The Next Season (novella) Read Online Free Page A

girl asked, coming to a halt just before she slammed into Zoe.
    Before Zoe could answer her golden-haired, freckle-faced, rosy-and-plump-cheeked interrogator, another voice sounded. A voice that was more comforting to her than a warm mug of Milo and an electric blanket on a chilly winter’s night.
    â€˜Zoe? Is that you, my darling girl?’ As Sandee appeared from the kitchen and came up behind the tiny girl, Zoe’s eyes prickled. But she sniffed away her tears because if she started crying now, there was the distinct possibility she wouldn’t be able to stop.
    â€˜Sandee,’ she said instead, smiling as the only woman who had ever come close to being a mother to her reached out and pulled her into a hug. She sighed as the older woman’s arms closed around her and knew that she’d made the right decision to come home.
    â€˜It’s so good to see you.’ Sandee pulled back slightly and scrutinised her with a loving expression. Zoe predicted her next words before she said them. ‘What have you been eating lately? Rabbit food? Come into the kitchen and let me get a proper meal into that scrawny body. Then we can chat.’
    Zoe laughed. Only Sandee could call her scrawny and make her feel special. ‘That sounds just about perfect,’ she said and then glanced down at the little girl. ‘Hi, I’m Zoe. What’s your name?’
    The little girl folded her arms across her chest. ‘Reese. Who are you?’
    Sandee chuckled as she stooped down and scooped the child into her arms. ‘Zoe is one of my special girls, like you.’ She smiled affectionately at Reese. ‘Now, come and finish your dinner.’
    Zoe followed Sandee and Reese down the hallway, glancing at the black and white photos that lined the bright yellow hallway as she went. It was Sandee’s Wall of Fame, where she placed a photo of every child that ever came into her life. There’d been hundreds. Some only stayed a couple of nights and some a few years, as Zoe had, but Sandee treated them all as if each were the most important thing on the planet to her. She paused a moment to look at the photo of her, taken at the school swimming carnival only a few weeks after she’d moved to Wildwood Point. Sandee had been the first person who’d ever attended a school event for her, ever made her feel like she was worth barracking for. This had been the first photo she’d smiled in for a very long time and Sandee’s place had been the first house to feel like a home. It still felt like that.
    When you walked through Sandee’s front door, you’d think hers was just a normal, happy family. All the kids wore smiles, were clean, well dressed and obviously well fed, and they enjoyed banter round the dinner table. That was all down to Sandee. She was like a magician. Kids came to her from broken places with sullen faces and damaged hearts and she taught them what love was, and how to believe in themselves again. Zoe had firsthand experience of this, and in her opinion Sandee was the best person in the universe.
    Fighting the lump that had formed in the back of her throat at these thoughts, Zoe stepped into the kitchen and glanced around the table to take in the faces of the kids currently under Sandee’s care. There were four children of varying ages.
    â€˜Daniel,’ Sandee said as she put Reese down on one of the dining seats that sat around the table, ‘can you go get the chair out of my office for Zoe?’
    The lanky, tall boy, clearly the oldest, put down his fork and scooted off to the office, returning quickly with a black swivel chair. Sandee made a space for it around the already full table and then handled the introductions.
    â€˜Zoe, I’d like you to meet Daniel, Bailey, Gemma and you’ve already met Reese.’
    â€˜Hi guys.’ Zoe smiled around the table.
    The kids looked at Zoe a little suspiciously at first, but when Sandee told them she was