Paula’s voice grew softer, “Last year, when we first moved here, it was real hard making friends. For the longest time, Kayla was the only friend I had.”
“What was it like moving away from your home in Pennsylvania? Paula looked up at the ceiling fan, as if doing so would help her remember. “Back east, my very closest friends and relatives lived within a few blocks of us. We grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same school and church. When we told everyone we were moving, they promised to keep in touch. But I guess it’s hard staying in touch with friends you don’t see anymore.” She paused for a moment, finishing off a piece of fruit. “There’s one person who has never forgotten to write, though, especially by email.”
“Really?” I leaned forward, eager to hear of Paula’s secret love in Pennsylvania. Had she been holding out on me?
A broad smile danced across her shining face. “My grandma still remembers to write.”
I slumped back, a little disappointed. “What about guys you knew?”
“Well, one of my guy friends emailed me every other day, but when school started, I was too busy to answer,” she said with a grin.
I didn’t need to be told who had distracted her. From the time she’d laid eyes on Jared Wilkins, he had been her focus. And I’d become furious. But everything changed drastically a month ago when Paula made repeated efforts to win my friendship. Now I knew in my heart that she could be trusted.
I offered her a choice of sheer lipsticks. She chose my favorite, for her coloring, at least: Cinnamon Toast. I watched as she held the mirror up to her face, applying the lipstick.
“Wow,” I said, stepping back to view my handiwork. And hers. “You really look fabulous.”
Paula gazed into the hand mirror. “I think you’ve missed one of your talents, Holly,” she said. “You should consider becoming a makeup artist. You know, for movie stars and models.” She reached down and hugged my cat good-bye.
We laughed together as we walked to the bus stop down the street. The way I always had with Andie. It was fabulous having more than one best friend!
“Thanks again for the new me,” Paula said, waving as the bus screeched to a stop.
“Anyone who sees you will think you’re the brand-new girl in town,” I called to her.
She grinned as the bus doors swooshed open.
I hurried back to the house wishing a hearty farewell to my memory of the old Paula Miller. Inside and out.
When I closed the front door, Mom was sitting on the sofa, sipping tea. “Got a minute?” she asked. Her face looked drawn. Her eyes lacked their usual brightness.
Instantly, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I sat down. “What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you.” She placed her teacup carefully into the saucer on the round coffee table. By her precise movements and the tone of her voice, I knew trouble was brewing.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“I’m not sure.” She studied me. “I’m hoping you can fill me in, Holly-Heart.”
“About what?” I felt the knot tighten.
Her fingers strummed the coffee table, and her eyes were squinty. “Exactly who is Sean Hamilton?” she asked.
GOOD-BYE, DRESSEL HILLS
Chapter 5
“Sean?” I repeated his name as Mom pulled something from her pocket.
“This came today.” She held up a letter. “Your father will be skiing in town next week,” she said.
I didn’t tell her I knew all about Daddy’s plans from Sean. The last I’d heard, though, Daddy was coming during spring break.
Mom continued. “Evidently, your father’s bringing Tyler, your stepbrother, too.”
I nodded.
“And…” She paused, rereading the letter. “A boy named Sean Hamilton.”
I smiled, remembering the tall surfer I’d met last Christmas on the beach while visiting Daddy. “He’s just a friend I met when Carrie and I were out in California,” I explained. What I didn’t say was that Sean had just started writing to me. I had talked to him on the phone after my birthday, when Tyler called, and he’d sent a letter soon after that. It was just a friendly letter, telling about his classes and his niece and nephew. Nothing heavy, though he’d asked to exchange email addresses.
She fingered the envelope from Daddy. “By the way your father refers to him, he sounds older than you. Is that correct?”
“A little, yeah.” I set the record straight. “Sean’s going on sixteen, and he baby-sits for Tyler sometimes. That’s why Daddy knows him so well.”
“Really? A guy baby-sitter.” Mom wasn’t making this easy for me.
“He’s good with kids. He adores his niece and nephew,” I volunteered, not sure why I was trying so hard to convince her. “Just ask Carrie. She really liked him.”
Mom’s eyes got squinty again. “Your father let Sean baby-sit Carrie?”
“And Tyler…just for one short afternoon,” I said. Why was she making such a big deal over this?
“Well, I’d like to meet this boy before you go off skiing with him.” She adjusted her earring. “Your father has asked permission for you to spend the day skiing with Sean…and Tyler and him, of course.” She referred to the letter again.
“Well, it won’t be like a date, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said quickly. I could hear Uncle Jack coming up the porch steps, and I didn’t want him poking his nose into this conversation.
“I certainly hope not,” she said with an air of finality. “Still, I want to meet him.”
Uncle Jack was knocking the snow off his boots before he came in the front door. Quickly, I got up and left the room. He was the last person I wanted to talk to. My life, and possibly my future, lay in his hands.
I felt a blast of cold air as Uncle Jack came in. “Whoo-whee!” he said to Mom. “It’s getting cold. The weather reports say there’s a killer blizzard headed our way.”
Who cares about blizzards? I thought, closing the door to my room. I snuggled down on my window seat and picked up my latest Marty Leigh mystery novel. But I had a hard time keeping my mind on the plot. I kept thinking about moving.
After supper, Jared called. He sounded depressed. “Hey,” he began. “I couldn’t pass up a chance to talk to you for free, you know.” He chuckled a little, but he didn’t sound like himself.
I sighed into the portable phone. “I know how you feel.” I paused, hoping he wasn’t hurt about this afternoon. “I’m sorry about today, it just didn’t seem—”
He interrupted me. “It’s okay, Holly-Heart. Honest.” He was silent, then came the question I was expecting. “Have you heard anything more about the move?”
“Nothing.”
He was quiet again.
“You okay?” I asked.
Sadly, he answered, “Call me the minute you know something.
“You’ll be the very first,” I reassured him. “I promise.”
“I’ve been praying every minute, you know…that something will happen so you won’t leave.”
I smiled. “That’s very sweet. And listen, Jared. I’ve been praying about it, too.”
“That’s good.” He seemed to brighten a bit. “Isn’t there a verse in the Bible about that?”
“Yeah, it’s something about when two people pray for the same thing, it can happen.” I swirled my hair around my finger. “Where’s that verse found?” I asked, thinking of Danny. He would know.
“The Gospel of Matthew somewhere,” Jared said. “Hold on, I’ll grab my dad’s concordance. Every word in the Bible is listed in it—linked to a verse.”
“Perfect.” I could hear the pages turning as he flipped through them, searching.
“Here it is,” he said. “Listen to this.”
“Hold on a sec.” I walked to my desk, the portable phone still at my ear. I pulled out a pen from the center drawer and ripped off a piece of scratch paper to jot down the verse. “Okay, what is it?”
“Matthew 18:19,” he said. “Wo
w. It says, ‘If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.’ ”
“That’s incredible,” I said, switching the phone to my right ear.
“Keep praying, Holly-Heart,” he said softly.
I shivered at his words. “See you tomorrow.” Hanging up, I thought about what Andie said—about Jared getting too mushy over me. Maybe she was right. But for now, it was okay, I hoped.
Sean’s second letter arrived on Thursday after school. He wrote about how excited he was to come to Colorado to ski, and how much fun it would be to see me again. I’d been putting off writing to him because I really wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to encourage him too much, especially feeling the way I did about Jared. But I didn’t want to snub him, either. After all, he was coming next week. So I wrote:
Dear Sean,
Thanks for your letters. I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner. I’ve been busy with homework and other things.
My sister can’t wait to see Tyler again. He’s coming along, right?
I was just curious—how well do you ski? I’m sure my dad will coach you if you need help. He’s the one who taught me when I was little.
Dad wrote Mom a letter about bringing you to Dressel Hills with him, and now she wants to meet you. Mom’s like that with all my friends, so don’t worry, it’s no big deal. Well, I better get going.
Your friend,
Holly Meredith
The doorbell rang as I finished rereading the letter to Sean.
“Holly, it’s Andie,” Carrie called up the stairs.
“I’m coming!” I slipped my letter to Sean into the bottom drawer of my dresser and hurried to meet my friend.
She wore heavy black sweats and a purple ski jacket. “Did you hear?” she said, out of breath. “A blizzard’s heading toward Dressel Hills.”
I led her up the stairs to my room. “Yep, I heard,” I said, thinking about Uncle Jack’s announcement yesterday. I wished he would come home announcing something worthwhile for a change. Like that we were staying in Dressel Hills, for instance.
Andie plopped onto my four-poster bed as I closed the bedroom door behind me. “It’s supposed to be the storm of the decade. And it’s going to hit here tomorrow morning—before dawn.”
“Perfect!” I said, getting excited now. “Just think how much fun it’ll be getting out of school for a couple of days.”
She nodded. “We haven’t had off in ages.”
I sat cross-legged on my window seat across from her. “Wanna spend the night?”
She lit up at my suggestion. “I’ll call my mom and check.”
I handed her the portable phone. “Want me to walk with you to pick up your clothes? Stan will be home soon.”
Suddenly her eyes were ready to pop. “Uh, that’s okay,” she said, looking way too serious. “I’ll catch the bus.” Her words, and the way her face drooped, gave her away.
I gasped. “Is everything okay with you and Stan?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
“Aw, Andie,” I pleaded. “You can tell me.”
She stared at me. “You know, everything was absolutely incredible between Stan and me until your uncle started talking about moving to Denver.”
I sighed. “Stan ended your friendship because of that?”
“Yesterday.” She looked away.
“How rotten,” I whispered. “Why couldn’t you guys write or—hey, Stan could drive back up here to see you on weekends, when you’re old enough to start dating.”
She rolled over on my bed and propped herself up on one elbow. “Get over it.”
I glared at her. “Hey, I just wanna help.”
She sighed. “If you think a long-distance friendship with a boy can work at our age, you must be brain-dead.” She punched in the numbers on the phone. Then she stopped suddenly, looking up at me. “I can’t sleep over here tonight.”
I understood perfectly. “Yeah, because it would be weird hanging around with Stan in the house,” I sympathized with her. “Especially if we got snowed in tomorrow.”
She pulled on a dark curl, sitting up. “He says we’ll still be friends, but…”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “It’s never the same.” I was thinking of Danny Myers. We’d been really good friends, too, before he’d asked me to be his girlfriend. Then, after I decided not to spend so much time with him, things were totally different, even though we still considered ourselves friends.
I stretched my long legs, yawning. “I’m worried that’ll happen with Jared and me.”
“Well, you have no choice, do you? Not if you move away,”
Andie insisted. “Besides, it’s time Jared wakes up.”
I studied her. “What’re you saying?”
She let herself slide off the bed and onto the floor. “He acts like he owns you or something. You better check it out before you set up something long-distance. Maybe he thinks you and he, are, well…”
“What?” I demanded.
“Maybe Jared thinks he’s going to marry you someday!”
“So, what’s wrong with planning ahead?” I said, giggling, yet I was aghast.
Andie’s one eyebrow shot up and her mouth gaped open. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Well, we haven’t discussed it, if that’s what you mean, but I do think I care a lot about him.”
It was Andie’s turn to gasp. “Hey, Stan and I were humming right along before he found out you guys were probably moving. But I never thought I cared that much for him.”
“Mom says it’s not something you always know right away,” I said, still torn between hanging on to Jared and saying good-bye to our friendship.
Knock-knock.
We jumped. Someone was out in the hall! I hoped whoever it was hadn’t listened in on our conversation.
I raced to the door. “Oh, hi.” It was Stan. Frantically, I motioned for Andie to hide.
“Dad’s calling a family meeting in a half hour,” Stan said, looking quite serious. Then he leaned forward and asked quietly, “Is Andie here? Thought I heard her voice.”
“Were you listening?” I asked, horrified.
“Not really,” he said. By the mellow, sad sort of look on his face, I knew he was telling the truth. “I just wanted to talk to her before she leaves.”
“Hold on a sec,” I said, closing the door. I went to the closet and found Andie hiding there. “Hear that? Stan wants to talk to you. Maybe it’s true love after all.”
“In your wildest dreams,” she muttered, pushing my clothes back and emerging from the closet.
I put my ear against the door, eavesdropping as they talked in the hall. Stan said something about accompanying Andie home. And, in a flash, she agreed to it.
Oh, sure, Andie could say all she wanted against the boy-girl thing, but when it came right down to it, she liked Stan as much as I liked Jared.
GOOD-BYE, DRESSEL HILLS
Chapter 6
When Stan returned from taking Andie home, Mom rang her dinner bell. It was a dainty white bell, a wedding gift from a friend at the law firm where she used to work.
“Family meeting,” Uncle Jack called to us.
The sound of kids scurrying from one end of the house to the other reminded me of an old Brady Bunch rerun. But their “blended family” seemed to run much better than ours. After all, Mike Brady had never threatened to move his family to another city.
My stomach twisted in knots as I trudged into the living room and sat down. I glanced nervously at Uncle Jack. For the first time since his and Mom’s wedding, I wished he had never fallen in love with my mother. Our cozy all-girl household had been just fine before he came along.
Phil and Mark came marching up from the family room, scowling. Had to abandon their computer games, no doubt. Carrie and Stephie carried American Girl doll cutouts into the living room. Stan sprawled onto the sofa. He folded his arms on his chest as a dimwitted smile played across his face. I couldn�
��t help wondering: Had the trip to Andie’s changed things between them?
The younger kids horsed around while we waited for Mom to show up. Where was she, anyway? I groaned inside. Uncle Jack balanced a Bible and a family devotional on his knee. He seemed a bit nervous, too.
Finally, when I thought I’d burst with the build-up of suspense, Mom appeared. Stan moved his legs and sat up, making room for her on the sofa.
“Well,” Uncle Jack started, “are all of us present now?”
We nodded.
He leaned back in his chair, looking at each of us as he spoke. “This has been a whirlwind week for your mother and me. As you all know, Patterson Consulting is simply bursting its seams.” He paused, smiling at Mom across the room.
“So we’re moving?” I snarled.
“Holly!” Mom said. “Please be polite about this.”
“Tell your husband that,” I shot back.
Mom gasped. Uncle Jack leaned forward, trying to smile cheerfully. “We need to work together on this, Holly. I know how you feel, dear.”
Dear?
“Don’t call me your sweet names,” I shouted.
Over in the corner, Carrie almost lost it. Her eyes bugged out, and she put a hand over her mouth in shock. She’d never seen me freak out at an adult like this.
“Can we talk about this privately?” Uncle Jack said quietly.
I was burning inside, but from the look on Mom’s face, I knew if I opened my mouth one more time, I’d be sorry later. Very sorry! So I put my head down, refusing to look at my horrible uncle-turned-stepfather.
Uncle Jack continued as if nothing had happened, telling us a few more details about the business expansion. Then he prayed. “Dear Lord, we ask for your help with our plans. We seek your direction and ask for a clear-cut decision tomorrow night. Be with the children if there is to be a move, I pray. Comfort Holly, especially, as she struggles with the idea of moving. I ask these things in your name. Amen.”
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