Mable leaned into the hand on her shoulder, scrubbing her face so she could look at Nettie and her drawings properly.  It was embarrassing that she was crying like this in front of two near strangers, but she couldn't stop.

She hoped Francis didn't think she was a cry baby or something.

"I just miss him," she hiccupped.  "It's been forever since I've seen him, and I wanted to see him, and now I'm worried about him."

It wasn't a problem Nettie could solve, no matter how much they both wanted it to be.  "But I guess now - my problem is this book.  I broke it -" her voice cracked with emotion.  Mable gasped, trying to catch her breath and calm herself.  It was still very difficult.  "Can we really fix a book?  I wanna do that if we can."