I spent the next two days digging my toes in the sand while I read and dozed in the sun. They went by way too quickly; I blinked and we were packing.
I was hoping the mellow vacation vibe would stick around, but it was business as usual with George when he showed up for tutoring on Wednesday. “You’re going to take an entire practice SAT today,” he announced briskly as soon as he walked in the door. “We only have a week before school starts and we won’t be able to get as much done then. I want to pinpoint whatever you’re still struggling with so we can focus on it.”
“I’m not struggling with any of it,” I said, following him into the kitchen.
“Prove it. Take the test.”
“That takes hours!”
“Where else do you have to be?”
“I have a life, you know.”
“Want me to text your mother and ask her what she thinks?”
“It is so uncool to constantly be threatening to tell my mother on me. You know that, right?” I dropped into a chair. It had turned really hot, brutally hot, the kind of hot LA only gets in late August and early September. The air-conditioning was blasting throughout the house, but I was wearing my shortest shorts and a tank top because I could see how hot it was through the window.
“I’d hate to have you think I’m not cool,” he said stonily.
“Yeah, that ship has sailed. . . . Can I at least have Heather come do it with me so it’s more fun?”
“If it will cut down on the whining. I can print up two copies.”
I texted Heather and told her to come over but didn’t tell her why, because I didn’t want her to say no and I knew she hated taking tests.
She wrote back: Okay. My mom says we should pay for my half of the tutoring tho
Tell her you make me work harder and we should be paying you to come
That’s ridiculous
We’ll talk about it later
I didn’t want her money. George was my tutor and she only came as my invited guest, and that’s how I wanted it. I liked being the one in control.
Once he had finished printing up the tests, and we were just waiting for Heather to arrive, George started firing vocabulary words at me. “Define euphemism.”
“Polite word for something that isn’t polite. For instance, instead of saying that someone puked, I would say that they ‘prayed to the porcelain god’ or something like that.”
“Avuncular.”
“Behaving like an uncle to someone. Michael is very avuncular toward me. But when I marry his son, he’ll be more paternal. Do you want some tea?” I stood up.
“No, thanks. Fatuous.”
I put a tea pod into the coffee maker and hit the start button. “I’m not sure I can define it, but I’m pretty sure you’re an example of it.”
“Wrong,” he said. “It doesn’t mean wildly handsome.”
“Oh, well played, Georgie! You win that round.”
Soon after that, Heather buzzed in at the gate. “I have good news and bad news,” I told her as we walked along the hallway toward the kitchen. “The good news is we’re going shopping later.”
“And the bad news is that I can’t afford to buy anything.”
“Yes, you can. I’m treating.”
“Then the bad news is that it’s so hot, my car will melt before we leave.” She was dressed for the brutal heat in a pair of Daisy Dukes and a gauzy tee.
“Not that either.”
“Then what’s the bad news?”
We entered the kitchen and I gestured toward George, who was sitting there in his usual jeans and oxford shirt—dressed for a completely different climate. “First we have to take a practice SAT.”
“Oh no,” she said, backing away. “You didn’t tell me we were going to do that. That’s not fair.”
“Come on.” I took her hand and pulled her toward the table. “It’ll be fun. We’ll do it together.”
“No, you won’t,” George said. “I’m putting you in separate rooms. You need to take this seriously or there’s no point.”
“You go ahead,” Heather said. “I’ll wait. I can watch something or talk to George.”
“George doesn’t want to talk to you,” I said.
“I beg your pardon!” he said. “I’d be happy to talk to Heather.”
“Thank you,” she said to him. “I’d be happy to talk to you, too.”
“You have to take this test so George can help you raise your scores.” I turned to him. “I’ve got it all planned out: Heather and I are both going to get in early to Elton College. We’ll be done with all the college stuff before the holidays, and then we’ll be together for the next four years.”
“We hope we’ll get in,” Heather said. “I mean, I’m sure you will, but I’m not so sure about me. Elton College is hard to get into and I haven’t been the best student.”
“That’s why we’re going to apply early. They like people who apply early, especially people who are quirky and interesting, and who’s more quirky and interesting than us?”
The dimple on Heather’s right cheek appeared. “No one.”
“Plus George is going to make sure we do well on the SATs. Now get into the dining room and take that test.” I took her by the shoulders and steered her across the kitchen and through the archway that separated it from the dining room.
“Why do I have to be in here?” she asked over her shoulder.
“Because I need to be in the kitchen. My tea’s in there.” I came back in and sat down, folded my hands, and looked up at George like an obedient pupil. “We’re ready to take your test, Mr. Nussbaum, sir.”
He handed me the packet and told me to get to work.
On Friday, I was coming down the stairs in the morning and spotted George heading out the front door
“What are you doing?” I called out.
He turned around and greeted me in his usual measured way—he never seemed particularly excited to see me, but he was always pleasant enough. “Your mom asked me to get her laptop fixed.” He showed me the computer sleeve in his hand. “I’m running to the Genius Bar. Hey, can I talk to you for a second?”
“What about?”
“Heather’s not here, right?”
I looked to my left and to my right, then patted the pockets of my jean shorts. “Doesn’t seem to be. Why?”
“I just wanted to say that maybe you shouldn’t be pushing her to apply early to Elton.”
I leaned against the banister. “Why not?”
“After scoring that test you guys took, I’m worried she doesn’t have much of a shot there.”
I shrugged. “Neither of us was taking it very seriously.”
“You still managed to do incredibly well.” He shifted the computer from one hand to the other. “Elton would be a big reach for her, I think.”
“You’re not a college counselor,” I said. “You don’t really know.”
“Right,” he said. “And you’re not one either. So tell her to talk to hers. And be aware that she’ll do whatever you say, even if you’re totally wrong.”
I scowled at him. “First of all, I’ve researched Elton a lot, and they like people who are creative, which Heather totally is.” She wrote a lot of fan fiction, mostly about characters from her favorite TV shows. That was creative, right? “They’re going to want her. And secondly, you’re wrong—she doesn’t do whatever I say. That’s ridiculous.”
“I’ve seen you order her around. She worships you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Which seems to be what you like best about the relationship.”
“That’s so not true! Not to mention rude.”
“Uh-huh.” He was really starting to annoy me, standing there with his stupid pants and long-sleeved shirt on the hottest day of the year, large almost colorless eyes blinking at me as he accused me of being a bad friend.
I gestured toward the door. “Aren’t you going to be late for your genius?”
“Yeah,” he said, sounding tired. “I am. Good-bye. We can talk more about this on Sunday.”
“I’m canceling Sunday,” I said even though I hadn’t thought about it before now. “I have other plans.”
“Your mother said I should come.”
“Well, she’s wrong.” I turned my back on him and went into the kitchen. Why should I let him tutor me when he had just proven that he didn’t know anything about anything?
I was kind of lying when I said I had plans, except that it turned out I really did have plans, I just hadn’t known about them. That night, Luke informed the rest of the family that he’d invited the Marquands over for a barbecue on Sunday, which was the day before Labor Day and two days before the start of school. Aaron was flying in on Saturday, so he’d be coming with them.
I spent a long time getting ready for that barbecue. I washed my hair that morning and scrunched it under a diffuser so it was just about as curly as it could get—which was pretty ridiculously curly—and used some gel that made the copper highlights catch the light. Since it was still super hot and we were planning on swimming, I put on my favorite dark-red bikini and covered that with a floaty, transparent printed dress.
As I was leaving my room, I heard Jacob calling out from his and checked on him. He was just waking from a nap. Mom had recently moved him from his crib to a small bed that looked like a race car, but he never got out of it by himself, just sat up and cried until someone rescued him, like he’d always done in the crib.
“Hey, baby dude,” I said, and picked him up. His diaper felt heavy through his shorts. He wasn’t anywhere close to being toilet trained yet—since he didn’t talk or seem to understand all that much, it was hard to explain the whole potty concept to him. “Have a nice nap?”
He rubbed his forehead against my bare shoulder and I nuzzled his sweat-damp hair. I liked him best like this, right after a nap, when he was all drowsy and cuddly.
“We’re going to have a barbecue,” I told him. “Hot dogs. I know you like hot dogs. And Daddy will be home all day. Fun, right?”
He didn’t react, just rested against me, breathing lightly.
“We have guests coming over. You remember Michael? And Crystal? And little baby Mia?” I was never sure what he understood and what he didn’t. Sometimes it seemed like your words meant nothing to him and then all of a sudden he’d go and grab something you were just talking about and bring it to you. “Let’s find you something special to wear.” I pulled a shirt out of his drawer.
Instantly he started arching back in my arms—so violently that I almost dropped him—and shaking his head and making a low moaning sound that I knew would turn to screaming in a second if I wasn’t careful.
“Sorry,” I said, dumping him back on the bed. I quickly crammed the shirt into the dresser. “It had buttons. I know. Forget that. See? All gone now.”
Jacob had a button phobia. And of course he couldn’t tell us why.
I changed his diaper and helped him into blue board shorts and a soft white T-shirt—clothing he approved of—and carried him downstairs.
Mom was in the kitchen, getting instructions from Carlos, our part-time chef, who had come in early to make a bunch of salads and marinate the meat. “If you dress the lettuce salad too soon, it will get soggy,” he was telling her when we walked in. “But you want the dressing to tenderize the kale salad for at least half an hour. In fact, I think I’ll put it on right now—it won’t hurt and you might forget.”
“Yes, do that,” Mom said cheerfully. “I’ll definitely forget.” She was wearing a navy blue maxi sundress and a pair of amazing sparkling sandals. I eyed those sandals covetously and decided I would borrow them soon.
I put Jacob down and he ran over to Mom and hugged her legs.
“Hey, baby,” she said, absently patting his head while she glanced around the kitchen. “Where are the hot dog buns?”
“In the bag on the table. Whole wheat.” Carlos was bald, but shaved bald, and his eyes were younger than his mouth and chin. He was somewhere between forty and sixty, but I had no idea where. He came twice a week and cooked lots of dishes, which he left in the refrigerator so we could heat them up whenever we wanted a meal; he also prepared food for special events like this. “I wanted to get sea bass for the fish but I didn’t like the way theirs looked, so I got cod instead. I made a romesco to go with it. All Luke has to do is grill it and then put the sauce on. But tell him not to overdo it. Fish should always be slightly undercooked. Now, let’s talk about the corn.”
“As fascinating as this is . . .” I said, and left them to it.