Chapter 3

 

Seventeen years ago …

 

Oh. My. God. Pink curtains and bedspread. I stood at the bedroom door, staring. Apparently, while I was at school Gram had decided to redecorate my room. In pink. The pattern was Hollie Hobbie or some little-girl design that might have been semi-okay for somebody, like, six years old. There was a new lamp on the old mahogany nightstand, a white china thing with pink roses and a ruffled pink shade. No teen in the world could love this. Especially me, a girl who would rather climb a tree than put on a frilly dress.

“What do you think?” Gram had sneaked up behind me. There was no escape.

Inexplicably, tears welled up. I hate when that happens. I blinked them back.

“It’s—wow—it’s pink.”

“I thought it was just the cutest thing,” she said, reaching an arm around my shoulders.

“You shouldn’t have.”

“They had a sale at JC Penney’s so it wasn’t very expensive.”

No, I really meant you shouldn’t have. I looked away from her prying gaze and clamped my mouth shut. How was I going to sleep in this cotton candy room? I could never invite a friend in here. I walked in and dropped my books on the bed. I needed to talk to Stacy, have someone I could vent my feelings to.

The only phone in the house was on a table in the living room. I swear, living with an old person just sucked. I stomped toward it while Gram went into the kitchen, saying something about having baked chocolate chip cookies and bringing me some. Sheesh—didn’t she remember chocolate made my face break out?

I picked up the phone and put my finger in the ancient rotary dial, laboriously finishing Stacy’s number in about twenty-five minutes.

“Hey, Stace. Can you get out?”

My best friend lived three blocks away and ever since we were kids we would meet at the little neighborhood park. Nowadays, Stacy sometimes got use of her mother’s car—mainly, only when her mom needed something from the store. Of course, I never got to use a car. Gram was paranoid as hell about something happening to hers with a teenager behind the wheel, so even though I’d gotten my license last fall, I was only allowed to drive if Gram was with me.

“Sure. The usual?”

“Yeah.” I heard a footstep behind the swinging kitchen door and raised my voice. “Yeah, if I could get that history handout Smith gave in class today … I guess mine fell out of my backpack.”

If it pertained to homework, there was no way Gram could refuse to let me go.

The kitchen door swung open and there she stood with a glass of milk and plate of cookies. They smelled heavenly but I was determined not to waver.

“You’re going somewhere?” she asked.

“Yeah, I need to run over to Stacy’s to get a homework assignment. It won’t take long.”

“Okay, good,” she said, working to hide her disappointment. She liked for us to sit at the dining table together, talk about my school day and have a snack. I knew it was so she could be sure I really was getting started on homework.

“Mrs. Delaney is sending the twins over at four o’clock,” Gram said. “I told her you’ve been wanting to get some babysitting experience.”

What? Oh, man, shoot me now.

“I’ll be here to help out. They’ll only be here a couple of hours. We’ll give them their dinner and their mom will pick them up around six-thirty.”

“Gram, I don’t know anything about—”

“It’ll be fine. They’re out of diapers already. We’ll just play some games and—”

“Stacy’s waiting on me. Can we talk about this when I get back?”

I practically ran out the door. Kids … games … diapers. Oh, god. Across the street, I spotted Mr. Delaney pulling into their driveway and the two little girls ran out the moment his car stopped. Two identical little blondes with hair down past their shoulders, matching shorts and tops, shrieking with excitement at seeing their daddy.

The tears really did flow then. I would never again greet my dad when he got home from work, never eat cookies baked by my mother rather than a neighbor. I stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk but caught my balance and turned the corner toward the park.

Stacy O’Donnell sat in one of the swings, twirling back and forth by stubbing one sneaker-clad toe into the sand, then the other. She’d gathered her permed blonde curls into a clip at the back of her head and changed from jeans to shorts. She’s so pretty she could fit in with the popular kids, but she hangs out with me instead. I wiped my eyes during one of her sways in the opposite direction.

“There was no history handout in Smith’s today,” she said, “so I brought the one from last week. Guessing you need to walk back in the house with something in your hands.”

She gave me a firm stare as she handed over the sheet of paper. “What’s up?”

I flopped onto the swing beside hers. “She decorated my room in pink—pink! And she made chocolate chip cookies.”

“Wow—that’s abusive, if you ask me.”

“I know. She’s not doing anything wrong. She’s doing everything right. So right that it sucks. Ron tells me I’d better be grateful every single day. I could have been put in foster care when Mother and Dad—” I dipped my head so my hair would hide my face.

Stacy put her hand on my arm. “Well, you know, with one brother in college and the other living in a dumpy apartment, you wouldn’t exactly be able to live with either of them. You’ve made it through more than a year with your Gram, Charlie. Only a couple more …”

I nodded and sniffed loudly, wishing I’d put some tissues in my pockets.

“Hey, have you read the latest Mary Higgins Clark? I read under the covers last night until my little book-light battery went out. It’s so spooky.”

I shook my head.

“I’ll give you my copy when I’m done.” She pushed off with her toe again. “Maybe you can come sleep over Friday night?”

I nodded with a flicker of enthusiasm. Stacy’s mom wasn’t as cool as the ones you saw on TV but at least she wasn’t a million years old.

“Gram’s set me up with a babysitting job this afternoon. Twins. I get these little hints she thinks she’s preparing me for life as a wife and mother. All this cookie-baking and everything.”

“I think having kids would be fun—someday. Not ’til way after college though.”

I pictured the toddler twins across the street. Nuh-uh. That was a long way off for me.