Rosie then asked the same question she always did when Miss Lily was finished. “What if the Miracle happened because of your wish?”
Miss Lily shrugged. “Maybe it did. Who can say for certain? But it always did seem to me as if fate had taken over my life that night. Perhaps it was the Fishing Well or perhaps it was simply divine intervention.”
Rosie smiled, her heart filling with warmth like a cup of chocolate and cream. Just imagine—magic, fate, and a true happy ending, all tied up together. If it could happen to Miss Lily, it could happen to her. Surely Michael’s new job was its own kind of fate bringing them together. They were just one hundred miles apart. This was her chance to finally meet him, and there was only one thing to do. She had to find a way to get her father to Glimmer Creek.
CHAPTER FOUR
The following afternoon, Rosie hurtled toward River Bend Park. Henry had called an emergency HenRoCam, and she couldn’t waste a second.
HenRoCam was the best combination of Cam, Henry, and Rosie’s names. It was also code for their official meetings to discuss filming or fishing plans or the neighborhood talent show or anything, really. But an emergency HenRoCam was rare. The only other time Rosie could think of Henry calling one was when he found out his mama was sick. She hoped this meeting wasn’t about that.
But even as she rushed down Magnolia Street and worried about the HenRoCam, Rosie’s mind turned back to her father. She had thought about him nonstop since yesterday and started to come up with reasons—good reasons—why Michael hadn’t ever called her. What if he believed Rosie wouldn’t want to see him because so much time had passed? What if he knew Mama wouldn’t let her see him? What if he thought Mama hated him? Rosie should call him first, but Mama wouldn’t let that happen.
It was all so frustrating. Rosie couldn’t figure out how to get her father to Glimmer Creek even though they were meant to meet. Cam’s father attended every one of her soccer games, and Henry’s father was the first person at his science fairs. Rosie wanted a father to show up for her. They already had so much in common: their love of movies and believing in the Miracles and probably loads more. If he came to Glimmer Creek, surely he’d see that.
Cam waved from across the street, and Rosie stopped to let her catch up. Throngs of people streamed into River Bend Park. Rosie stared at the growing crowd congregating around the Fishing Well up ahead.
“What’s the emergency?” Cam asked.
“I don’t know,” Rosie said, gesturing to the people hurrying past them. “But something is up. Henry asked me to bring my camcorder.”
“As long as it’s not about Miss Betty,” Cam said in a worried voice.
“It can’t be. She only has two treatments left, and Henry said the chemotherapy is working,” Rosie said, even though she had thought the same thing.
Cam twisted her mouth to one side. “I saw Henry’s dad helping her out of the car yesterday. She could hardly walk.”
Rosie wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed. She would never forget Henry’s face when he’d first told them Miss Betty was sick last year with breast cancer. He had swallowed over and over, his eyes had gotten huge and misty, and he’d blinked about fifty times. Rosie had never felt worse for anyone in her life.
Though Miss Betty could still boss Henry around like nobody’s business, things were different at their house now. It was quieter, the curtains were often drawn, and there were medicine bottles lined up along the kitchen counter like soldiers guarding against the illness upstairs.
“I’m sure she’s okay,” Rosie said, hoping it was true.
“Well, Henry wouldn’t tell me anything on the phone, though I didn’t have much time to talk. I was in the middle of a meeting,” Cam said.
Between the three of them, Cam was the only one with a cell phone. Mama kept saying Rosie didn’t need a cell phone because Glimmer Creek had plenty of pay phones, which was ridiculous because no one used pay phones anymore.
“I didn’t know you had a meeting today,” Rosie said.
Cam shrugged, but her eyes sparkled. “Leila and some of the other eighth graders on the soccer team wanted to meet in the Lounge to talk about who should start in Saturday’s game. I don’t know why they asked me. This is only my fourth game.”
“You were in the Lounge?” Rosie asked in disbelief.
The Lounge was strictly eighth graders only. It had its own vending machines with the best sodas and chips, a few tables, and beanbag chairs. It was loud and noisy and filled with kids who starred on the sports teams or ran the student government. One time a seventh grader walked in as a joke, and two guys from the baseball team put him in a trash can. Upside down.
“Did anyone threaten to put you in a trash can?” Rosie whispered.
Cam laughed. “No. Leila said it would be okay, and I trust her. No one is going to mess with her, you know.”
Oh yes, Rosie knew. Leila Sellers sat at the first table in the cafeteria, boys were always talking to her, and she had a group of girls who walked beside her in the halls and all wore their hair in the same long French braid.
“It’s not a big deal,” Cam said, but she was almost skipping alongside Rosie.
“It makes sense she wanted you in the meeting,” Rosie said loyally. “You’re the best forward on the team.”
Cam was also tall and pretty and had flawless bronze skin. Every kid in Glimmer Creek started off playing soccer when they were little, but Cam was one of the few actually good at it. She had a determined attitude and the right genes. Her daddy had played basketball in college. Cam was good at that too.
Cam smiled big and wide. “Leila said that too. She wants me to spend the night at her house in two weeks.”
Rosie tried to smile back, but it was stiff and unnatural. She and Cam were always invited to the same sleepovers in elementary school. But this was seventh grade and middle school, and there was no chance of Leila inviting Rosie to spend the night. Leila didn’t even know Rosie existed.
“Sounds fun,” Rosie said, wondering what she would do on that Saturday night. She definitely wasn’t playing Truth or Dare or FaceTiming boys, which was what eighth graders did. She would probably watch a movie with Mama and go to bed by nine o’clock.
“Come on, I see Henry up ahead,” Cam said, taking off at a jog into River Bend Park.
The weathered gray rock and shingled roof of the Fishing Well rose from the clearing, looking as if it too had grown straight out of the ground, like the trees around it. There were clumps of people scattered around, and Mayor Grant paced nearby. A group of workers dressed in gray coveralls and orange vests pointed at something on the ground: a long, lean shape covered by a black tarp. For no reason at all, Rosie shivered.
Henry stood off to the side, his eyes fixed on the Fishing Well. He waved as they approached. “Great. You’re finally here. I call an official HenRoCam to order.”
“Subject?” Rosie asked, almost too nervous to ask.
“You won’t believe it.” Henry lowered his voice. “I heard Mama talking on the phone, and she said they found a human skeleton at the bottom of the Fishing Well.”
Cam and Rosie stared at each other. Miss Betty knew the Sook Diner had changed its crab cake sandwich recipe before Miss Matilda sold the first one. If she said there was a skeleton, there was definitely a skeleton.