The next morning, Maverick came over. He’s the boy who lives in the house behind us. There’s a hole in the fence in between our houses. When he comes over, he knocks on the sliding glass door to the kitchen instead of the front door.
Maverick told us his parents were making pancakes for breakfast, and he invited Penny and me to come. But when we got there, they tasted funny. Mrs. Finch (that’s Maverick’s mom) said she used whole-wheat flour, instead of regular flour, because it’s healthier.
“How about chocolate chips?” I asked. “My dad always adds those in.”
“Sorry, Stella,” Mrs. Finch said. “No chocolate chips. But we do have raisins, if you want.”
I shook my head. Raisins are almost as bad as brussels sprouts! Next time, breakfast will be at our house.
Afterwards, Penny and I went home. “Mom! Daddy!” Penny shouted. “We’re back! Where are you?”
“I’m in here,” Mom called out.
We followed her voice into the room that right now is still the guest room, but soon it’s going to be the baby’s room.
It already looked different than it used to look. Instead of a big bed, there’s a crib and a mini couch that Mom says is called a love seat. There’s also a new dresser. It’s tan, the same color as the crib, and it has a shelf on top where you put the baby when you have to change its diaper. Mom and Dad say we’ll get to help out when the baby is born, but diaper changing is NOT going to be my job!
Mom was standing next to the dresser, folding clothes and putting them inside the drawers.
“More baby stuff?” I asked.
“Onesies,” she said, holding up a shirt that attached at the bottom, so it was like a shirt and underwear all in one. “Aunt Laura and Uncle Rob sent them over.”
The baby has been getting a bunch of presents even though it’s not born yet. Actually, the baby isn’t an “it.” It’s a boy. First his name was going to be Teddy, then it was going to be Cooper. Now Mom and Dad say he’ll be Daniel. Still, Aunt Laura and Uncle Rob don’t even know him. They know Penny and me, and they didn’t send us anything.
It makes me kind of jealous even though the presents aren’t anything I’d want. What would I do with rattles or baby clothes?
“Where’s Dad?” Penny asked.
“He went to the store,” Mom said.
“So what are we going to do?”
“You can help me fold the baby clothes, and then you’re having a play date with Zoey.”
“Oh, I forgot I’m getting to see Zoey! Oh, hooray!”
Penny did a happy little dance right there in the guest room/baby’s room. I wished Willa were coming over too. Just thinking about her made me miss her. I wondered how her picnic was. If only she still lived in Somers, she could’ve come on our den picnic and slept over and had breakfast at Maverick’s house.
But Willa moved to Pennsylvania and didn’t want to talk to me anymore. She wasn’t my best friend anymore.
“You look sad, Stel,” Mom said. “Don’t worry. We’ll think of something special for you to do.”
“I wish I’d gone to the store with Dad,” I said. If I went to the store, I’d get to pass Man’s Best Friend, and if I passed Man’s Best Friend, I’d get to see Malty. Will you take me?”
“It’s hard for me to fit my body into the driver’s seat right now,” Mom said. “You understand, right?”
“Yeah,” I said glumly. “Is it okay if I call Dad?”
Mom said yes and I went into the other room to get the phone. “Can you come and get me?” I asked when he answered.
“Ah, you miss your old dad?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. I didn’t miss Dad right then, but I did want to be with him because he was near Malty, and Malty was the closest thing I had to a best friend.
“Well you’re in luck,” Dad said. “I’ll be home soon and I have a surprise for you when I get there.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Is it candy?”
“Nope, it’s nothing edible,” he said.
“I have an idea,” I said. “Can you tell me the surprise in the car?”
“You know I can’t talk on the phone when I’m driving,” Dad said.
“No, I meant can you come here and pick me up and take me to Man’s Best Friend and tell me about the surprise on the way?”
“You want to go to Man’s Best Friend again?”
“I want to play with Malty.”
“I don’t know if they’ll let you play with her,” Dad said. “Someone bought her, so she’ll be going to her new home soon.”
“You mean I’m never going to see her again?”
“Well, never say never,” Dad said. “And just so you know, I have it on good authority that she’s going to end up in a good home.”
“What’s authority?”
“Someone in a position to know things,” Dad said.
“So who is it?”
“You’ll see,” Dad said.
You’ll see is kind of like We’ll see.
But suddenly I thought about something: What if You’ll see means more than maybe? What if it means yes? As in, Yes, you can have a dog?!!!
I started to understand all the things Dad had said, like, “Never say never.” Obviously! I was going to see Malty again because she was going to live with us! “I have it on good authority that she ended up in a good home.” He was the authority, and the good home was our home!
“I’m getting into the car right now,” Dad said. “We’ll talk about this when I get home.”
“I can’t wait!” I said.
Except that it took SEVEN MILLION HOURS for Dad to get home. Okay, not really, but that’s what it felt like.
Finally I heard the garage door open and I went out to meet him. He didn’t even have time to get out of the car before I ran up and started looking in all the windows.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Who?”
“My surprise.”
“How do you know your surprise is a person?”
A person? Didn’t he mean a dog? And specifically, didn’t he mean Malty the dog?
Wait a second. Maybe he said “person” because he wanted to confuse me. That way the surprise would be even bigger. He probably arranged for someone to be watching my puppy right then, like Stuart, who works at our store. Soon Stuart would come over with Malty. She’d have a big red bow around her neck. Oh, this was going to be so great! I couldn’t wait!
“Come on,” Dad said. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you all about it.”
We walked back toward Mom and Penny. I was trying to decide what look to put on my face so Dad would think I really was surprised when he finally told me. Don’t your eyes get wide when you’re surprised? I widened my eyes, just to practice.
“Your face looks funny,” Penny said.
“No it doesn’t,” I said. I blinked quickly and opened them the regular way.
“Stel,” Dad said, “are you ready to hear about your surprise?”
“Yes!” I said.
“Do I have a surprise too?” Penny asked.
Dad shook his head. “This time the surprise is for Stella,” Dad said.
“That’s not fair,” Penny said. “Then you have to make Stella share with me.”
I hoped they didn’t make me share too much. After all, Malty didn’t even really like Penny.
“You don’t even know what it is yet,” Dad said. But Penny’s mouth was already down in a pout. “Stella, I’m going to take you over to someone’s house to play.”
”That’s my surprise?” I asked. (By the way, I’m sure I really did look surprised, because it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. And not in a good way.)
But Dad was nodding and smiling. “A woman came into the store this morning. I heard her telling Stuart that she just moved to Somers and she has a daughter in the third grade who’s in need of a playmate. I told her I had a third grader in need of a playmate too.”
“You shouldn’t have said that. Now she’ll think I don’t have any friends.”
“I’m sure she won’t think that,” Mom said. “After all, her daughter didn’t have someone to play with today either.”
“But it’s different because she just moved here.” I said.
“She’ll just be happy you’re coming over,” Dad said. “Her mother is excited to meet you too.”
“What about me?” Penny asked.
“You’re having a play date with Zoey,” Mom reminded her.
“Oh yeah,” Penny said.
“What’s the girl’s name?” I asked.
“Evie,” Dad said.
“I’ve never known anyone with that name before,” I said.
“Well there’s a first time for everything,” Dad said. “So should I drop you off, darling?”
“Do I have to go?” I asked. This girl, Evie, was a stranger. What if Dad dropped me off and I didn’t even like her?
“You don’t have to go,” Dad said. “But why not? You don’t have anything else planned today, and Penny has Zoey coming over.”
You see, even Dad thought I had no friends.