Standing in the back of the darkened auditorium, Odelia sees Jiffy get to his feet and hurry up the aisle.
She intercepts him before he can walk out.
‘Where are you going?’ she whispers.
‘I have to do something.’
‘Jiffy? Come back here.’
‘I can’t, Odelia. I have to go.’
Ah, a bathroom break? All right, but she’s not letting him go unescorted. She sticks her head between Walter’s and Peter’s in the back row and whispers, ‘Watch Max for me. I’ll be right back.’
Then she follows Jiffy out into the daylight.
‘Jiffy, stop!’
He keeps walking, and he isn’t heading toward the restrooms, but toward the park.
‘Michael Arden! You stop right this instant!’
He stops. When he turns back to her, she sees tears on his face.
‘Oh, my goodness. Jiffy, what’s wrong?’
‘Did you know that my dad’s name is Michael Arden, too?’
‘I did, yes.’
He nods, looking down at his shoes.
‘You must miss him.’
‘Yeah. He’s supposed to be coming home soon, but …’ He shakes his head. ‘He said the Dale isn’t home for him, so he doesn’t want to live here with us.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘He told my mom, on the phone.’
‘And you heard?’
‘Yeah. They always talk really loud. They kind of yell at each other. Well, not kind of.’
‘That must be hard for you to hear.’
‘No, it’s easy for me to hear because they’re really loud, like I said.’
‘Ah.’ She tries a different tack. ‘It probably makes you sad when two people you love are so upset with each other.’
‘It makes me sad, and mad. They’re always talking about the stupidest stuff.’
‘Like what?’
‘Money.’
‘Money?’
‘Yeah, they need a lot of it. And if someone could just give it to them, they wouldn’t yell anymore.’
Odelia digests this. ‘Sometimes, Jiffy, the thing people are fighting about isn’t the thing they’re really fighting about. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Nope.’
‘No, I don’t suppose you do. Well, sometimes people who love each other very much just can’t get along no matter what happens. Even if the thing they yell about all the time goes away. And sometimes, the person who loves those two people more than anything in the world – the person those two people love more than anything in the world – well, that guy can’t do a darned thing to fix what’s wrong between them.’
Jiffy says nothing.
She rests a hand on his shoulder and finds him trembling. ‘And sometimes,’ she says, gently, ‘that guy does a bad thing in order to do a good thing.’
He turns to look up at her, as if he isn’t sure she’s talking about what he thinks she’s talking about.
‘Where’s the necklace, Jiffy?’
‘How do you know about the necklace?’
‘This is Lily Dale.’ She shrugs. ‘Where is it?’
‘It’s in a secret hiding place.’
‘Jiffy—’
‘I can’t tell you where it is, Odelia! But I’m going there right now, so please don’t follow me.’
‘It doesn’t belong to you! You can’t just—’
‘I know!’ He swipes a hand across his eyes. ‘That’s why I’m going to get it! I’m going to give it back to the Slaytons right now and I’m going to tell them I’m sorry. I just thought … I thought …’
‘I know,’ Odelia says, and pulls him into her arms as he cries. ‘I know what you thought. Everything’s going to be OK now, Jiffy.’
‘Are you going to tell anyone what I did?’
‘Anyone … like who?’
‘Like my mom? And Lieutenant Grange? My mom called him up when she found out my Playbox wasn’t in my room anymore.’
‘And that’s why you went over to Max’s?’
‘Kind of. Are you going to tell them?’
‘No. You are.’
For a moment, she expects him to protest. But he considers it, nods, and lifts his chin. ‘OK. But will you be with me?’
‘Every step of the way,’ she assures him.