Betsy stomped back into the room, coming up behind him. “I look sufficiently gross now. Can I go?”
He turned.
Betsy was dressed in cutoffs that were too short in his opinion, but not enough to fight about, a tee shirt that read Oops! I Did It Again, and flip-flops. She’d taken off most of the makeup, but was still wearing blue mascara and blush.
Did she think he couldn’t see it?
“Well?” she demanded, and at that her voice broke. He saw how much this meant to her, and he was lost. The games these preteen girls played with each other seemed ridiculous to him. Betsy could go from smiling to ballistic in a second, all based on some under-the-breath comment from a former friend. God forbid someone laughed at her hair. “Come on, Dad, it’s Sierra. I’ve waited so looong for her to call. I need to go. Pleaaaase.”
Call him a coward, but he couldn’t deny her. She looked so damned desperate and lonely, and he knew now how much this turnaround with Sierra meant to Betsy. “You look fine, Betsy. And you can go to the mall. Just let me call Sierra’s mom.”
“I already called. It was so embarrassing to say that my dad wouldn’t let me ride with Tod.”
“Horrifying,” he agreed.
“Anyway, Mrs. Phillips is picking us up in ten minutes. So can I have money?”
“How much do you want?”
“Fifty.”
“Dollars?”
“Okay.” She sighed dramatically. “Twenty-five.”
Michael dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. While he was counting his bills, Betsy shrieked.
“They’re here! Give me the money, Dad. Now! Hurry! They might leave.”
“I’m walking you out to the car.”
“No!”
He smiled.
She grimaced. “Fine.”
He walked her out of the house and down the driveway, where a blue minivan waited.
Sure enough, a woman was driving.
“Here, Betsy,” he said, handing her thirty dollars. She swiped it like a raptor taking prey and mumbled something that might have been good-bye.
The driver rolled down her window. “Hi,” she said to him. “I’m Stephanie. I understand Betsy thought Tod would be driving.” She smiled. “Hardly.”
Michael smiled back. “That’s good to hear. I remember being eighteen. Focus behind the wheel was not my strength.”
“My husband says the same thing.” Stephanie glanced in the backseat, then leaned closer. “It’s good to see the girls together again. How’s Jolene?”
People asked him that all the time. He never really knew what to say. “Fine.”
“Tell her I said hi.”
“Will do.” He backed away, watching the car back down the driveway and then drive away.
He walked back up to his house. On the porch, he stopped, looked around. Sunlight spilled across the white slats, brightening the faded chair cushions. The grass out front was still a deep, rich green—summer’s heat hadn’t found its way here yet. Down below, across the road, he could see a family gathering, building a fire and setting up chairs for a day at the beach. In a normal year, Jolene would be down there already, setting up coolers and chairs.
He went back inside. “Hey, Lulu,” he said, closing the door behind him. “Want to help me find our flag?”
Twelve
Dear Mom:
I had the best weekend EVER! You won’t believe what happened. I’ll start at the beginning. First, I got my phone—you remember that—and Sierra thought it was so cool and we sat together. Then she talked to me in PE, and THEN she got in a fight with Zoe because Zoe like, totally, lied to her about what Jimmy said about her. So Sierra is my friend again! Last week we went to the mall together and saw War of the Worlds, which was so cool.
And guess what? Zoe was there and we didn’t even talk to her.
Dad says Sierra and me can go to kayaking camp together in July. Cool, huh?
Anyway, that’s everything. Things are okay here.
Lulu doesn’t think she’s invisible all the time anymore, so that’s good. We made Daddy put up a flag.
Well, I gotta go. Dad is ordering pizza for dinner again and I want pineapple on it. Be careful, Mom.
Love, B.
P.S.: Sierra wants to know if you’ve shot anybody yet. Have you?
Dear Betsy:
Wow. That’s a lot of news! I am so glad to hear about you and Sierra working on your friendship. You two have been friends for a long time, and those relationships are important. BUT I want you to be careful, too. I haven’t forgotten about Sierra’s thing with the cigarettes, and honestly, I think she can be kind of a mean girl sometimes. Be careful.