Friendship Makes the Heart Grow Fonder Read Online Free

lifted her troubled gaze to Becky’s. “A degenerative one.”
    Becky saw the shock in Monique’s eyes and the dawning dismay in Judy’s. Then she spoke before her throat closed up.
    “Apparently, ladies…I’m going blind.”

CHAPTER TWO
    M onique pushed the curried chicken around the iron skillet. The scent of onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, and green seasoning
     rose up with the steam. Through the kitchen window, she glimpsed Becky’s kids playing in her backyard on the old wooden swing
     set, the one she couldn’t bring herself to take down though Kiera hadn’t gone near it in years. At least Becky’s kids were
     enjoying it, their laughter bright and sharp.
    Monique stopped stirring, her fingers tightening on the wooden spoon. She knew that Becky still hadn’t told the kids. Kids
     that age would struggle to grasp the meaning of such bad news. They wouldn’t really understand the incremental progression
     of the disease, or what it all meant to them on a day-to-day basis. With the diagnosis so fresh, Monique suspected that even
     Becky and Marco hadn’t fully absorbed the consequences—certainly not enough to explain to Brianna and Brian in plain terms
     the grim, long-term repercussions.
    Dread shifted within her, a solid weight that pressed against her spine. Earlier in the week at the hospital, she’d spent
     a coffee break with a specialist in degenerative eye diseases, pumping him for information. Monique knew the prognosis. She
     knew how it would play out. She knew more than she wanted to know—enough to break her heart three times over.
    “Hey, Mom.”
    Kiera busted through the back door. With a solid thunk, she dropped her backpack onto the floor of the mudroom. She sailed
     into the kitchen and gave Monique a quick peck on the cheek.
    “Hey, baby girl,” Monique said. “How did the physics test go?”
    Kiera rolled her eyes. She scooted to the sink, rolling up the sleeves of her hoodie. “Let’s just say I wouldn’t mind pushing
     Mr. Orso off a cliff to calculate how long it would take for him to reach terminal velocity.”
    Monique suppressed a smile, momentarily grateful for the spoon in one hand and the oven mitt in the other, because they prevented
     her from running her palm over Kiera’s hair to smooth down the short pieces that stuck up from around the braided headband.
     Such fierce, affectionate motherly urges were usually repaid with affront. “I’ll make sure not to mention that at the next
     back-to-school night. You hungry?”
    “Starved. That smells awesome.” Kiera peered into the skillet as she ran her hands under the open faucet. “Curry chicken?”
    “And callaloo.” She lifted the top off another pot to show the greens simmering in coconut milk. “Swiss chard and spinach,
     though. Don’t go expecting dasheen leaves like Grand-mère would have made you, hunting them down in some side-alley Caribbean grocer.”
    “So what’s the occasion?”
    The kid had a sixth sense. “Since when do I have to have an occasion to whip up some comfort food for my hard-working high
     school senior?”
    “You’re still in scrubs.”
    Monique shrugged as she glanced down at the duck appliqués on her blue scrubs. She’d had one of her colleagues cover for the
     last hour of her shift because she was no fool. She hoped Kiera would adore what she was going to ask her, but since it involved
     her father, there was no way to tell. “Takes a long time to chop all these vegetables, you know that. Didn’t have time to
     change.”
    Kiera narrowed her dark-chocolate eyes as she shut the faucet off, grasped a dishtowel, and worked her hands dry. She made
     a little mumbling sound, the kind of sound Lenny might have made if he had an opinion and was tamping it down for the time
     being.
    The similarity was like a needle in her heart.
    “I know what this is about.” Kiera tugged the dishtowel through a cabinet handle below the sink. “You shouldn’t poke around
     my room, you