“You oughta see him,” Tarah said firmly. “Get it all out. Sometimes good people do rotten things. Then they realize the mistakes they made and turn their lives around. Sometimes bad people do good things too. We had a neighbor who was real bad—a drug dealer. He gave a kidney to a little boy who was dyin’. And then the guy got a sickness that messed up his other kidney and he didn’t mind ’cause he said he can die feelin’ proud. He said he lived his whole life for his own rotten self, but he got the chance to die for somebody else and he was glad. You can’t give up on people, girl, you hear what I’m sayin’? God don’t give up on us, no matter what we do. So where we get off givin’ up on each other?”

“But Tarah, nothing he says will make it better. Don’t you see that? What could he say to make it okay that he left us like that? The thought that he thinks he can crawl back into our lives and be a father and a husband again just makes me sick,” Darcy said.

“Maybe he just passing through, girl. Wants to make amends and then go back to wherever he came from. Maybe even he’s sick or dying or something, and he wants to tie up loose ends. Lots of folks try to fix stuff when they’re dyin’,” Tarah said.

Darcy leaned against the brick wall of the gym and closed her eyes. She felt as if confusion and grief were overtaking her. A dry, rasping sob flew from her throat. Suddenly she felt Tarah’s arms around her, warm and comforting. Into Tarah’s shoulder, Darcy cried big, violent sobs, like nothing that had escaped her for years.

“We all got hurts,” Tarah said. “If we ain’t got them now, they’ll be comin’. ”

Tarah’s hug was more comforting than Darcy ever imagined. It was as if she had left a small part of her sorrow with someone else, and now what was remaining would be easier to carry.

When Darcy got home from school, she found Jamee more withdrawn than ever. Darcy took a deep breath before speaking. She knew that now, more than ever, she had to choose her words carefully. She did not want to upset her sister again.

“Jamee, I know that you really cared about Bobby Wallace,” Darcy began. “I remember how you told me that he gave you his picture and said you were his special girl. And I know that all the girls at school were probably jealous of you because you had a boyfriend from Bluford High who drove a cool car. But Bobby wasn’t the right guy for you. Any guy who puts his hands on you is bad news. ”