“That looks peaceful. Chilly, but peaceful.” “Yeah.” Janie didn’t quite meet her eyes. Elly tried to calm the nerves roiling inside her. This sensation of being nervous around Janie made her feel like she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in an alternate universe. But she did her best not to let it show. She was determined to recapture the type of relationship they’d had before either of them knew about the affair that had happened between their parents. Instead of seating herself in the large wicker chair adjacent to the swing, Elly deliberately sank next to Janie like she’d been doing since they’d bonded over their mutual dislike of multiplication tables. Elly lifted the large brown bag in her hand. “I brought five kinds of cookies and every Gerard Butler movie I could find.” Janie had developed her crush on Gerry with The Phantom of the Opera, and had been completely done in when she’d watched his washboard abs in 300. “Bribery, huh?” The barest hint of the old Janie gave Elly hope.
