Hearts in Bloom by Kelly McCrady Read Free Book Online

strawberry Jell-O and his fierce scowl made Boo want to run and hide. On the turn, the lawn mower died in a puff of blue smoke.
    Mr. Pearson kicked the tires and swore.
    Boo sucked in a breath. “Lindy, maybe we’d better not use our spell here. I don’t want him to be our daddy. He says too many bad words and Mommy wouldn’t like that.”
    “You’re right.” Lindy got to her feet.
    Boo rose, too, and brushed off her favorite shorts.
    They wanted a daddy. Mommy refused to look. Santa didn’t deliver daddies. The Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy didn’t either. So, they were going to get one themselves by using the spell from the story Mommy read them.
    Lindy remained quiet for a minute, chewing on her lip. “He’s too fat anyway. I want our daddy to give us piggyback rides without getting red in the face and snorting like he does.” She snorted like a pig in imitation.
    Boo shrieked, giggling until her stomach hurt.
    Mr. Pearson approached the fence, pointing a finger at them. “Git.”
    Scared by the big man, Boo grabbed her sister’s hand and raced to the back porch, sitting on the top step. The hot wind tossed brown leaves across the sidewalk below them. “I want our daddy to chase the icky things out from under my bed.”
    “I want our daddy to read Green Eggs and Ham and have a nice, warm lap.” Lindy sighed.
    “And he’ll be big and strong and won’t yell and will like hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly and not broccoli.” Boo’s stomach squished. “ Blek.”
    “He has to be somebody Mommy really likes and he has to kiss her like they do on TV.” Lindy twisted the strand of hair until her finger turned red.
    Boo released the hair, rescuing Lindy’s finger. There had never been a daddy around their house, not even one. On TV, a daddy looked like something pretty special. “So where do we look next? We need a daddy.”
    Boo balanced her elbows on her knees and watched the rolling, gray clouds cover the sun while she thought of an answer. Mommy was great. Except for broccoli, she gave them good things to eat, took them for car rides in the country and gave the best hugs and kisses.
    But there were some things only a daddy could do. Boo frowned, remembering just that morning. A daddy could make Mommy not cry.
    Lindy shrugged her shoulders. “We have to use the spell someplace else.”
    Boo pulled Lindy up from the steps and they linked hands.
    “Girls?” Mommy came around the side of the house. “You want to go for a drive?”
    Boo looked at Lindy and grinned. “Sure,” they yelled together.
    Mommy walked to the car. “Let’s go, then, before it rains.” Boo and Lindy hurried to catch up.
    The grocery store. The library. The park. Everywhere Mommy took them they’d try the spell for a daddy.
    They needed him. Mommy needed him.
     

     
    An hour later, Robin Harmon listened to her daughters whispering in the backseat and peeked in the rearview mirror to watch their faces. They were such a joy and today she needed their good cheer. She had submitted job applications at three different places with uncertain, depressing prospects.
    She turned the corner and started down the next country road highlighted on her map, intent on learning her way around the area. They wouldn’t go far, but she didn’t want to return home yet. Their shabby house wasn’t located in the best neighborhood and the atmosphere kept her nerves at a fingernail biting edge. If she hadn’t been so naïve and idealistic about the girls’ father, she’d be in veterinarian school now instead of single and locked in financial distress. A little detour through the country would shake off her doldrums.
    Turning her head, she listened to them exchange secrets and smiled. She wouldn’t trade her daughters for an education or for money, but sometimes her mood shifted like Texas weather. Lifting her foot off the gas, she slowed the car, determined to settle her disposition with a slow and easy drive.
    Her twenty-year-old,