“You can’t just run out the door without telling me where you’re going,” Diane said.
“Sorry.” Amelia stared at her mother. Diane’s face was covered in pale-green gunk. “What is that?”
“Avocado face mask.”
“Oh. Yummy.”
“I saved twenty dollars with those coupons Gabriella gave me. She seems a bit flighty, but I have to say she’s thoughtful.” Diane reached for her wallet on the kitchen counter and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. “I’ll split the savings with Gabriella. She can buy a bag of lizard food or something.”
“That’s great, Mom. Can I give it to her now?”
“Okay. And Amelia?”
“What?”
“Dad called last night after you went to bed. He and his new…well, the rest of them are going camping on Salt Spring Island next weekend. He’d like you to come.”
“He’s taking a baby camping? That’s dumb.”
Diane grinned. “You said it. Not me.”
Amelia sighed. “He probably just wants a babysitter.”
Diane gave Amelia a hug. “Your dad loves you, sweetie. He’s just not showing it very well right now. And it might be fun.”
Amelia wriggled away. “I’ll decide later.”
“Parfait!” Gabriella said.
“Par-faaay,” Amelia repeated.
“Magnifique!”
“Mag-nee-feek!”
“Fantastique!”
“Fan-tas-teek!”
Gabriella was pulling soapy dishes out of the sink and stacking them haphazardly in the rack, and Amelia was drying.
“Your accent is improving,” Gabriella said. “Pretty soon people will think you were born in Paris like me. And now we are finished. How about we look for some more coupons for your mother? I have found a new site on the Internet. And oh, I almost forgot. We have two new guests. They’re in the living room.”
The new arrivals were a pair of tiny toads, each one no bigger than Amelia’s pinkie finger. They had dull green mottled backs and brilliant red bellies with black spots.
“They are called oriental fire-bellied toads,” Gabriella said.
“They’re amazing,” Amelia said. When she had tired of watching the toads, she said, “Can Roshni come over for a while tonight?”
“Of course. Duke is working at the gas station—his first night!—so we will have a girls-only party. I will give you facials!” Gabriella gazed at the screen. “Is your mother still on her diet?”
“Who knows,” Amelia said.
“Save $5.00 when you buy two boxes of Splenda No-Calorie Sweetener. We’ll give it to her just in case.” Gabriella clicked the mouse and sat back while the printer whirred. She looked at Amelia, her brown eyes, rimmed with black mascara, wide with hope. “The plan with Beaker is working? Your mom is changing her mind a teeny-tiny bit about making us go?”
Amelia thought about the envelope with the phone number for the house in Langley, hidden under her beanbag chair. “Not yet.”
“July 23. That is not very far away. I’ve counted on the calendar. Only twenty-seven days to find a new place. And nobody wants our animals. What are we going to do?”
Amelia and Roshni sat on the saggy couch, their feet propped up on the coffee table. Pale-green cucumber slices rested on their eyes. It had all felt fantastique—the gritty stuff called exfoliator that Gabriella said would help with blackheads, the goopy mask that tightened like cement and left their cheeks glowing, the silky moisturizing cream. Even better, Gabriella had promised that they could try some of her mascara and eye shadow when they were finished.
“I will be back in a few minutes,” Gabriella said, her arms full of wet T-shirts. “I am going to hang these on the line.”
“Are we going to tell her we wrote to the celebs?” Roshni whispered when Gabriella had gone.
“No,” Amelia said. “It’s a surprise.”
She adjusted a slice of cucumber that was sliding down her cheek. She opened her mouth to tell Roshni about her letter to Queen Elizabeth and then changed her mind.
That was going to be the best surprise of all.