Mustard on Top Read Online Free PDF Page B

beneath thick, dark eyeliner and heavy makeup. Her ebony hair clashed with her auburn freckles, and the scarlet nose stud she wore glittered in the sunlight.
    “Hi you two,” Helen said.
    “Oh, hi Mom.” Theo straightened his posture.
    “Hi.” Emma smiled.
    “Is the prep work done?” Helen asked.
    “Almost,” Theo said and disappeared into the back.
    “How were the lunch sales?”
    “It was really busy.” Emma moved to the register and retrieved the logbook where they’d begun to keep hourly reports, another of Agatha’s suggestions. She handed Helen the book splayed open with the day’s receipts on top. “We’re going to need more of those new DerFoodle Franks.”
    “We’re out already?” Helen was surprised. She rolled out a specialty hot dog about once a month. They rarely sold well, and she usually had to stop serving them, but that didn’t deter her creative streak.
    “The T-shirts are in my office. Put one on,” Helen told Emma. “You can’t wear see-through clothes to work.”
    Emma groaned then disappeared.
    Helen scanned the reports. Lunch had been busy, maybe even record-setting.
    Emma returned wearing the T-shirt and a scowl, and Helen set the log under the register. “Can you hold down the fort for a few minutes? I need to speak with Theo.”
    “Sure.”
    A year earlier, Helen had debated on hiring the Goth-styled girl, but the choice had been sound. Emma, a self-proclaimed artist, was responsible. Even so, Helen had mixed feelings about Theo being in relationship with her.
    In the prep room at the back of the building, Helen found Theo chopping onions. Plastic-covered, stainless steel bins full of tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, and other toppings lined the prep counter.
    She touched Theo’s arm. “Walk with me for a few minutes?”
    “Uh oh.”
    “It’s nothing bad.”
    Theo’s shoulders drooped as he trudged out the rear door. Once they were on the boardwalk, Helen asked, “How was your meeting with Ben?”
    Theo shrugged. “Okay I guess. Weird.”
    Helen gave him a quick side hug. “Oh, sweetie.”
    “I’m fine, Mom.”
    “I love you, sweetheart.”
    Theo glanced around. “I love you too, now stop.” He frowned. “I told Ben I’d have dinner with him tomorrow night. I figured that was okay since Hot Diggitys will be closed.”
    Helen’s stomach twisted. “You don’t seem happy.”
    “He… I don’t know… he really wanted to, and I felt bad. I forgot we’re staying at Agatha’s house when I invited him. He’ll probably want to go out anyway.”
    “Don’t worry about how he feels Theo. You are not obligated to see him again.”
    Theo puckered his lips and shrugged.
    “I’ll be happy to come along, or we can order a pizza. Whatever you want, honey.”
    “I guess I’d rather have you there, but not if going is too weird for you,” Theo said.
    The distress on his young face put Helen’s stomach in knots. “I don’t mind at all.”
    Theo straightened his shoulders, but the worry lines creasing his forehead remained. “You sure?”
    “Of course not.”
    He nodded. “You think Agatha will be home?”
    “Here’s some good news,” Helen said. “We are officially allowed to go back inside our house again. We can meet there and avoid Agatha all together.”
    “We can sleep there now?”
    “No, but we can begin doing fix-up work. I’ll start getting bids tomorrow.”
    “I’m ready to be back home,” Theo said.
    “Me too. I don’t like relying on Agatha’s charity. Guess what else.”
    “What?”
    “When I was filling out all the insurance paperwork today, I decided I’m going to take an algebra class in the fall,” Helen announced.
    Theo’s face screwed up. “How’d you make that leap in logic?”
    “I had to calculate room sizes and—” Helen bristled. “Anyway, I thought algebra would be a good class to take.”
    “We barely passed algebra in high school,” Theo said.
    “What are you talking about ‘barely passed?’“ Helen had