Chapter 3

Wednesday nigh Mac picked Chloe up from the train station. She was truly glad to see her little sister and for a while the heaviness around her heart lifted just a bit. Unfortunately it had become so much a part of her life that it was hard to keep it from showing itself. Although she tried her hardest to keep Chloe from seeing it, the teen wasn't fooled.

Chloe tried to cheer Mac up. She did everything she could think of, from telling jokes to even pulling a couple of innocent pranks on Mac. Nothing worked for long. Chloe got a smile or chuckle out of her sister for her efforts, but soon Mac was back to her stoic self.

By the time they sat down to the dinner they had both worked so hard to prepare on Thursday night Chloe was demanding to know what was wrong. Mac, however, remained firm in her assertion that there wasn't anything wrong. Chloe didn't believe it for one minute. She was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.

More demands by Chloe on Friday for the truth from Mac was clearly only making her big sis miffed with her. She laid awake that night trying to come up with a plan to discover Mac's sad secret. Finally just before dawn it occurred to her that Mac might not even know what it was that had her so down!

Chloe struck on a brilliant plan that finally allowed her worried mind to quiet down and let her get some sleep. However, because it had been so late, or rather, so early, when she fell asleep, she didn't wake until just after noon. Half of the day was gone!

The two of them ate left-over's again and watched old movies on TV as Chloe tried, as subtlety as a teen-ager could, to put her plan into action. She figured that if she could just get Mac to reveal her most heartfelt wish it would lead to knowing what was making her so sad.

Unfortunately, Mac wasn't really any more forthcoming about her inner most wishes than she had been about what was troubling her. When asked if she could have anything at all that she could wish for, Mac would reply with things like what movie she wanted to watch next, or that she'd like a big bowl of popcorn with extra butter.

Chloe was becoming very frustrated by the end of the night because she was no closer to what she wanted to know than she had been on Wednesday when she arrived.

More pushing on Sunday only made both of them angry. But, Chloe wanted to help Mac so badly that she hated to give up without getting to the bottom of the problem. Finally just before they were to leave for the train station, Chloe blurted out, "Listen, Mac, if you will just answer one question, I promise to drop the subject for good!"

Mac had become so fed up with Chloe's persistence that she just wanted to put an end to it all. If she could get her little sister to stop pestering her by answering one question she would do it. "Fine! What question?" she snapped.

"If you found out you were dying and could have only one last wish granted, what would it be?" Chloe demanded.

Without thinking, Mac answered, "My dying wish would be to have AJ kiss me!"

To be continued…..