Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn Read Online Free PDF Page B

Jeff wanted to know.
    â€œWell, not for a little while. But as soon as all the arrangements have been made. There’s still a lot to do. I mean, aside from packing, there are papers to be drawn up and signed, I’ve got to send your school and medical records back to California, your dad has to find a housekeeper, and he’ll have to re-enroll you at Vista.” (Vista was the school Jeff and I had gone to in California.)
    â€œHow long will all that take?” Jeff said.
    â€œA couple of weeks, I guess.”
    â€œOnly two weeks? All right !” Jeff’s excitement was growing. He wouldn’t be able to contain it much longer.
    I understood how he was feeling. But I wasn’t feeling anything at all myself. I was numb. Once, I had an infected finger. A splinter had gone in and I couldn’t get it out. My father said he would try to get it out for me. Before he started “operating” he held an ice cube on my finger to numb it. That’s how I felt now. As if someone had applied a giant ice cube to my body. And to my brain, as well.
    â€œI can’t believe you’re letting him go,” I said harshly to Mom.
    â€œI don’t think I have much choice,” she said.
    â€œYes, you do. People always have choices. And you’re making this one.”
    â€œOkay,” agreed Mom. “Maybe you’re right. But I think it’s the best choice.”
    â€œHow can it be the best choice when it hurts so much?”
    Jeff was looking back and forth from Mom to me as we spoke. He looked like he was watching a game of Ping-Pong.
    â€œRight choices aren’t necessarily easy ones,” Mom countered.
    â€œThey should be,” I said crossly.
    â€œI’m sorry, honey.”
    I paused.
    Jeff looked at me. “Your turn,” he said. He smiled, but I didn’t smile back. Nevertheless, Jeff couldn’t contain himself anymore. He leaped off the couch. He kissed my mother. He went jumping around the room. “All right ! All right !” he kept shrieking. “Thanks, Mom! Just think — no more Ms. Besser, no more Jerry Haney, no more fights or trouble or homesickness.”
    â€œThanks a lot,” I said to him.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou won’t be homesick for us? You mean that when you’re in California you won’t miss us anymore? That’s nice, Jeff. That’s real nice. You are so, so thoughtful.” I bit my lip to keep from crying.
    â€œAw, come on, Dawn. Can’t you be happy for me?”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œDawn, try to understand —” my mom began, but I cut her off.
    â€œI understand plenty. Jeff can’t wait to get out of here. He can’t wait to leave us behind —”
    â€œIt’s not that,” Jeff broke in. “That’s not true at all. It’s just that nothing’s working out. I don’t belong here.”
    â€œYou don’t belong with your own mother and sister?” I asked incredulously.
    â€œI belong with Dad, too,” he replied. Then he grinned. “I gotta call the Pike triplets. They won’t believe this. And then, Mom, can I call Jason?” (Jason is one of Jeff’s California friends.)
    â€œSure,” replied Mom.
    I threw myself against the cushions of the couch and sulked. I felt guilty. I felt guilty because there I was, making a fuss over Jeff’s leaving, when I wouldn’t have minded going right along with him. He wasn’t the only one who missed Dad. I did, too. And I missed my friend Sunny, and I missed the kids I used to baby-sit for. Face it. I wanted to go back to California, too. But I wouldn’t leave Mom. No way. We were much too close for that. Besides, I liked Stoneybrook, too. Even in the middle of the freezing cold, snowy, icy winter, I liked Stoneybrook. What I wished was that we hadn’t moved at all. Then I wouldn’t feel so confused.
    â€œDawn?” said Mom