Page 22 of The Lookback

“I only got to ask about the singing, and she didn’t even answer.” Maren’s scowling at her mother.

“Yes,” I say. “I could sing quite well, at least, for Manila I could. It’s not as if we have a lot to compare my singing with. I certainly had no real training.”

“And what about Montana?” Emery dings me again.

“After his father died of a heart attack, his mom dragged them out to live with her brother.” I shrug. “He went, because otherwise she’d have been all alone, and he would have too.”

Amanda sits down and tugs me down next to her on the sofa, crowding Emery a little. “You’re telling me that after you did that play together, after all that chemistry you felt, you just. . .” She shrugs. “You just went back to normal?”

“I was the only one feeling it,” I say. “Clearly he wasn’t, so. . .yes. We went back to normal.”

Amanda closes her eyes and groans.

“Mostly back to normal,” I hedge.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Emery asks. “Something else happened, right?”

“That was only the fall of our junior year,” I say. “We had a year and a half before his mom dragged him to Montana, so yeah. More happened.”

Maren perches on the edge of the chair I vacated and rubs her hands together. “I knew it. You kissed, right?”

I can’t help rolling my eyes. “You young people are all about the lips pressing together.”

“I hate to tell you this, but even us older people are all about that,” Amanda says. “So did you?”

“It wasn’t like that,” I say. “When I found out he didn’t like me like that, I decided to put my time back into trying to repair things with Jed. But something had made it worse, not better. He was back to totally ignoring me.”

“Yeah, he knew what you didn’t,” Maren says. “That Tommy waslying, so seeing you two together every day probably just ticked him off more.”

“I’m sure that wasn’t it,” I say. “But after a blizzard ruined our homecoming dance, everyone decided to take the budget from that and make our prom dance for my junior yearhuge.”

“Wow,” Emery says. “What does huge mean?”

“Well, with a graduating class of thirty-eight,” I say, “huge is relative. But we were having Miss Lou’s famous meatballs, pigs in a blanket,andcheesecake as refreshments, and we found a local band to come play for us. In Manila, those were all the ingredients for a really rocking party.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Maren says.

I shrug. “Most everyone was planning to go—freshmen all the way up to seniors. That made it the biggest event of the year. Only, I had no one to be my date.”

Maren and Emery look at each other. “So, wait. Who did you go with?”

“It was a week before prom, and no one had asked me yet.” I nod slowly. “I was actually thinking that I wouldn’t go. Or if I did go, I’d hide behind the refreshment table with the excuse that I had to serve people.”

“Isn’t this kind of the same situation that got you into the whole mess with Jed the year before?”

I nod slowly. “Two years, but yes. Something like this.”

“Oh, no,” Emery says. “And I’m guessing this one didn’t go much better?”

“Well.” Before I can say anything, someone knocks on the front door.

Without thinking, Emery hops up to answer it.

“Wait,” I say, but it’s too late.

She’s already opened the door. “Oh.” Emery turns back around slowly as if she’s just realizing how strange my whole house looks right now. “I thought it was a package.” She turns toward me slowly, as Abigail peers around her.

“You two are both here. That’s a stroke of luck. Helen’s coming back today, so once I have all your signatures—” She freezes. “What’s wrong with your family room?”

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