Huckleberry Hearts by Jennifer Beckstrand Page A

ex-Amish girl with an old-fashioned sense of right and wrong, the whole thing seemed sordid and low.
    Cassie’s roommate Tonya was fully aware of the club but still felt shocked and hurt when Finn dumped her. She had talked herself into believing Finn loved her and that their relationship was different from all the others. He, on the other hand, had just wanted to increase his tally.
    Poor Tonya.
    And everyone at school said Cassie was naïve.
    On a rainy night, Tonya had begged Cassie to go with her to Finn’s, to plead with him to take her back. The attempt was nothing short of pathetic, but Tonya had been inconsolable until Cassie had agreed to go with her, more to save Tonya from herself than anything else.
    Cassie could still smell Zach and Finn’s aged apartment. It stank of stale pizza and sweaty boys. She and Tonya had stood dripping wet just outside the door because Finn wouldn’t invite them in. Finn, with his wavy bleach-blond hair and diamond-studded class ring, told Tonya not to cry about it, that it was nothing personal against her, but that she had just been part of the contest. He even thanked her for helping him take over first place.
    Cassie had tried to pull the sobbing Tonya away from the door so Finn could close it, but Tonya had wrapped her fingers around the doorjamb and held on like a barnacle.
    At that point, Zach—who had been studying at their kitchen table—joined Finn at the door and started yelling at Cassie. She hadn’t done anything wrong and certainly hadn’t felt she deserved his disdain, but she got it anyway, along with some shockingly horrible words from the future Dr. Reynolds.
    â€œDon’t go sleeping around if you can’t handle the rejection,” he had said.
    â€œDon’t go starting a club, Dr. Reynolds, if you can’t handle jilted girls showing up at your door.”
    Of course, she hadn’t actually said that to him. She never would have dared say anything even remotely snarky. Not to superior Zach Reynolds.
    She and Tonya had walked home in the rain, wrapped up in an extra-large blanket, and drowned Tonya’s sorrows in two pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream while listening to a Beyoncé CD.
    If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it.
    Cassie glanced at the doctor. He stared at her as if expecting her to say something, as if he wanted her to reconsider giving him her phone number. She folded her arms and smiled politely.
    He cleared his throat, again. He must have found the air in Wisconsin very dry. Sitting on the stool, he gave Mammi all his attention. “Now, Anna,” he said, “we’re going to cut the cancer out of your foot and take a few lymph nodes to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread. After that you will have to stay completely off your feet for three weeks. We’ll give you a scooter so you can get up and go to the bathroom, but that’s it. We’re also going to send you home with a wound vacuum to help keep the site completely dry and infection free.”
    â€œThey don’t have any place to plug it in,” Cassie said.
    Dr. Reynolds looked up and smiled. Curse those brilliant white teeth. It made a girl forget why she disliked him so much. “This is a battery-operated wound vacuum, so there shouldn’t be any problem. We’ll have a home health nurse come every other day to change your dressing. After three weeks, we’ll do a skin graft. Then it’s off your feet for six or seven more weeks. You’re going to be spending a lot of time in bed.”
    Mammi nodded. “Cassie will be with me.”
    That aggravatingly attractive smile again. “Then you’re in good hands.”
    â€œYes, I am.”
    Dr. Reynolds pulled out his pen. “Let’s talk about medication.”
    Mammi waved him away with a mischievous glint in her eye. “I really don’t have the patience for it, Doctor. Tell Cassie what I need to know.” She