Chapter Four-Macon

                                    

                                          
Hello, Everyone, 
                          
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-XXX Amanda
                          
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My hands curved around the steering wheel in a death grip as I glanced at Jade sitting beside me watching the scenery as we drove by.  Dark eyes the same but different as Josephine's scanned our surroundings.  She turned glancing at me and again I was struck with how much the color and almond shape reminded me of Jo's piercing stare but there were shadows I didn't understand...I wanted to understand dancing within them darkened further by the cast of her long, curving lashes.  Beneath all the shadows were little points of light...Hope.  She still had it when it had faded in Jo every single day of her life after losing Jade.
                          
Her face was different than Jo's too...More delicate in shape though just as pretty...Maybe even more so if I was being honest with myself.  Full, bowed lips blue from the coolness of the rain trembled before the bottom one was caught between perfect, white teeth.  I blinked taking in her body which was so painfully skinny I wondered when her last meal was.
                          
"Do you want anything to eat?" I asked, hoping my thoughts weren't playing across my face, "I mean...It's easier to talk that way."
                          
She opened her mouth to deny it but her stomach growled rumbling through the car and causing her cheeks to redden.  I grinned, experiencing the first hint of humor in her presence.  
                          
"I guess that's my answer," I said, chuckling as she shifted on the seat embarrassed.  
                          
"I-I don't have any money," She whispered, her cheeks tinting a deeper shade of red.
                          
I glanced at the soggy list in her hand.  Beneath it was an envelope full of money.  
                          
"What's that?" I asked, raising my eyebrow as she shifted again.  
                          
She bit her bottom lip again, "I-It's for groceries and dry cleaning," she whispered, "It's not my money.  It's my foster mother's."
                          
I stared at her for a few moments as I glanced in the rearview mirror realizing she was going to walk to town.  She would have been out all day but her foster mother hadn't given her any money for food while she was out.  On top of that, it had been raining.  
                          
I fought to keep the smile on my face, "My treat," I said, turning back to stare out the window, "Where do you want to eat?"
                          
When I glanced back at her she was biting her bottom lip again and I wondered if it was a habit that she picked up when she quit sucking her thumb.  She glanced around, her eyes filling with panic that I didn't understand.  I simply asked her where she wanted to eat but there was anxiety moving into the darkness of her eyes.  
                          
"You choose," she said, her voice shaking as she crossed her arms over her stomach as if in pain.  Uneasiness swirled in my gut.  
                          
"Do you eat Italian food?" I asked and she nodded as she continued to worry her bottom lip.  
                          
I swallowed as I parked at a restaurant where I knew the owner and turned toward her, "Jade, when was the last time you ate?" I asked as gently as I could but the truth was I was terrified of her answer.