Peaches

things with stupid guys, but she’d never married one of them. She would have said that it felt like the last measly surviving thread of the rug under her and her mom’s life was being yanked out from under her.
    When Murphy finally emerged into the dining area, she had managed to paste a look of cool indifference on her face. Jodee had paid the check and she and Richard were both waiting just outside the front doors. They climbed into the car.
    “Murphy…”
    “Let’s just act like you already told me, okay?” Murphy croaked, then cleared her throat.
    Jodee looked across at Richard in the driver’s seat. He just shook his head. Then she looked back at Murphy, her eyes big and sad. “Okay, baby.”

    Murphy spotted Birdie on the porch when they pulled up the drive and headed in that direction. She almost sprinted across the grass. But she made herself walk, and the closer she got,the more sure she became that something was wrong with Birdie. The area around her eyes was all puffy, and she was stroking her dogs like her life depended on it. Immediately all of the things Murphy had been waiting to spill sank under the surface.
    “You okay, Bird?” Murphy asked, climbing the steps.
    “Yeah.” Birdie’s voice came out thin and warbly.
    Murphy put her hand on Birdie’s knee and shook it. She knew she should ask what was wrong, but Murphy wasn’t that kind of girl. She didn’t really know how. “Hey, Walter let you out?” she said instead, trying to sound cheery.
    Birdie turned her big eyes to Murphy, her breath fluttering between her teeth. “Enrico left.”
    Murphy’s heart gave a heavy thud. She crouched down beside Birdie’s rocker and laid her arm on the armrest, not knowing what to do. Being a shoulder to cry on was something Murphy had never done in her life.
    “It’s okay. It’s not a big deal,” Birdie was saying. She stood up from her chair and plopped down on the deck beside Murphy. Honey Babe planted her two paws on the side of Murphy’s leg and licked her arm. Murphy barely noticed.
    “When?”
    “Last night.” Birdie sniffed. “Poopie got Dad to let me out early, and I was gonna come to the garden, but…” Birdie didn’t finish.
    They stared out at the grass for a while.
    With a long sigh, Birdie spoke. “It’s not just Enrico. It’s just I’m such a coward. I let everything pass me by. I don’t know if I’ll ever…not…do that.”
    Murphy patted her back awkwardly. “That’s not true, Birdie.”
    Birdie’s silence said she didn’t want to be coddled. Finally she dropped her head softly on Murphy’s shoulder.
    “I should have gone for it.”
    “Well, how could you have known the dummy was leaving?”
    “That’s no excuse. I suck.”
    “Everybody sucks,” Murphy offered.
    “Oh, Murphy.” Birdie lifted her head, smiled at her, and rolled her eyes. They were quiet again. And then Birdie sat up straighter. “You know what? Can you change the subject?”
    Murphy nodded. The words about her mom rose to her lips. But then, that wasn’t exactly a pick-me-up. She tried to think of something else, interesting but not heavy. Something they were both invested in.
    “Hey, Bird, what do you think about Rex and Leeda?”
    As soon as it was out, Murphy wished she could take it back.
    “They’re cute together, huh?” Birdie asked, rubbing the back of her hand along the bottom of her nose.
    Murphy considered. “Yeah.” She told herself not to say it. “Do you think she loves him?”
    Birdie considered. “I think they’re good friends.” She pulled back, resting her hands behind her on the deck and tilting her head. “Why?”
    Birdie’s face was so open and sweet that Murphy thought for a minute she really could tell her about Rex and she would understand. Didn’t she at least deserve that? Wasn’t Birdie her friend as much as Leeda’s?
    Murphy shook her head. “It’s just I was thinking the same thing. I think I’d like that kind of thing someday.”
    In the end, it seemed disloyal to Leeda to say anything at all.
    Loyalty was a funny thing. So was love. They both bit you when you least expected it.
    At age seven, Enrico Fiol found a peach blossom blowing across his front yard in Northern Mexico near the Texas border. There wasn’t a peach tree within eight hundred miles. Knowing his friends would make fun of him for admiring the flower, Enrico snatched it up and hid it in a book. It sat there forgotten, dried and mummified, for the rest of his