picture," she said. "That's you, and that's Gerald, and that's a truck. The truck takes you home."

Bridget looked at the drawing for a long time.

A woman in orange crayon, a purple giraffe, a green truck with six wheels, and the sun in the corner with a very large smile.

"It's beautiful," she said.

Her voice cracked on the second word.

"You can put it on your fridge," Effie said. "Mama says you have a fridge."

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