Here in My Heart: A Novella (Echoes of the Heart) by Anna DeStefano Page A

liking having him around more every day.
    She kept reminding herself that even though he had continued to be the same great guy who’d helped out with her radKIDS, Brad planned to leave town once they’d fulfilled their commitment to Vivian.
    Dru shrugged off the reminder of his grandmother’s rapidly declining condition.
    She smiled at the Beaumont family.
    “Sorry,” she said. “It’s going to be a bit of a wait for a table. We can’t keep up with the turnover, even with me helping bus the dining room, and Brad in the kitchen flipping burgers with Willie and dropping fries like an all-star.”
    “No rush.” Dan hugged his wife to his side. “We’ll catch up with folks we didn’t see at the game. It’s just a relief to be inside, warming up.”
    “What a great idea”—Charlotte was a willowy older version of her knockout-gorgeous daughter, making even her team jersey and jeans look classy—“giving away hot chocolate and fries to anyone with a ticket stub from the game who orders a meal.” She held up her family’s tickets, rubbed her hands together, and shivered, as if she were still outside in the cold. “Go, Chargers!”
    Dru pointed to the hot-chocolate bar she’d set up on the low counters near the front, where customers added condiments to their burgers and hot dogs. “Drink your fill. There are instant chocolate packets, hot water in the dispenser, plus marshmallows, whipped cream, and cinnamon. Coffee, too, decaf and regular. We’re trying to keep everything filled. I was making drinks for customers before bedlam descended. But now . . .”
    “I could help,” Sally offered. “I can make hot chocolate and keep tables clean.”
    “Me, too!” Lisa walked up with Joe and Marsha and a passel of their youngest kids.
    Travis had arrived with their parents, his blond, Southern-boy good looks turning the heads of several ladies as he walked by.
    “Looks like you and Brad are a lock,” he said in his smuggest older-brother way. “I don’t like to say I told you so, but—”
    “Then don’t.” Dru had forgiven him for throwing her and Brad together that first afternoon at the Y. But she’d made it clear that familial absolution was a onetime pass.
    “Can we help?” Lisa asked, dragging Dru’s attention back to the girls and the need to triage the madness in the dining room. “Me and Sally, like on Saturdays? We could take care of everything out here.”
    “Really?” Dru checked with both sets of parents for consent. “Really?!”
    Her second really reeked of desperation.
    The adults laughed. Both girls nodded. Dru put her troublemaking brother out of her mind and thanked her lucky stars that whatever had happened between Sally and Lisa before Thanksgiving had passed. The girls were friends again, and at the moment they were a united front of excitement.
    She hugged Lisa and curled her other arm around Sally, passing the older girl her overflowing tray.
    “You’ll let me help?” Lisa was sporting a Chandlerville Chargers T-shirt like most of the other kids. Ribbons in the high school’s crimson and gold colors were wrapped around her ponytail.
    She’d had more rough patches at school since the radKIDS graduation. Dru had spent Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and Lisa had been withdrawn and harder than usual to talk with. But she was all smiles tonight.
    “I’d love for you to help.”
    Dru spotted the Star Fleet pin Lisa wore proudly near the collar of her shirt. Dru smiled. She and Lisa had bonded over being hopelessly geeky Trekkies. Dru had given her the pin as an early Christmas gift. And no matter how much Lisa wanted to fit in with other kids who might not understand, she’d refused to hide her new favorite thing, even if the pin made her stand out.
    “You two are my first line of defense,” she said to the girls. “You’re in charge of helping at the hot-chocolate bar, and clearing tables and booths so customers won’t flee as soon as they walk in the door