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much?”
    He looked surprised, fake surprised. “No, she thinks you’re great.” He would never have to worry about winning an Oscar.
    I almost laughed in his face. It was a combination of what he said and the unconvincing way he said it. But I didn’t. It might embarrass him, wouldn’t want to do that.
    â€œIf you say so,” I shrugged.
    â€œYeah, I think she’s still tired from the move. She’s really not a people person.”
    You don’t say.
    â€œIt’s almost like…” He scrunched up his nose just like Megan.
    â€œLet me guess,” I interrupted. “Like she has a thing about letting you do stuff with people she doesn’t know.”
    He frowned. “Yeah.”
    â€œMegan told me the same thing,” I explained. The exact same thing, almost like they rehearsed it.
    â€œWell…that’s how it is.”
    â€œGuess I’ll just go out of my way to get to know her, so she’ll feel comfortable around me.” I didn’t really mean it. I just wanted to see what he’d say.
    â€œYou don’t have to do anything like that. I told you, she thinks you’re great,” he said, without looking me in the eye.
    â€œNo really, I can be ultra charming when I want to be.” I batted my eyelashes for special effect.
    He forced a smile. “It just takes her a while to warm up to people.”
    â€œ Riiiight .” My eyebrows were raised so high my face hurt.
    â€œLook, I’ll let you know what I can arrange for that trip downtown. I’ll talk to Mom, okay?” He stood and reached out his hand to help me up. I sensed he wanted to end the conversation.
    â€œThanks,” I said, testing my ankle.
    â€œNeed some help getting home?”
    â€œNo, I’m go—” I cut myself off. What was I thinking? “Actually, I probably shouldn’t put too much weight on it right away.”
    He put his arm around my waist and pulled me snug against his side. With my arm draped over his shoulder, I whimpered periodically as he helped me hobble home. Maybe the Oscar was in my future.
    â€œOkay then, later,” he said.
    â€œYeah, later. And thanks.” Once inside, I leaned my back against the door and just enjoyed the moment. But then my mind drifted to the events prior to my tumble. I was puzzled, no, more like intrigued. I thought about everything Megan and Sam had said. I wondered how many times they’d had to give that same explanation, to how many people. Mostly, I wondered if they believed it.
    You think your family’s so weird until you observe someone else’s. And that’s exactly what I was going to do. Somehow I was going to find out what was going on over there.

Chapter 6
    M egan and I were sitting on her front step, a jar of peanut butter between my feet, a box of Ritz crackers between Megan’s.
    â€œYou’re not doing it right,” I said. “You have to have at least five in your stack.” I demonstrated my building process then showed her how I could still easily fit my mouth around it.
    She looked at me doubtfully, brushing away some of my cracker debris that landed on her arm. “I think I’ll just do two.”
    â€œWell that’s not very exciting,” I joked.
    I was sharing my breakfast with Megan. I had noticed her sitting on the porch with Peter, the cat. Violin music was coming from the house so I knew Sam was practicing. The van wasn’t in the driveway. She looked sort of lonely so I had made my way across the street, bringing my feast with me.
    â€œOh. How’s the job going?” Megan asked, nibbling delicately on a cracker.
    My mouth was jammed full so I had to finish chewing first. “You know, it’s actually okay. Dad doesn’t treat me like his little girl and everyone in the office is really nice. So yeah. Better than I thought.”
    I shook the box. There were only a few crackers left. I held the box out