Amanda stared at the photograph.
“Of course I do. But this
isn’t the time.”
“You told me that day that being an aunt was the best thing that had ever happened to you.”
“Brittany, stop.”
I turned another page.
Amanda was teaching Sophie to ride a bicycle.
Another showed them baking cookies together, flour covering both their faces.
In one, Amanda was asleep on our couch with three-year-old Sophie curled against her.
“These are lovely pictures,” Travis said cautiously. “But why are you showing them now?”
“Because Sophie isn’t here today.”
He frowned.
“I know. Amanda said Sophie was having a difficult time with crowds because of the bullying at school.”
I looked directly at my sister.
“Is that what you told him?”
Amanda’s cheeks reddened.
“Travis, please. We’ll discuss this afterward.”
“No,” I said. “I think he deserves to know why his favorite little flower girl isn’t sitting with the family.”
