The Green Kids
Patricia Rose Lovett
Summary: Anna Green is dating one of the only other green puppets on her street and in her life, Nicky. They are really close – even closer than Nicky and Rod claim they are – and can share anything with each other. People say that they won't last, because with that information with anyone and betray the other. But they don't. They do last, even through college. And why? Nobody else would have them, not even the other's siblings.
"Twenty years, Anna. Can you believe it?"
"Twenty years, Nicky," she echoed. "What was it, middle school?"
"September 19."
"Twenty years and two kids later, we're still going strong." Anna looked down at the countertop. She claimed that she'd told him everything, but she hadn't. Her dad actually didn't work at the school she'd gone to elementary school at. Her mother had gotten fired from her last job. She'd wanted to tell him for years, but she didn't have the heart to tell him. It would only ruin his trust in her.
And he felt just the same. His parents' divorce had gone through just six months before she'd died, not a year. His dad had left his second wife when he realized that he still loved his first wife. He couldn't tell her though. She'd trusted him to tell the truth about everything. He'd ruin that trust if he told her that he'd lied.
"You remember the day we met, don't you, Nicky?"
"Of course, Anna. Do you?"
Anna nodded, picking up the four-year-old girl next to her and carrying her up the stairs, Nicky following her. She knew as well as he did that they were both thinking of their years together before the wedding and the kids.