Emma Moves In
Page 11
“Yes—he’s coming, and everything’s fine,” Emma said, and both her cousins cheered. “Except I have to apologize to my mom for snooping in her texts.”
“Ugh.” Natalia made a face. “It’s hard to gather information and respect people’s privacy. But I’m sure she’ll forgive you.”
“Yeah,” Emma agreed. She plopped down on the air mattress, which squeaked beneath her. “I can’t believe it—my dad will be here next week.” She looked up at Zoe and Natalia. “Thank you,” she said. “So much. I needed you to help me calm down so I could find out what was going on, and you did.”
“You’re welcome,” Natalia said.
“That’s what we’re here for,” said Zoe. She squeezed Emma’s hand. “You’re our Emma!”
A week later, Emma stood outside the classroom with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. A hard ball of anxiety was filling her stomach and her chest, and in that moment, she wanted to be anywhere but there.
“Is Emma okay?” Caitlin asked, actually sounding worried.
“She just freaks out sometimes,” Natalia said. “Can you just step back and give her some room?”
Emma hadn’t been worried—until that second. They were supposed to go in front of the class in a few minutes, and it had just struck her that everyone was going to be watching.
“Listen,” Zoe said, leaning in close. “You came up with this scene, and you put us all together—I don’t think Natalia and I have ever done a class project together—and it’s really good. Because of you.”
Natalia nodded. Emma looked back and forth between them. Their eyes were warm and confident. They felt sure she could do it. She couldn’t let them down.
Caitlin draped a large piece of dark fabric over Emma’s shoulders like a cloak, the costume she wore in her role as the first suitor.
“Okay,” Emma said. “Let’s go.”
Emma adjusted her beard and took a bow as the class clapped. Beside her, Natalia sank into a low, sweeping curtsy, while Caitlin dipped her head, grinning. Zoe waved at the class from one side.
Their Catherine, Called Birdy scene had gone very well, Emma thought. They’d remembered their lines, and the class had laughed in all the right places. Emma’s two beards had stayed on when they were supposed to, and her costume changes—wrapping a length of cloth around herself in different ways—had gone smoothly. The backdrop Zoe had painted, of a fine room in a medieval gentleman’s house, was colorful and elegant. Natalia had been funny, growling at Caitlin, while trying to flatter her indignant suitors into staying. And Caitlin …
“You were really good,” Emma told Caitlin. “You seemed …” Likable, she thought. A lot more likable than she found actual Caitlin most of the time. “… really smart and funny,” she settled on. “You seemed like Birdy was in the book.”
“Well, I was saying lines from the book,” said Caitlin. “Thanks, though. You were good, too.”
It wasn’t much, but it was the first nice thing Caitlin had ever said to her, Emma thought, and they exchanged tentative smiles. Maybe we won’t ever be best friends, Emma thought, but I think we can get along. And we can both be close to Natalia without getting in each other’s way. Who knew, anyway? Maybe by the time they finished high school, she and Caitlin would be like sisters.
“And I, of course, was amazing,” Natalia said dramatically, leading the way back to their seats.
Mr. Thomas shook his head at her, looking amused, but only said, “Good job, girls,” and called up the next group to present their project.
At lunch, a couple of people told them how great they’d been, but Natalia had already moved on. “You’re all coming tonight, right?” she asked, looking around their lunch table. Zoe and her friends had joined them for once, pleased with the success of their projects, and the table was even more crowded than usual.
Seaview House Bed-and-Breakfast wasn’t ready to be an actual bed-and-breakfast yet—most of the guest rooms weren’t finished—but the public rooms were done, and Emma’s mom and Aunt Alison had decided they were ready to start booking events. Tonight was just a party for family and friends, to show off how they’d fixed up Seaview House so far.
But since Waverly was a small town, Emma figured ‘family and friends’ meant pretty much the whole town.
After school, Emma hurried toward the kitchen, tying an apron around her waist. “Sorry I’m late, Dad,” she said. “I got caught up talking to Zoe and Natalia about tonight. Mom wants us to hand around appetizers, but Natalia’s sure she’s going to drop them in someone’s lap. Especially if she gets the hot ones.”
“Well, definitely don’t give her the hot ones, then,” Emma’s dad said, turning around from the stove. “We’ll put her in charge of the fruit skewers.”
Even though she was late, Emma stopped for a minute to look at her dad. He had only been back for two days, and she still got an expanding feeling of love and relief inside her chest whenever she saw him. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.
He beamed back at her. “Me, too,” he said. “I don’t know how I got along without my favorite sous chef for so long.” Handing her a stack of paper, he added, “For instance, I need your expertise right now. Your mom left me the recipes for some finger foods she’s tried out, but I’m not sure how she wanted these mushroom and feta bites. Are those folded into phyllo dough, like turnovers? Or are they open on top, like nests?”
“They’re sort of pointy,” Emma said. “Like the dough is a little twisted on top.” She twisted her fingers, trying to show him what she meant.
“Ah, I think I’ve got it,” her dad said, “Well, let’s get chopping.” He grabbed a handful of shallots from the counter. Emma pulled a box of mushrooms out of the refrigerator and cleaned them. Grabbing a knife from the knife block on the counter, she started chopping, side by side with her dad.
Practically everybody in town really must be here, Emma thought that evening, looking around at the party in full swing. Seaview House was lit with warm golden light, and flowers from the garden filled vases on the tables and on the mantel over the fireplace. Her mom and Aunt Alison’s friends from high school were chattering in groups, while little kids ran in and out from the porch with Mateo and Tomás. Emma had already seen most of the kids from her class, and Natalia had abandoned her tray of fruit skewers to talk to them long ago. Caitlin, standing next to Natalia, caught Emma’s eye and sent her a small, but genuine, smile.
“Coming through,” Zoe said, nudging Emma in the back with a tray. “Here, you take these, and I’ll go back for some more of the cheesy things. Your dad said those are going like crazy.”
Emma took the tray of tiny fruit tarts. Emma liked having a purpose in the crowd. She didn’t need to feel awkward with new people, she could just offer them food. “Are there forks?” she asked. “Grandma Stephenson’s friends love these, but they won’t eat them without forks.”
“Forks,” Zoe said, tucking them into Emma’s apron pocket. “I know about Grandma and her friends. No sticky fingers in the Historical Society crowd.”
Emma carried her tray over to Grandma’s pack of older ladies. “Doesn’t that look good,” one of them said, reaching for a tart. “But I think I need a fork.”
“I’ve got it,” Emma said, and rested the tray against their table to hand a fork to her as the other ladies reached for the tarts.
Grandma Stephenson and Abuelita were sitting together surrounded by their friends. As Emma steadied her tray, she overheard Grandma say, “Rosa designed a whole set of exercises to help me with my hip. I’m more limber already.”
Abuelita dimpled. “I keep telling her, what she needs is to build her strength back up.”
Emma’s eyes met Grandma’s, and Grandma gave her a tiny wink.
Grandma and Abuelita’s friends had emptied her tray, and Emma wove her way through the crowd back toward the kitchen. Just as she got there, Natalia dashed up and grabbed her by the wrist.
“Hey!” Emma said, almos
t dropping the tray. Zoe was behind Natalia, looking resigned.
“Come on upstairs,” Natalia said.
“The party’s down here,” Emma pointed out. “And we’re supposed to stay and pass out appetizers. This crowd’s starving.”
“We’ll come back,” Natalia insisted. “And, frankly, they’ve gotten enough work out of us for now. We’re not employees, we’re their daughters.”
“I’m not sure you’re the right one to complain about this,” Zoe said. “What did you do, carry one tray before you went off with your friends?”
“We can’t just walk out,” Emma said. “Everybody wants food. Besides, this is fun.”
“I have an idea,” Zoe said. She pulled them both into the kitchen. “More trays?” she asked Emma’s dad.
“On the counter,” he said. “I’m about to take a break and get out there and mingle. This should be enough to keep everybody fed for a while.”
Zoe hoisted a tray in each hand—one with the mushroom things, another with some kind of creamy pinwheel that was Emma’s dad’s recipe—and Natalia and Emma each picked one up.
“But we have to go upstairs,” Natalia said as they pushed their way back through the doors. “It’s important.”
“Voilà,” Zoe said, putting her trays down on two small tables. “Problem solved: We can leave and everyone still gets fed. The ravenous hordes will find the food here.”
Emma and Zoe followed Natalia to the back hall, where she nudged open the hidden door to the secret staircase. On the staircase, the noise of the crowd was muffled and, as they climbed, became only the occasional laugh in the distance.
“It looks so nice up here now!” Zoe said as they entered Emma’s room.
Emma looked around with satisfaction. Her antique bed had a cozy new comforter on it, with matching curtains at the window. In the dark outside the windows, they could see the stars shining bright in the sky and the lights of a few boats traveling across the bay. Emma had hung Cousin Carolyn’s sketch of the bay on the opposite wall so that she would see the water and boats whichever way she was facing.
“I miss you in our room, though,” Natalia said. “I liked all of us together.”
“I don’t miss tripping over you every morning,” Zoe said. “No offense.”
“So, what’s up, Natalia?” Emma asked. “What’s so important that we had to leave the party?”
“Well,” Natalia said, shaking back her hair dramatically. Her eyes were shining. “Tonight is a very special night. Seaview House is full of people again. Our moms have their dream business. Emma’s dad is here at last. And Emma has her new room. I think we should do the cousin pact.”
The cousins clasped hands, Emma in the middle, and faced the bay.
“Our days together slide like sand through our fingers,” Natalia said.
Zoe chimed in. “The tides go in and the tides go out, but we stay the same.”
“Not just cousins and sisters, but best friends,” Emma said. “Forever.” Natalia and Zoe squeezed her hands as they echoed. “Forever.”
“Are you happy you moved here, Emma?” Zoe asked as she let go of Emma’s hand. She looked a little wistful, as if she was thinking that it hadn’t always been easy.
“Of course she is!” Natalia said indignantly.
Emma smiled. “Of course I am,” she agreed. “This is where I belong.”
Several dogs are staying at the family bed and breakfast with their owners. There’s even going to be a wedding—with dog ring bearers! Natalia loves dogs and is eager to help out, so she offers to watch and walk all the guests’ dogs. She’s sure her sister, Zoe, and her cousin, Emma, will help too.
But Zoe and Emma are busy with soccer and the school play. Natalia doesn’t realize she’s bitten off more than she can chew until one of the dogs goes missing. If the girls can’t find it, the wedding will be wrecked! Can Natalia find the runaway and save the big day?
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First printing 2017
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