by Kevin Henkes
Amelia had never spoken a word to her father about Lindy Tussler and the end of their friendship. He never seemed curious about the details of her life. She never would have believed that he had an opinion about Lindy. He knows more than I give him credit for, she thought.
He leaned over and pushed the last bit of cookie toward her. “If I were playing your game, I’d call her Trouble.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. She looked up at her father. She burst out laughing.
He laughed, too.
Then they sat together quietly for a few more minutes before leaving. She felt something—the sounds of the coffee shop, the sunshine, the air—move in, settle, close gently around them.
35 • Needed
Amelia had wrapped the postcard in a napkin from the coffee shop and carefully put it in her jacket pocket for the walk home. She carried the envelope from Casey, switching it from hand to hand. She’d been clutching the envelope so tightly that it was wrinkled and warped by the time they got to their house.
She went right to her room and closed the door. She propped the postcard against the lamp on her nightstand. Then she sat on her bed and opened the envelope. There was a letter inside.
Dear Amelia,
Remember me?
Here’s the news from one day after you saw me: My parents are getting legally separated. But I get to live in our house all the time. They promised that I don’t have to move. They’ll take turns staying here. Maybe I can trick myself into thinking we’re still one big happy family. HA! But, at least, they’re not divorced yet.
Starting next week I’ll be coming to the clay studio on Saturdays. My aunt asked me. I can work (and get paid) or just make things (and smash them). HA!
How’s Epiphany? I already forgot her real name. Sorry. I was kind of overwhelmed when you told me.
Do you remember that heart I made? I have to tell you something about it.
Signing off . . .
Casey
Amelia wondered what Casey would say about the heart. She’d seen what he’d carved into it: C + A. And she had the piece with the A on it as proof. Would he tell her that the A stood for Amelia? Would he tell her he liked her? She’d have to wait until next week to find out.
Although this was not the spring break she’d wanted, she wouldn’t change it. It was funny how things worked out the way they did. If she had talked her father into taking her to Florida, her life would be very different right now.
She wouldn’t have met Casey. She wouldn’t have laughed, actually laughed, with her father in the coffee shop. And what about Hannah? And the Epiphany drama? And her show?
Amelia replaced the letter in the envelope. She tucked it and the postcard into her top dresser drawer with her letter from Natalie, the piece of Casey’s heart, and the elastic band with the blue bead from Hannah.
She stood before the open drawer. She’d acquired these things in the last couple of days. Her little, hidden spring-break shrine. She touched the blue bead on the elastic band, then plucked the band from the drawer and crossed the room to the mirror on the back of her door. She ran her fingers through her hair—pulling, raking, gathering the long strands into a bun.
It wasn’t perfect by any means—it was slightly lopsided—but it looked okay. “Poor thing,” she whispered. She smiled at herself. No, I’m not, she thought. Not me. She lifted her chin. She turned her head from side to side. She chewed her lower lip. Then she peered at her reflected image straight on for a long time. She thought about the women in her life. Her mother, Mrs. O’Brien, Louise, Epiphany, Hannah. She knew it was strange, but she thought of Epiphany and Hannah as two different people.
She wondered what kind of woman she would be when she grew up.
Suddenly she worked the band out of her hair and shook her head. Her hair fell around her face and over her shoulders like a curtain. She went back to her dresser, returned the elastic band, and shut the drawer.
There was nothing of her mother’s in her shrine, her drawer. Many years ago her father told her that he had a box of things that had belonged to her mother. The box was Amelia’s; she just had to ask for it. She rarely thought about it. And she had never asked because he was hard to ask things of. And so much time had passed since he’d first told her about it. It had been so long ago that it was part of the lore of her childhood as she remembered it. But had she remembered it correctly? Besides, asking anything about her mother seemed to drop a weight of sadness on him that he carried around for hours or even days. But now, she thought she could ask. She would.
There was nothing of Mrs. O’Brien’s in her shrine, either. But there were things from Mrs. O’Brien everywhere. From the curtains in Amelia’s room to her bedspread to her lacy pillowcases to her favorite necklace to bracelets. On and on and on. And Mrs. O’Brien, herself, was there, always there, day after day.
Amelia wondered what would happen to Mrs. O’Brien if Hannah stayed in her father’s life. She hated to consider certain possibilities. But, no matter what, Mrs. O’Brien would be right across the street.
Did she hear Mrs. O’Brien?
Amelia left her room and wandered down the hall, listening. As if she somehow knew she was being thought of, Mrs. O’Brien called out in a cheerful voice. “Amelia? I’m in the kitchen. I need you.”
No, thought Amelia. I need you.
She needed her to sweep her up, to hold her close, to understand her, to love her. She needed her to tell her when she didn’t need her anymore.
“Coming,” Amelia called back.
When she grabbed the banister, she took a deep breath. Let it out. She was ready. She didn’t want to keep Mrs. O’Brien waiting. She brightened as she quickly and quietly descended the stairs—into the kitchen, into the world, into whatever was still to come.
About the Author
KEVIN HENKES is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of award-winning picture books for younger children, beginning readers for newly independent readers, and novels for middle grade readers. He has received two Newbery Honors, one for The Year of Billy Miller and the other for Olive’s Ocean. He has also received the Caldecott Medal and two Caldecott Honors. He lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.
www.kevinhenkes.com
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Books by Kevin Henkes
The Year of Billy Miller
Junonia
Bird Lake Moon
Olive’s Ocean
The Birthday Room
Sun & Spoon
Protecting Marie
Words of Stone
The Zebra Wall
Two Under Par
Return to Sender
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
SWEEPING UP THE HEART. Copyright © 2019 by Kevin Henkes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
The Emily Dickinson poems here and here are taken from THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 19
29, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, by Mary L. Hampson. This was the standard edition of Dickinson’s poems in 1999, when this novel takes place.
Cover photography © 2019 by Ali Smith
Cover art © 2019 by Kevin Henkes
Cover design by Paul Zakris
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Henkes, Kevin, author.
Title: Sweeping up the heart / Kevin Henkes.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019] |
Summary: “After an eventful spring break, seventh-grader Amelia Albright’s life changes forever”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018022067| ISBN 9780062852540 (trade ed.) | ISBN 9780062852557 (lib. bdg.)
Subjects: | CYAC: Friendship—Fiction. | Sculptors—Fiction. | Single-parent families—Fiction. | Fathers and daughters—Fiction. | Dating (Social customs)—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.H389 Swe 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018022067
Digital Edition MARCH 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-285257-1
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-285254-0
1920212223PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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