Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Marissa and I finally had some alone time on the porch. “Mikey’s changed.”
    Marissa nodded, but she frowned, too. “I’m actually kind of worried about him. He’s taking this whole thing with Mom and Dad really hard. I tried to explain that they’re just in a fight like he and I are always getting into,and that they’ll figure things out, but I think he’s scared. Shoot, I’m scared. It’s like we’re in the middle of some big explosion, and family parts are flying everywhere.”
    “It’s because your dad’s still gambling?”
    She looks over her shoulder and drops her voice even further. “Hudson says you can gamble away your house by taking out a loan or a
second
loan on it and gambling away the money.”
    “But … did your dad really do that?”
    “I don’t know! Mikey and I were banished to our rooms yesterday, so I had to sneak out and listen through walls. I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard, though.”
    I thought about this a minute. “So your dad would have to pay the bank back, and if he doesn’t … ?”
    “Hudson says the bank seizes the house.”
    “Like, kicks you out?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Wow.”
    So we talk some more about her mom and dad and all the things that were shattering inside the McKenze mansion, and when she’s finally talked out, she asks, “So what’s going on with Lady Lana this time?”
    I roll my eyes. “Compared to what you’re going through, I feel stupid even talking about it.” But when I give her a rundown on Loopy Lana’s latest greatest, she gasps and says, “Unbelievable!”
    “Yeah, but it’s not like she’s home throwing things and shouting insults, or has a gambling problem.”
    “Maybe it’s like my dad,” Marissa says after a minute.“Maybe your mom knows what she’s doing is messing everyone up but can’t stop.”
    “Oh, please. There’s no such thing as Selfish Divas Anonymous. She doesn’t
have
a problem, she
is
a problem. She just doesn’t care about anyone but herself.”
    Anyway, I did feel better talking it all out, and after we had some snacks with Hudson and Mikey, I invited Marissa to come along with me to get the bridesmaid shoes. I pulled the swatch from my pocket and said, “Can you picture me in a big, puffy lavender dress with matching shoes?”
    Marissa’s eyes bugged. “Are you serious?”
    I nodded and wagged the swatch in front of Mikey. “Can you believe it? Me. In lavender shoes.”
    It was the first smile I’d seen on him since I’d gotten there.
    “Not high-tops, either,” I told him, trying to keep the smile going. “Let me tell you—it’s gonna be
weird
.”
    “Can I come?” he asked.
    “To see me get lavender shoes? Are you serious? That seems like the boringest thing ever!”
    He looked down. “I’ll be good.”
    We all fell quiet. Then Hudson said to him, “Probably not a good adventure for you, m’man. How about another game of foosball?”
    My eyebrows went flying. “When did you get foosball?” I turned to Mikey. “How about
you
go get the shoes and I’ll stay here and whip Hudson in foosball.”
    But I could tell—Mikey still wanted to tag along.
    Then Marissa gives me the wiggly eye—you know,trying to tell me something without letting Mikey know she’s spilling a secret. And the funny thing is, I understand right away what she’s saying.
    Mikey doesn’t want Marissa to leave.
    “Hey,” I tell Mikey, “if you want to tag along and witness the incredible sight of me in sissy feet, come on.”
    He smiles again, so I point at him and say, “But no blackmailing me, you got it?”
    He nods, then turns to Hudson and says, “Foosball after, okay?”
    Hudson’s fine with that, so I leave my skateboard on his porch and off we go to the mall.
    Now, the last time Mikey, Marissa, and I walked to the mall together, Mikey complained the whole way about how tired and thirsty and hungry and
tortured
he was. He even lay down on the sidewalk a few times to throw tantrums.