Page 68 of Better Than the Movies
He propped the stick next to the firepit and picked up the bucket sitting behind his chair. “I actually have early lifting tomorrow, so I should probably shut this down if you’re ready to go in.”
There was something about how soft his face was at that moment—calm and happy and licked by fireglow—that made me feel lucky I’d discovered who he’d grown into. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
He dipped the bucket into the pond and poured it on the fire, sending up a cloud of smoke. As we walked out of the Secret Area and into his backyard, he said he’d text me when Michael told him what time the movie night was happening.
I went to bed feeling happy, even though I wasn’t entirely sure about what. Or, rather,who. I lay there, kind of thrummingly relaxed, until the smell of smoke in my hair drove me so crazy, I had to take a midnight shower and change my pillowcase.
ThenI went to bed happy.
CHAPTER NINE
“Love is patient, love is kind, love means slowly losing your mind.”
—27 Dresses
“Hey, kiddo.” Helena looked over at me from the doorway that led to the kitchen as I practiced piano in the living room. I liked playing in the morning, and I liked playing in my fancy flowered pajamas with the matching silk slippers. It made practicing feel like an elegant pastime, like I was an erstwhile Austen character honing one of the skills that would make mea fearsome thing to behold.
“You hungry? Want me to toast you a Pop-Tart or something?”
“No, thanks.” I tried to keep playing while I talked to her, but I’d never been able to pull off that particular skill. If I practiced for more than an hour or two a week—like my mother used to—it probably wouldn’t seem so difficult. She’d played every single day, and it had showed. “I had a banana already.”
“Got it.”
She turned to walk back into the kitchen, and I forced myself to do it. I said, “Helena. Wait.”
She tilted her head. “Yeah?”
“I know it’s last minute,” I blurted out, steeling myself againstthe feelings as I extended the invitation, “but, um, Jocelyn just texted me and said her mom can take us prom dress shopping later this morning, since it’s a teacher in-service day. Do you want to come?”
Helena lifted her chin and lowered her brows, tucking her hair behind her ears. “That depends. How come you’re asking?”
“Um, because I thought you might want to come…?”
Her look told me that she knew better. “Your dad didn’t tell you to do this?”
Part of me felt like being honest, but instead I said, “No, was he supposed to or something?”
She blinked and looked at me for another second, and then her face transformed into happiness. “I wouldloveto come, honey. Oh my God. I think we should hit Starbucks first, where we can guess people’s coffee orders by their outfits. Then we can do the dress thing, and maybe land at Eastman’s for some lunch that includes that hot lava dessert which is supposedly to die for. Although, I seriously doubt any food isto die for.I mean, I’m obsessed with Caramello bars, but I would certainly never give my life for one.”
She was being her usual rambling, sarcastic self, but I felt like I’d made her really, really happy.
“What about ice cream?” I reached over with my right hand and tinkled out an ice-cream-truck-ish tune, glad I’d asked her. Perhaps this would be good for us. “That could be considered to die for.”
“It’s not even a solid. If I’m going down for a food, it’s not going to be a food that’s hovering somewhere between two chemical states.”
“Good point.” I stopped playing. “Do we even discuss your beloved banana bread?”
“It’s worthy of felonious thievery, maybe, but not death. I would steal it from the president himself, but I wouldn’t just lay down my life for its delicious moistness, either.”
“But wouldn’t stealing from the president get you killed by the Secret Service, and therefore be the same thing?”
“Well, I’m not going to get caught, of course.”
“Of course, indeed.”
I went upstairs and got ready, and by the time I was done, Helena was waiting for me in the living room. She was wearing a boss bitch leather jacket that looked perfect with her jeans, and I once again marveled at the fact that she was my dad’s age.
“You ready to do this? I’m thinking we buy a joke dress just to freak your dad out. Like, we get you a stunning gown, but we also get a trashy little number that gives him a coronary.”
