Juno's Daughters Read Online Free PDF Page B

from Frankie’s hair. Now she definitely had to change her clothes before the party. Her white tie blouse might look good on her tonight, she mused, wondering also if Lilly had replaced the hammered silver earrings she had borrowed. She wanted to look good but had to walk a delicate line. If she appeared too dressed up, for example if she dug through her things for that old black eyeliner pencil, someone who saw her daily in her Tevas and canvas shorts might notice. If it were Phinneas, he would wonder aloud who the makeup was for and tease her mercilessly until he figured it out. The fact was, she had no good explanation.
    A lingering look from a stranger who might or might not be gay did not mean much after all. She sighed. Still, this was a stranger who traveled on jets rather than in the cab of old trucks, who ate in restaurants where he did not know both the kitchen and the waitstaff, who leaped at the chance of a summer adventure in a place he had presumably never been before. These were all things she had once done herself, with relish. Besides, she had always liked a man with the confidence to get up on stage.
    â€œShe’s very good at landscaping, though,” said Frankie. “I heard Mr. Edison say that she was better than anybody at grafting.”
    â€œGrifting?” said Jenny, and then when she saw that Frankie had never heard the word, she tapped her lightly on the nose. “It won’t be long before you’re seventeen. I wonder what you’ll be like.”
    Frankie’s eyes wandered past Jenny’s face, to her future self, projected like a hologram in the narrow hallway. “Oh, probably like Lilly. Or the lead singer in a band.” She looked back at her mother’s face and added, “With big boobs.”
    Jenny raised her eyebrows, unsure as to which of those things seemed the least likely for her shy, flat-chested daughter. “I wonder if you’ll be in love?”
    â€œI hope so,” answered Frankie.
    Jenny had done her best to fill Lilly’s ears with advice about the complicated dance between men and women, often braving the clear implication from Lilly that her own romantic track record disqualified her from giving any. She had told her how to recognize a respectful partner and impressed on her the importance of having enough cash to be able to leave if necessary. She wondered if she should say something to Frankie now but decided to wait. There was lots of time yet, and besides, the party was starting in just a few minutes.
    She heaved Frankie’s body off her own. “Get some clothes on, or we’ll be late.”
    â€œAnd they’re soooo punctual at Dale and Peg’s,” said her daughter, disappearing into her sister’s room.
    So, Frankie hoped she would be in love at seventeen, did she? Jenny didn’t know why that should surprise her. Perhaps because it was the first time Frankie had betrayed any interest in the subject where she herself was concerned. She chewed the bottom of her lip in thought. Frankie, it seemed, was growing up.
    Jenny began to look through the kitchen drawers for her big spatula until she remembered that she had left it at Dale and Peg’s, along with her salad bowl and tongs, the last time she was there. Her stomach growled and she realized that, except for an apple around one, she had failed to eat lunch.
    Frankie emerged from the back room in several layers of clothing that included at least two of her sister’s T-shirts, a midcalf flowered dress, and a pair of faded jeans.
    â€œReady?” asked Jenny, lifting the lasagna.
    â€œAlmost.” Frankie held a less than perfectly clean kitchen sponge under the tap and used it to apply the temporary tattoo of a flower to her left check. “Want one?” She held the sheet out to her mother.
    â€œSure.”
    Jenny chose a rose that reminded her a little of the cover of the Grateful Dead album American Beauty . She’d never