I woke up to the sun shining in the window and the air smelled like something delicious.
I got dressed and headed downstairs to the kitchen to see if I could help. When I walked into the kitchen someone placed their hand over my eyes and walked me right back the way I’d come.
“And a good day to you to,” I said as the hand was taken from my eyes. I turned around to face one of my best friends.
“Grace!” I shouted with glee.
Grace pulled me into a hug.
“Hey Lex. I missed you. I have so much to tell you but first you should eat breakfast and then I was thinking we could go to the tree-house, and then go swimming,” said Grace.
I sat down at the table in the dining room as Jack walked down the stairs. Grace bent over and whispered in my ear, “who’s that? A new worker? He’s really cute, don’t-ch-ya think?”
“He’s my brother and he’s pretty good looking,” I whispered back, though it made me feel like I wanted to barf.
“Hey, I’m Grace. What’s your name?” said Grace sitting down next to me and directing her introduction to Jack.
“I’m Jack,” said Jack quietly as he sat down at the table across from Grace.
“Oh cool, so you and Lexi are siblings?”
“Yup,” said Jack.
“How old are you?”
“I’m fourteen.”
“Ditto, that’s awesome. Where are you from?” Asked Grace in an excited voice.
“Los Angeles,” said Jack with a sigh.
“Awesome. I live in Vermont over the summer with my mom and I live in Quebec with my dad during the school year.”
“You live in Quebec?” Asked Jack coming out of his misery for a second.
“Yup, I love it there despite the coldness.”
My grandma walked into the room interrupting the conversation.
“Julie and I have made something that hopefully everyone likes. It is to celebrate your new arrivals,” she said with a big smile.
The door to the kitchen opened and Julie walked out with a plate of six cinnamon buns. My Nana rarely made cinnamon buns because they took a lot of time and you had to prepare them the night before.
“Two cinnamon buns each,” said my Nana coming over to hug Jack, Grace and myself.
“Thank you so much Nana!” I said smiling.
“You’re welcome Lexi, after all you are my favorite granddaughter,” said my nana, returning my smile. “Jack, I do hope you like cinnamon buns.”
“I’m also your only granddaughter,” I said as Julie placed the buns on the table.
Jack took one and bit into it.
“They’re delicious,” he said quietly.
“I’m glad you like them. If there’s anything you need, just let me know. I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said.
Breakfast was filled with Grace trying to make a conversation with Jack but they would always end up silently eating their food and it I felt really awkward so I was glad when it was over.
Before we went upstairs to get changed into our bathing suits Grace turned to Jack,
“Hey, we were gonna go swimming. D’you wanna come?”
I looked at Grace in alarm and whispered quietly, “why’d you invite him, the two of us don’t get along.”
Grace shrugged. I sighed not believing that one of my best friends was being nice to my brother who was so mean to me. It was betrayal but I was sure that she would realized she wasn’t being very considerate and apologize and then we would be able to hang out in peace.
Jack looked at the two of us whispering and waited till I was done to say “I’d better not, I don’t think I’m wanted,” he looked at me but sadly.
“Well if you’re not wanted then how come I asked you to come with us?” Asked Grace, stepping on my foot to make sure I didn’t comment. I sighed inwardly, if this was how my whole vacation was going to be like I might as well stay in my room forever and never come out.
“I dunno, besides I have work to do.” Jack said.
“C’mon, really? You would choose work over play? You are not a normal kid,” said Grace.
“No, you’re right,” Jack sighed and with a far-away and sad look in his eyes, “I’m not a normal kid.”
“Well my goal this summer is to make you normal no matter what it takes. In fact I will drag you up the stairs if you don’t wanna go up yourself.”
Jack smiled weakly, “okay. But I can’t do it for long.”
“That’s okay. Go upstairs and get in your bathing suit. We’ll meet you on the porch,” said Grace standing up and walking out the door.
Jack got up and brought his plate to the kitchen then he walked upstairs.
I stared after him then got up and followed. Before going into my room I knocked on Jacks door.
“Mhm?”
I poked my head through the door, “I just want to you to tell your girlfriend I don’t like her either.” Then I walked into my room feeling both guilty and satisfied. If Jack was going to make my life miserable he would get payback.
We all met on the porch and then headed to the swimming hole. It was a very sunny day. The birds were chirping and the air smelled like a farm, cow manure and freshly cut hay along with fresh produce. Just being outside made me feel better. We walked behind the house and towards the woods. The grass was soft against my bare feet and the wind blew my hair into my eyes. I walked next to Grace who walked next to Jack. Their conversation was about something I couldn’t understand, and when I asked Grace about it she said, “Oh, you won’t understand ‘til you’re older.”
That hurt but I let it slide off my back because I knew that Grace was just being sociable and would talk with me later about stuff Jack didn’t understand.
We walked a through the woods along the creek until there was a clearing that held the swimming hole. It wasn’t as much a hole as just a deeper part of the stream. It was about seven feet deep at its deepest and it was twenty feet across from shore to shore. The nice thing was that it was like being at the beach because the shore slopped down gradually so you could wade in slowly.
I spotted the rope that hung five feet above the deepest part of the water. It was for the zip-line that ran through the trees starting at the tree house and going from tree to tree, platform to platform and in one place it went over the water so that you could jump off into the swimming hole. My Popop had built a diving board that was on the other side of the swimming hole. I ran around to the diving board, crossing a little bridge that my Popop had also made and jumped in. The water, which was a greenish blue and cold, enveloped my body in a soft blanket as I swam upward towards the surface. My hair billowed around my head and I opened my eyes. Everything was perfect down here. I wished my life could be perfect like the swimming hole. Anything that wasn’t needed was washed away and everything that was needed was kept.

When I broke the surface I felt the air hit my face. I looked around and saw Grace and Jack sitting on the shore talking.
Grace was very pretty in a farmer’s daughter sort of way She had silky light brown hair that went down to half way between her shoulders and her elbow. She was very strong from all of the farm work. Grace’s face was beautiful. Her bangs fell in just the right place and her features where very defined. She had a small nose and her cheek bones stuck out. Her lips were just the right size and her eyes were a gorgeous green. She and Jack looked similar if you changed their hair color. I was so much different from either one of them. I had wavy brown hair that I always put in a ponytail and big, brown eyes. My nose was a little big but I didn’t think it looked bad. I wasn’t pretty and I wasn’t ugly. I was normal.
As I looked at Grace, sitting on the shore talking to my brother, I realized how much she had changed and how grown up she was. Maybe she wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore because she was too grown-up and had someone her own age to hang out with.


I looked over at Jack. He was very handsome just like my father. It was obvious when you looked at him that he worked out a lot because he had abs. when he talked to Grace I could see a smile forming on his lips and I wanted to cry. The only reason that I had been mean to him was because I was upset that he hadn’t greeted me when I came. I wanted him to only cheer up when I talked to him, but no, Grace had to be the one. Why did she have to be so perfect?
My eyes started to get blurry and my throat got clogged with mucus. I ducked underwater before the tears started to overwhelm me. I couldn’t cry now, not in front of Jack and Grace. Grace would keep asking me what the matter was and Jack, would… no I didn’t even want to think about it.
I swam back up to the surface, dried my eyes and headed over to the shore.
“Are you guys gonna come in?” I asked.
The conversation stopped and they both looked at me like they had forgotten I was there. Grace looked at Jack.
“D’you wanna go in?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Jack.
“C’mon then,” said Grace grabbing Jack’s hand and pulling him into the water. Jack blushed a little but he let himself be pulled into the water. Grace turned around and splashed Jack who stood stunned for a second and then splashed her back. Grace splashed me and I splashed her and soon we were all in a splashing fight. After a while, when Jack’s lips had turned blue, we all decided to lie on the beach and try to get tan. We were all content and quiet for a while and I had forgotten about the events of yesterday. Then Grace started to talk.
“So, Lex. I never got to ask you why you came early and Jack, why you even came to your grandparent’s house.” I looked at Grace for a long moment trying to process what she had just said then all of the yesterday came rushing back to me and all of my thoughts about Grace getting older. It all hit me suddenly without warning. Tears swelled in my eyes and I got up abruptly.
“Lex, where’re you going?” Grace yelled after me as I tore through the woods with my hands constantly wiping tears off of my cheeks.
When I arrived at the house I ran upstairs to my room and collapsed on the bed in sobs. I don’t know how long I cried for but then I realized that crying wouldn’t change anything so I stopped immediately and walked over to my window seat where I sat and looked out over the fields.
After about fifteen minutes someone knocked on my door.
“Who is it?” I called trying to make myself presentable.
“Grace,” called Grace. I debated telling her to leave but then I remembered that I should be nice to her because she hadn’t known how much what she’d said had hurt me.
“Come in,” I called back in a cheery voice turning around so I could see Grace when she came in.
The door opened and Grace walked in still wearing her swimsuit. My first thought was that it took her a long to walk from the swimming hole to the house.
“Listen Lex. Jack told me about…” she paused probably looking for words that wouldn’t start me crying again, “everything and I’m sorry for being so ignorant and inconsiderate. My mom hadn’t told me but I hadn’t asked so I can’t really blame her. Can I have a hug?” she asked holding out her arms and walking towards me. I smiled,
“Yeah, sure.”
Grace embraced me and I took a long deep breath. She smelled like peppermint and pond muck which together didn’t smell very good but I didn’t care. Grace let go of me and her green eyes looked into mine.
“I was thinking we could both shower and the two of us could go to the tree house and catch up with each other and maybe your grandma would let us bring lunch. Also, I didn’t know that you and Jack didn’t get along. I’m sorry,” Grace paused and then continued, “I still think you should try to include him but we can talk about that later, in the tree house.”
Grace and I showered and changed and then together we went into the kitchen where my Nana and Julie were working on lunch.
“Hi girls, how are you?” Asked my Nana, before we could say anything.
“We’re good,” Grace answered. “Actually we had a question for you.”
“Yes?” said my Nana as she got glasses out of the cabinet.
“We were wondering if we could have lunch in the tree house,” I said waiting for the answer we always got when we asked that question.
“You girls know how I feel about that,” said my Nana taking three loaves of bread out of the oven.
“Yes but…” I got down on my knees and put my hands together in front of my chest, Grace followed my lead.
“Nana, please? We haven’t had time to catch up and we won’t really at lunch because everyone will be talking with us or Jack or someone else. Pretty please with sugar on top?” I said sticking my bottom lip out.
“And cherries,” added Grace.
“Yeah, maraschino cherries,” I said.
“Ooo, and with whipped cream,” fantasized Grace.
“Yes and...” I started.
My nana laughed, “Alright girls, I get the point. I guess you can go to the tree house just this once-,” I sprang to my feet and hugged my nana.
“Thank you so much,” I cried.
Grace hugged my nana too.
“Yeah, thank you! We’ll do whatever you want.”
“Alright girls, you’re welcome, but this is the only time, now why don’t you scurry off or help us get lunch ready.”
I looked at Grace who shrugged, “Whatever you wanna do.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well neither do I.”
“Why don’t you stay in the kitchen and help us cut the bread,” said Julie, realizing that we would spend an hour standing in the kitchen and deciding what to do if someone didn’t tell us.
“Okeydokey,” said Grace.
My grandma handed each of us a bread knife and placed a loaf in front of us.
We both started slicing carefully.
When lunch was ready we both helped set the table. I rang the lunch bell and then Grace and I grabbed our plates, made our sandwiches and headed out the door. We walked behind the house following the same path we had to get to the swimming hole. When we got to the forest we walked along the edge for a little while then cut in about twenty feet to the rope ladder.
“How are we gonna get the food up there?” I wondered aloud.
“I’ll climb up until I can reach the top then you’ll hand me the plates,” said Grace having already put her plate on top of mine and climbed half way up the ladder. She climbed a bit further then said, “Alright, I can take the plates.”
I stood on my tip-toes and handed her the first plate. She opened the little hatch in the floor and placed the plate in the tree house carefully and reached down for the second plate which I gave to her. She placed that plate in the tree house and then continued climbing. Once she reached the top and had gotten through the hatch and propped it open, I started climbing up the ladder. The rope was rough and scratchy against my bare hands and feet but I had climbed the ladder so many times that I didn’t even notice.
When I got up to the tree house I looked around. Everything was the same. The floor was covered in a plush green carpet and in the corner stood a little desk with paper, pencils, tape, a stapler, rubber bands, thumb tacks, and everything else you’d ever need to have on a desk. There was a glass door that led from the tree house to the porch with little stained glass pieces hanging on it to stop birds from banging into it.
“D’you wanna eat and then zip line?” I asked eyeing the beginning of the zip line.
Grace followed my gaze and then smiled.
“Yeah sure.”
I sat down across from her and put my plate in front of me.
“So… what’s up?” I asked.
“Ok so you know how my dad got married to the French lady? Well she’s pregnant so I’m gonna have a baby half sibling which I’m super excited about.”
“That’s great! Do you know what gender it is?” I asked.
“Nope,” Grace sighed, “they wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Is the French lady nice?”
“Her name’s Claire and yes, but she’s like thirty and my dad’s forty five which is kinda awkward. Claire is really awesome and she knows all about fashion. She really understands me, like we can relate to each other which is really nice. She’s more like an older sister then a mom, but I really love her. Also I can talk to her in French so now I’m fluent, well kinda.”
“That’s really cool,” I said.
“Speaking of marriage and stuff like that, how’s your dad doing?”
“I dunno. I think that my mom was the right person and so he’s still getting over her but hopefully he will ‘cause otherwise he’d be very lonely when I go to college. I mean he has Marley, but she doesn’t really count.”
Grace took a bite of her sandwich and looked around thoughtfully.
“Your brother is very good looking.”
“I know,” I said sarcastically. “Just FYI, he has a girlfriend but she’s—,” I fake shivered and Grace smiled.
“Is she really that bad?” asked Grace.
“Yeah, she’s a blonde cheerleader type and she uses him. When I met her—,”
“Wait, when’d you meet her?”
“On Skype. I walked into Jack’s room to say hi and he was Skyping her. When I walked out of the room she said to Jack, “she’s ugly,” I said using a high pitched voice to portray hers.
“Ouch,” said Grace.
“Yeah, but I won’t let a stupid cheerleader faze me,” I said sitting up straight and starting to eat my sandwich.
“Lexi, let me just tell you that you are not ugly at all,” Grace said, then she popped the last bit of sandwich into her mouth.
We sat in silence and I finished my sandwich.
“You don’t have a boyfriend do you?” Asked Grace.
“Nope. All of the boys in my grade are disgusting. Some of them pick their noses and then eat it and besides, I’m going into seventh grade which I personally think it too young to have a boyfriend.”
“Like five year olds and I agree.,” said Grace.
“It’s pretty grotesque.”
“Nice vocab word, “said Grace.
“Thanks. I try,” I said.
“So, d’you wanna go zip lining?” Asked Grace.
I started to respond just as Graces cell phone rang.
“One sec,” said Grace, taking out her phone and flipping it open.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hey mom… yes… OMG seriously?! No way! Yup, we’ll be right over. Bye.”
“What?” I asked the second Grace got off the phone.
“Scott’s back!” She said grabbing her plate and starting to climb down the rope ladder.
“Really?” I asked.
Grace rolled her eyes and said, “no, I’m just kidding,” in a sarcastic voice. I smiled.
Scott had just finished his first year of college but then he had gone to Africa with his girlfriend and her family for a few months. I had been told all of this last summer by Scott but they hadn’t planned the dates, just what they were going to do.
I followed Grace and scurried down the rope ladder, remembering to grab my plate before shutting and locking the hatch. When I reached the ground Grace was waiting for me.
“Wanna race?” she challenged.
“Sure,” I replied knowing that Grace would never win because I ran a lot and she never did, but it was just for fun.
I started off heading towards the fields and the back of the house. Once I emerged from the bushes I looked back to see how far behind me Grace was and discovered that she was a better runner than she had been last year. I kept running with the wind cooling me down and the sun beating down hard on my back. When I reached the back of the house I ran around it to the front because that’s where the cars always parked. Sure enough sitting in the middle of the drive way was a car, but not just any car. Parked in the driveway was a shiny red convertible with the top off. Standing by the car were four people; my Popop, Scott, a middle aged man, and a girl who was obviously Scotts girlfriend. I stood and stared at the scene in front of me until Grace stood at my side panting. She nudged me,
“Well c’mon, don’t stare, let’s go say hello!”
“Right sorry,” I said running towards small crowd of people with Grace at my side. Scott was facing away from us so he didn’t see us coming.
“Ninja hug,” I said arriving at the crowd of people and hugging Scott from the back. He twisted his torso around to see me.
“Hey Lexi. You’ve grown like a foot since I last saw you.”
I smiled, “or you’ve shrunken… a lot.”
Someone laughed and I looked up to see Scott’s girlfriend looking at me and smiling.
“Don’t forget about me,” said Grace hugging both me and Scott.
“Uch, it’s you again,” said Scott sarcastically.
“Your girlfriend’s beautiful,” whispered Grace into Scott’s ear while she hugged him.
“Yeah, she is,” I agreed.
“Well it was a sight for sore eyes after spending my life with you two,” Scott whispered.
Grace punched Scott as we let go of him and stood at attention at his sides.
“Becca, Dan, these are my two um…” he paused trying to think of a good word to describe us.
“Sisters kinda?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” said Scott. “This is Grace,” he said pointing at Grace, “and this Lexi,” he said pointing at me. “Grace, Lexi, this is my girlfriend Becca,” the beautiful girl gave a small wave to us and smiled. “And this is Becca’s dad Dan,” said Scott pointing at the middle aged man.
“Hi Grace and Lexi,” said the man shaking both of our hands. “Nice to meet you. We’ve all heard a lot about you. You know, Scott really loves both of you.”
I looked at Scott.
“Well I would’ve never been able to tell by the way he treated me,” I said jokingly. Everyone laughed.
“I don’t think I’m the only one getting hot out here so please come inside,” said my Popop. “Scott I think you’re parents are still working, they should be back by dinner.” My Popop turned and led the way into the house.
Grace and I went last following behind Scott and Becca.
“Becca’s so beautiful,” whispered Grace.
“I know, it’s totally unfair, but really Grace you can’t talk,” I whispered back.
Grace looked at me lovingly. “Thanks Lexi, that really means a lot coming from, but you can’t talk either.”
“I completely disagree but whatever.” I said walking through the door into the air conditioned house.
My Popop led the way to the dining room and sat everyone down, Grace and I included.
“Just wait here and I’ll let my wife know that you are here. I think she has a special treat for you.” My Popop got up.
“Popop, I can do it. Sit down and rest. Entertain our guests, I’ll get Nana, and the food,” I said getting up.
“Thank you Lexi,” said my Popop, sitting back down.
I hurried into the kitchen and was met by the smell of something delicious.
“Nana?”
“Your Nana’s in the bathroom,” said Julie.
“Oh, did you make something for Scott’s girlfriend and her dad?” I asked.
“We didn’t have time but we just made lemon squares that were supposed to be dessert for dinner. I don’t think your grandma would mind if we served them to guests though,’ said Julie. She walked over to the counter and picked up a beautiful hand painted platter with nicely arranged lemon squares sitting on it . She also grabbed a few tea plates from one of the cabinets.
“Yum,” I said.
“Honey, there’s a pitcher of fresh lemonade in the fridge would you mind getting it and bringing it into the dining room?” Asked Julie.
“I’m on it,” I said. Grabbing the lemonade and a few glasses I followed Julie into the dining room.
“Oh wow. You really didn’t have to do this,” said Dan as we set the food and drink on the table.
“This really isn’t necessary,” Becca agreed.
“Well when you come to the Harrows you should expect no worse service,” said Julie.
“I’m Julie, one of the cooks, to some people I am known as Grace’s mom,” said Julie with a wink in my direction and held out her hand. Dan shook it.
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too. Eleanor should be here in a second but I don’t think she’d want you to wait for her,” said Julie walking back into the kitchen.
I took my place between Grace and my Popop.
“So girls, how old are you?” Asked Dan, taking a lemon square off the plate and biting into it.
“I’m fourteen,” said Grace.
“I’m twelve,” I said.
“And you are very good friends I assume?” said Dan.
“Sorry to interrupt but these are delicious,” said Becca before we could speak.
“Thank you, Eleanor and Julie would be very happy to hear that,” said my Popop just as my nana and Scott’s parents came through the door.
“Scott! We heard you were here and came as soon as possible because we had thought we’d never see you again,” said Robert, hugging Scott. He turned to us to explain.
“Scott always used to say that when he found a girlfriend he would force her to take him on a trip and never come back to see us. So when you weren’t here yesterday, we thought Scott was serious,” said Robert with a smile.

Scott’s mom, Lisa hugged Scott as well then introduced herself and Robert to Becca and Dan. They pulled over chairs and each took a piece of lemon square, then they started talking. Grace leaned over and whispered, “I think this might take a while, do you wanna go and do something fun?” I nodded.

During the next few days I spent time doing chores and hanging out with Grace and Scott. Sometimes I would hang out with Jack if he was hanging out with them but I tried to always glare at him to make sure he knew that he was unwelcome.
One day about a week and a half after I had gotten to my grandparent’s house Grace and I were sitting in the tree house talking.
“How come you don’t like Jack?” asked Grace.
“I dunno. I mean he doesn’t like me and I don’t like him so we’re both happy not spending time together,” I said.
“Okay, but why don’t you like him?” repeated Grace.
I told her all about my day dreams of Jack being an angel and how when he didn’t come to greet me I was really upset and then neither of us were nice to each other.
Grace let out a short laugh.
“What’s so funny?” I asked slightly irritated. This wasn’t the first time that Grace had started laughing at my stupidity or ignorance in the last week. It made me feel so immature and stupid to have Grace laugh at me. Since she had found someone her age to hang out with she had been getting rapidly older, or so it seemed to me. Sometimes, when we weren’t hanging out with Jack, I was with the old Grace, the one who had been my friend forever despite our age difference, not the one who thought she was so cool and mature.
“It’s just kinda stupid to hate Jack just because he didn’t come and say hi to you when you first got here,” said Grace.
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
“There are so many reasons that Jack might not have said hello. One is that he might not have known you were here or, I mean really Lexi, imagine if you were in his position. You would be really upset and you probably wouldn’t wanna go say hi to Jack,” said Grace becoming serious.
“Jack loves you Lexi, he didn’t want you to think otherwise but you’re putting it upon yourself. You’re making yourself believe that he hates you and you’re hurting both of you by doing that. It would mean the world to Jack if you said sorry and started being nice to him.
“Lexi,” said Grace taking my hands in hers, “I know it’s hard already but you’re making it a lot harder than it has to be.”
I stared at Grace having many thoughts and feelings all at the same time. How dare she know my brother better than I do and tell me what I should do in our relationship. She was just a random girl that Jack met a week and a half ago, Jack had known me all my life yet he felt more comfortable telling Grace, and come to think of it, Trina, his thoughts then he did me. That’s not right, Grace wasn’t better than me so why did she get to talk with my brother about his feelings. On the other hand though I hated to admit it, she was right. I had given Jack a lot more grief than he had asked for. I hadn’t given him a chance before acting like a jerk.
“Fine. I’ll make a deal with you,” I said.
“Okay?” said Grace questioningly.
“I’ll – never mind,” I said wanting to tell Grace that I would be nice to Jack if she wasn’t all bratty around him but I decided against it.
“What were you gonna say,” asked Grace.
“Nothing, just forget it. I’ll try to be nice to Jack if he’s nice to me,” I said.
Grace smiled and hugged me, “thanks Lexi. Everything will work out, I’m sure of it.”
The next few days passed and I was nicer to Jack and I realized what I had been missing out on. Jack, though serious and polite, was also funny, mischievous and ready for anything. The two of us, became very close to each other but we always made sure to include Grace and Scott in everything.
One evening after dinner I was sitting in my room thinking. When I had walked past Jack’s room I had heard him Skyping his girlfriend. I wanted to know what other bad things Trina was saying about me so I turned around, walked back to my room and opened my closet door.
When I was about seven I dreamed of being a professional spy. My Popop had made a small door that led from my closet to the closet in Jack’s room so that I could pretend to spy on the person or people in that room. I had used the door for one summer and then completely forgotten about it, until now.
I walked to the back of the closet and opened the hatch. It was only two feet by two feet so I crawled through quietly. I made my way to the front of the closet so I could hear better. The door was slightly ajar and I could see Jack on the computer.
“I feel a lot closer to my sister now because she started being nice to me. It feels kind of like the old days,” said Jack.
“That’s great,” said Trina picking at her nails. She was obviously totally uninterested in anything Jack had to say.
“Okay so here’s the gossip for this week.” Trina started droning on about the couples in their grade and who had gone out on a date or broken up.
I could see that Jack was bored out of his mind.
“Jack. Desserts ready,” I called from the closet.
Jack whirled around and saw my face sticking out of the crack between the door and the wall then smiled. He turned back around, “Trina, I have to go and get dessert because my grandma would be offended if I didn’t.”
“Kaykay Jack, but we have talk again tomorrow. Love ya,’ said Trina blowing a kiss at Jack.
He smiled fakely said,
“Bye Trina,’ and ended the call.
Jack turned back around to face me.
“You can come out now. And if I may ask, what in the world are you doing? I mean thanks and all but…,” he said.
I opened the door and stood up making my way into Jacks room.

“It’s a long story,” I said.

“Long story short…?” Jack inquired.

“Long story short, Popop made it for me ‘cause I wanted to be a spy. Just now I was spying on you and Trina to see what bad things she had to say about me.”
Jack smiled, “First of all that is like the shortest story I’ve ever heard, and second, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I could see you were getting bored. I don’t understand how you stand her,” I said plopping myself down on Jack’s bed.
Jack’s smile faded, “I don’t. She forces the relationship and I can’t do anything about it. She only likes me because it makes her popular.”
“Well then break up with her,” I said plainly.
“I…I don’t know how,” said Jack.
“It’s simple you Skype her and say ‘Hey Trina, I don’t think our relationship is working out and I don’t think we should be together any longer. I’m sorry it had to be this way but se la vie.’” I said. I desperately hoped that I had said the right things but truthfully I had no clue what I was talking about because I had never broken up with someone.
Jack looked at me, “could you write that down?”
I laughed, “c’mon, it’s not that hard. You should break up with her tomorrow, I’ll be here to help you if you forget what to say. She’ll probably cry but don’t give it a crap, she doesn’t care at all about you, she’s just acting and I’m sure within a two days she’ll have another boyfriend”
Jack looked unsure.
“Trust me Jack. Also you know it’s the right thing, because you have the better judgment. Please bro? For my sake?”
“Fine. Tomorrow evening I’ll call you in and then I’ll Skype her. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said, holding out my hand. We shook and I went to my room and fell asleep.

The next evening after dinner, I sat in my room reading a book.
Jack burst into the room.
“I did it!” He said. “I broke up with Trina!”
I got off my bed and ran to hug him.
“Jack, that’s great! Give me all the details.”
“Well I basically did what you told me to do and she said ‘fine!’ and then ended the call.”
“That’s amazing. We need to have a party,” I said.
Jack rolled his eyes, “Yeah right.”
“Well now I can sleep soundly tonight.” I said.
“Same here.” Jack looked at the book lying open on my lap. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I’m sorry.”
I yawned.
“It’s fine, I’m glad that’s over with.”
“Yeah, me too. I should probably go to bed. Good night,” said Jack walking out of my room.
“Great job and good night,” I called after him.
The next morning I woke up to the sun streaming through my window. I got out of bed and dressed myself than headed downstairs. I ate breakfast quickly and went to hang out in the barn with Scott. When I got there he was feeding the pigs.
“Hey Scott. What’s up?” I asked.
Scott looked at me. “The sky.”
“Hahahahaha, no,” I said.
Scott smiled, “nothing really just feeding the pigs. How ‘bout you?”
I sat down on a square of hay and watched Scott play with the piglets before answering.
“Well, Jack just dumped his girlfriend last night.”
Scott looked up in amazement. “Finally. He really doesn’t like her ya know and to make matters worse he really likes another girl,” said Scott looked surprised that he had just said that but he covered by quickly changing the subject.
“Oh Lexi, look at this piglet. He was the runt of the litter and his siblings are always mean to him.”
I stood up and walked over to look at the runt. All of the other piglets were suckling from their mother but this piglet was standing on top of his siblings trying to get to the milk.
“Aw, poor piglet,” I said bending down and petting the piglet on its back.
I stood up and walked out of the barn and into a shed next door. It was a small room that didn’t have any lights but it had a big window which let in a good amount of sun, enough so that you could see what you were doing. To my left were a sink and five cabinets that stood one above the other. On my right was a big refrigerator, a pile of crates and egg cartons. Straight ahead of me was a closet where kept all of our milking supplies. The barn and the shed were connected on the side with the refrigerator. My Popop had built the barn and then ten years later built the shed so the barn could be used solely for animals.
I opened the cabinet where we kept bottles to feed the calves and took one out. Grabbing a lid out of a drawer I walked over to the humongous refrigerator where we kept the milk from our cows before the fat was taken off. There were about twenty one gallon jugs filled with milk and I grabbed the closest one and set it on the counter making sure to close the fridge afterwards. I placed the bottle on the table and grabbed the heavy milk jug with both hands carefully pouring it into the bottle. After the bottle was filled I put the milk back in the fridge, screwed the cap onto the bottle and walked back to the barn.
Scott looked up from what he was doing which was milking one of the cows whose name was Beauty.
“You gonna be the piglets mother?”
“No. I just feel bad and don’t want it to die, that’s all.”
I bent down and picked up the piglet. Her coat was soft and fuzzy just like a stuffed animal and she squirmed in my hands. I grabbed a stool that was used for milking cows and sat on it placing the oinking piglet in my lap and holding the bottle of milk up to her snout. She immediately grabbed the top of the bottle in her mouth and started drinking noisily. I smiled,
“She’s adorable.”
“Well then you two complement each other perfectly,” said Scott, still milking.
“I have a… small piglet and I am not afraid to use her,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, no, I’m so afraid,” said Scott in a high pitched voice. He looked over his shoulder and gave me a big smile.
We sat quietly with only the sound of the milk hitting the bucket to keep us from complete silence. I looked around the barn. In the rafters there was evidence of some sort of owl or bird that had made a nest there. The barn was big and smelled of cow manure and hay and whatever else made a barn smell like a barn. It had big wooden doors that slid and inside were stalls or pens for all of the animals. There were a few cabinets for buckets used to milk the cows but they were very small and almost unnoticeable. The only light in the barn was from the open doors and a skylight so it was very dark, especially in the winter, at least that’s what I was told.
“So,” I said after a few minutes, “you mentioned that Jack liked some other girl.”
“Yes I did,” said Scott.
“And?” I asked.
“Mm?”
“Who is it?”
“That would be classified information,” said Scott.
“Scott, I’m his sister,” I said.
“All the more reason for you not to know,” said Scott mischievously.
“Scott, I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
I sighed, but would not give in that easily.
Scott grabbed the bucket of milk and rose from his stool. Then he walked out of the barn to put the milk in a container in the fridge. I sat with the piglet in my lap and watched her drink until Scott got back. When he did, I continued to bug him until he finally gave in.
“Okay, whatever I’ll tell you but you have to keep it a secret otherwise I’m dead.”
“I can do that,” I said eagerly.
“Jack likes Grace.”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
Scott started to laugh and he came over and pushed my chin up.
“He’s all upset because he thinks that Grace just likes him as a friend and probably has a boyfriend,” said Scott dropping his hand to his side.
“Well he needs to think again,” I said remembering how Grace had talked about Jack when he came to breakfast on the first day of Graces stay.
“Are you serious?” Asked Scott.
“Yeah.”
Scott stared at me in awe.
“Should we tell them?” I asked.
“Na. Let them find out for themselves. It wouldn’t be as funny if we told them.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
We sat in silence for a while thinking.
“I’m gonna go hang out with Grace and Jack and we’ll see you at dinner,” I said. I placed the piglet back in her pen, and headed out of the barn to put the bottle back.
“See you at dinner,” Scott called after me.
When I reached the house I walked up to my room to get my cell phone. On the way I peeked into Jack’s room to see if Grace and Jack were there. They weren’t so I continued to my room to get my phone. I called Grace to find out where she was.
“Hey,” said Grace’s voice.
“Hola,” I said in the most American accent you can use to speak Spanish in.
Grace was the first to ask the question.
“Where were you? I called you like a million times but you never picked up?”
“I was in the barn with Scott. Where are you?” I asked.
“In the game room with Jack,” said Grace.
“Oh awesome. So I have to tell you something super important.”
“Okay, I’m ready.”
So, when I was in the barn with Scott he told me that Jack is—,”
“Umm, Lexi? Jack’s in the room right now and the phone is on speaker,” said Grace.
“Okay. I uh, was going to say wasn’t private or anything…” I lied thinking quickly of a cover.
“Yeah…? So what were you gonna say?” asked Grace after I had paused.
“I was going to say…” I took my time speaking so I could think.
“That Jack is good at,” my mind raced with possibilities of what to say that would be true.
“Lexi?”, asked Grace.
“Oh, sorry I just started day dreaming. Anyway uh, Jack is good at playing soccer and I know you love to play soccer so I thought maybe sometime we could play soccer with Scott.”
“Oh cool. Is that true Jack?” asked Grace.
“Uh, yeah.” I heard Jack speak from the other end of the phone. Thank god Grace had told me he was in the room, otherwise Scott and I would be dead.
“That’s awesome. Okay, I have an idea. We could like set up a whole soccer field in one of the fallow fields, and maybe we could get other people to play too. We totally need to talk about this with your grandparents. I’ll meet you in the kitchen, bye,” said Grace before she hung up.
“It was nice talking,” I muttered and then laughed. It was so like Grace to come up with a brilliant idea and then not listen to what other people thought about it. Well whatever, maybe it would be fun, if we could get enough people that is and if my grandparents said yes, which they probably wouldn’t.

I was met by Jack and Grace standing in the kitchen with my grandma and Julie walking around them like they were just chairs that had been misplaced. Grace was talking.
“…And so I thought it would be really fun if everyone played soccer before or after dinner. We could even turn it into a summer tradition. I mean there is definitely enough space,” she said.
“You know how Bill feels about messing with the fallow fields. Anyway, it is really up to him whether or not we do this so...” my Grandma was cut off by Grace who hugged her and said,
“Thank you! I’ll go see if it’s okay with Bill,” Grace rushed out of the room. Jack and I both followed and as we left I heard my grandma say to Julie, “Grace is so enthusiastic, it’s wonderful.”
Once we got outside Jack started yelling after Grace to stop running. Grace taunted him saying that he was so slow he couldn’t even beat a girl who was jogging. Suddenly Jack got a burst of speed and whipped past Grace. He stopped in front of her and she almost crashed into him. I caught up in time to hear Jack say,
“…my grandpa during dinner.”
Grace thought for a moment and then said between breathes,
“Yeah I guess you’re right, let’s wait ‘til dinner when he’s not stressed. Besides, I don’t even know where he is.”
“Whataya guys wanna do until dinner?” Asked Jack breathing almost regularly.
“I dunno,” I said taking a deep breath.
“Let’s go and…,” Grace trailed off still panting.
“Maybe we could bike into town,” I suggested.
“How far away is it?” Asked Jack.
“Like five miles,” I said.
“Well I dunno about you but I’d love to do that”, said Jack smiling. “The problem is I didn’t bring my bike.”
“We have like a gazillion here so you should be able to find one that fits.” I said realizing that I didn’t bring my bike either.
“I’ll go get my bike and you can find a bike for Jack. I’ll meet you in the garage,” said Grace, walking off towards her house.
“Follow me.” I said walking back towards the house.
“So how do you like it here so far?” I asked.
“It’s really different from L.A. but it’s nice and everything feels clean, uncontaminated, peaceful.”
“So you like it.” I said.
“Yeah, very much. I could imagine coming here every summer.”
We were quiet for a little while as we approached the house.
“Is mom’s boyfriend nice?” I asked out of the blue.
Jack looked at me, “What?”
“Is mom’s boyfriend nice?” I repeated.
“Yeah, he’s awesome. He obviously loves mom and cares about her and I think he likes me a lot too. He would be a great dad.” Jack’s eyes had started to water a little and he wiped them before he thought I had noticed.
“Ouch,” I said hurt by Jack’s comment about the great dad.
“What?” Asked Jack looking at me liked he really cared how I was feeling.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Well obviously something’s wrong. Most people don’t say ‘ouch’ when nothing’s wrong. So, what’s wrong?”
We arrived at the garage and I opened the door and went inside. It was dark and wet but it smelled good, like fresh dirt and something else I couldn’t name. I walked over to the corner which was where my grandparents kept all of the bikes they had accumulated over the years, from children, yard sales, grandchildren, friends, and workers. There were about seventeen bikes in all.
“Here’re the bikes,” I said pretending I hadn’t heard Jack ask me what was wrong.
Jack looked me straight in the eyes for a few seconds, searching for something. I looked down feeling slightly uncomfortable.
“Thanks,” he said moving bikes from their places to reach the ones closest to the wall.
“Mhm,” I said watching him.
“So which one’s yours?” Asked Jack after a little while.
“I left mine at home because I didn’t have enough time…” I trailed off not wanting to remember everything that had happened on that day.
“I understand,” said Jack, and at that moment I was glad that he understood so I didn’t have to think about things that I didn’t want to.
He pulled out a bike from the pile and got on it.
“I think this’ll work,” said Jack, “now I need a helmet.”
“They’re over there,” I said pointing to a big cabinet against the opposite wall.
“Thanks,” said Jack.
I walked over to the bike pile and just stood and looked at the bikes for a while. A bright blue one at the bottom of the pile caught my eye. One bike at a time I dug through the pile to get to that bike on the bottom.
“D’you want help with that?” Asked Grace from the garage door.
“Sure,” I said.
Grace bent down next to me and started pulling bikes away from the pile. Finally we arrived at the bottom and I pulled the bright blue bike out and stood it up on the floor.
“That’s pretty,” said Jack who had been standing and watching us dig through the pile for five minutes.
“Thanks.” I took my hand and wiped it down the side of the bike. When I took it off it was covered in dust. I quickly wiped down the whole bike then rubbed my hands together to get the dust off of them. Jack handed me a blue helmet.
“Here, try it on. It matches the bike.” I tried on the helmet and loosened it until it was the right size. Then I got on the bike. It fit me perfectly.
“Is everyone ready?” asked Grace. She walked over to her bike.
“Yup,” Jack and I said in unison. We looked at each other and smiled.
“Great. Let’s just stop by the house and tell your Grandma where we’re going so she doesn’t get worried.” Grace got on her bike and rode out of the garage to the porch. She hopped off her bike and ran inside.
“Be right back!” She yelled as the screen door slammed behind her.
I put my foot on the ground so my bike wouldn’t fall over.
“Have you heard anything from dad?” asked Jack.
I took a deep breath to try and hold back the tears that were rising to my eyes.
“No. Have you?” I said realizing that what I had just asked would sound really stupid. Of course Jack hadn’t heard anything from dad. He hadn’t heard anything from dad since he was seven. If anyone had heard from dad it would have been me.
Jack just smiled sadly.
“No.”
“Oh,” I said.
Grace came outside and the screen door slammed behind her. She ran down the steps and got on her bike.
“Les go,” she said in some sort of weird accent.
“Okay,” I said I put my feet on the pedals and pushed down to give myself some speed.
We started down the driveway in a row with Jack in the middle.
“Your Grandma said we could get ice cream and she needs… wait one sec let me check.” Grace took one hand off the handlebars and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small piece of paper and started to read.
“Milk, lemons, yeast, condensed milk, flour and she gave us extra money to buy lunch” said Grace. She slid the list into her pocket and put her hands back on the handle bars.

We arrived in town at about twelve o’clock. The town was very small, especially compared to Philadelphia. It consisted of a church, a synagogue, a food market, a grocery store, an appliance store, a movie theater, a nice restaurant, a diner, a bank, a post office, a drug store, which also sold newspaper and candy, a library, a doctor’s office, a general store and a police and fire station. The town also had a small school ages kindergarten to eighth grade. There was a high school about half an hour away in Montpelier.
There were no houses on the main street of the town but there were many streets that came off of it and on those streets were houses. The town, though it was hard to imagine, was actually very rich. There were many big, beautiful houses with a lot of property right off of the main drag. My Popop, when choosing where to make his home, decided on the place he did because he liked being close to a town but far enough away that he could have a farm. Sometimes I would wish that he had chosen to live in town because it was in the middle of everything, then I would remember all of the animals that I loved and the tree house and swimming hole and zip line and I would realize how lucky I was.
We got off our bikes and walked down the main street.
“So where’re we gonna go first?” asked Jack.
My stomach grumbled and we all laughed.
“Let’s go get lunch at the diner,” said Grace.
When we arrived at the diner we put our bikes in the bike rack in the front and walked in.
It was about twelve o’clock so the diner was crowded and noisy. We waited in line for a few minutes and eventually made our way up to the maître de and were led to our table.
The restaurant was owned by the Winthrop family. It had been passed down through about five generations and now was in the hands of Danielle and Jud. The Winthrop family was made up of the two parents, and five kids, three boys and two girls. The child closest in age to me was a girl named Abigail. We were friendly and we talked but she had never come over or anything like that.
“Hey guys,” said Duke, he was the oldest Winthrop. At the age of nineteen he, along with his other siblings, worked in the diner a few days a week over the summer.
“Hey,” I said and Grace smiled and nodded.
“Who’s this?” asked Duke, nodding towards Jack.
“I’m Jack, Alexa’s brother,” said Jack holding out his hand.
Duke shook it and looked at me puzzled. “Alexa, I didn’t know you had a brother.”
What was I supposed to say to that?
“Um, yeah… I do,” I said.
Duke laughed. “What can I get for you?”


We all ordered and then waited for our food. We were seated next to a window so I gazed outside at the people walking, driving, and biking past.

Our lunch was delivered by Abigail who smiled at me and then left.
We ate and then just sat and let our food digest.
Duke came over after we were done.
“I hope you enjoyed your meal, yada yada yada, whatever.”
We laughed. Then Grace said, “Hey Duke, could you bring Felix over? I think Jack would like him.”
Felix was the middle child in the Winthrop family. He was fifteen and very nice and well-mannered. The one thing he and his brother had in common was that they were both very funny. After a little while Felix arrived at our table. He was the average size for a fifteen year old boy, and had dark brown hair. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
“Hey,” he said nodding his head at Jack, Grace and I.
“Felix, this is Jack, Lexi’s fourteen year old brother. He’s new here and I was wondering if you could take him to meet your friends and stuff.”
Felix looked Jack from top to bottom or at least as well as he could with Jack sitting down in a booth.
“Yeah sure,” said Felix smiling at Jack.
“Thanks,” said Jack returning Felix’s smile.
“No problem,” said Felix.
“So we’re gonna go get ice cream, you wanna come?” asked Grace.
“Right now?” asked Felix.
“Yeah.”
“Well lemme go check with Duke and see if he can cover me for a while,” said Felix heading towards where Duke was standing, flirting with some girl who lived in town.
They had a short conversation and the both looked over at us once. Then Felix walked over to our table.
“I’m in,” said Felix.
“Awesome,” Grace replied as we all stood up.
We paid and then starting walking towards the General store.
Grace walked next to Felix and whispered to him for most of the walk there. Jack looked at them with envy and I patted his shoulder.
After we had our ice cream Felix invited Jack to go and meet his friends. Jack was going to be given a ride home by Felix’s older sister Sarah, who was seventeen or Duke and since their car was a pick-up, Jack’s bike could fit in the back. Grace and I did the shopping my nana had asked us to do and we rode home.
The two of us sat in my room after I had dragged Grace up the stairs.
“What’d you wanna tell me?” asked Grace.
“Right. I forgot. So, I told Scott that I’m not supposed to tell you this but whatever. Guess what?” I said almost jumping up and down on my bed.
“Jeez Lexi, you’re gonna break the bed before you tell me,” said Grace.
“Sorry,” I said, settling down. “So guess what.”
“What?” asked Grace.
“Jack likes you.”
Graces face lit up and she squealed.
“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it!”
“I know. That’s what I said.”
“Does Jack know that I like him?”
“He can learn if you want. A certain birdy could tell him, or you can.”
“No, that’d be awkward. Let’s put this birdy to work,” said Grace smiling mischievously.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
“Wait. D’you think it would be weird if he didn’t know and I kinda… surprised him?” Grace looked at me hopefully.
I rolled my eyes but smiled, “I think that would be adorable. Whenever there’s a chance I’ll let the two of you be alone.”
Grace smiled and then leaned over and hugged me. “You’re the best Lexi.”
“I’d be lying if I told you that was the first time I’d heard that,” I said.
Grace laughed a little. “I’m gonna steal that from you okay?”
I nodded.
The next morning I woke up to sun shining in through the blinds and a wonderful smell filling my nose. I got dressed and went downstairs feeling wonderful. Jack and Grace were already sitting at the table eating bacon and eggs. Only Jack was eating the bacon though. Grace and I both used to be meat eaters but after seeing our beloved pigs and cows get slaughtered we decided that together we would be vegetarians.
Grace, it looked like, was eating veggie bacon. I sat down across from Jack and next to Grace.
“You slept well,” said Jack. “It’s already ten.”
I stared at him realizing that I hadn’t looked at the clock before coming down. I never slept later then nine, never in my whole life; in fact, I normally slept until eight thirty.
“Say what?”
“Yup. It’s ten. We both woke up early and waited for you so we could have breakfast together but we both almost starved so we decided to eat,” said Grace stuffing some bacon in her mouth.
“Oh well thanks for thinking of waiting—no trying to wait for me. It’s the thought that counts.”
Grace and Jack both nodded.
I served myself some food and started to eat. For a while the only sound was us chewing.
“Shoot,” said Grace.
Both Jack and I stared at her questioningly.
“We forgot to ask your Popop about the soccer thing.”
I had completely forgotten about that and apparently so had Jack.
“Oh yeah,” I said.
“Let’s try and remember to do it at dinner tonight,” said Jack. He got up and brought his plate into the kitchen. Grace and I followed.

Days passed and Grace and Jack became a couple. They would hold hands and put their arms around each other only by themselves and around Scott and myself. At first they were very adorable but soon they became stuck to each other. They couldn’t go anywhere without the other and it became very annoying. I started to become the sad person I had been when I’d arrived. I did things by myself and spent time with the animals. Every once-in-a-while, I would bike into town and buy things for my nana. I became very lonely and often cried myself to sleep. I kept remembering the first day they met, when we had gone to the beach and they had acted all adult like. I should have known what would happen, wasn’t it obvious? Not really, but all the same I wished I had listened to Scott and let them figure things out themselves.
I felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone about my problem. Nobody knew but Scott and I, and Scott just thought they were adorable. I had to act as if I was happy around everyone so I started to spend my time in the barn where I could be my sad self. The little piglet, the runt, soon became my best friend and she knew all my secrets. It was funny because sometimes, I felt as though she was listening.
One day, I was sitting on the couch watching television when the phone rang. I didn’t think anything of this because the phone rang quite often so I just had learned to focus on what I was doing. I kept watching television until I heard my nana yell Jack and my names. I turned off the television and made my way through the house. I ran into the front hall but Jack had beaten me there. He stood with the phone next to his ear and he was crying. Grace, my nana, and Julie stood around watching him and I couldn’t see their faces but I was sure that they were very sad.
“What happened?” I asked not sure that I wanted to hear the answer.
My nana turned around she was smiling. Why would she be smiling when Jack was crying? I didn’t understand.
“It’s your mom,” she said, looking like she was about to cry, except that she was still smiling and almost laughing.
I stared at her and then collapsed into sobs. I didn’t even need to hear the rest of what my nana was going to say to know what had happened. Strong arms wrapped themselves around my chest and pulled me up from the floor. I saw through my tears that my nana was looking very worried. She held me at arm’s length then pulled me into a hug and stroked my hair. Someone said my name and I turned my head slightly. Jack stood holding the phone out to me, he was still crying but he was also laughing. I was so confused. Why was everyone happy? What was happy about what had happened? I took the phone and put it to my ear.
“Hello?” I said sniffling.
“Lex?” said a weak voice from the other end. “Lex, its mom.”
At this point I almost fainted.
“Mom?” I managed.
I saw my Nana motion for everyone to leave me alone and I walked upstairs into my bedroom, bringing the phone with me.
“Yes Lex, it’s me.” I looked at the picture on my bedside table. The one of my whole family, my mom, my dad, Jack and I just a month before my mom left. Everyone had looked so happy, so unready for what was going to change our lives only a month later. That was the last time I had seen my mom. All these memories that I guess I had been storing somewhere in my head came rushing back. I remembered eating ice cream on our front porch, going to my grandparent’s house and how my mom would always climb up into the tree house with Jack and me. I remembered when my mom ran a half marathon and at the end she picked me and Jack up a hugged us, and how my dad had dumped a whole water cooler filled with water on us while we hugged. I remember all of us crying together when my old dog Jojo got hit by a car and lost two legs so he had to be put to sleep. I remember when my parents would wake Jack and me up in the middle of the night to see the stars or once an eclipse and I remember how my mom told me so often how much she loved me, I had forgotten that.
I also remembered when she had left us. The morning when I woke up and went downstairs to see my mom’s car packed and with her and Jack’s stuff. At first I thought they were going on a trip and so I asked why I wasn’t going. Then my dad told me that my mom was going on a long trip and that I wouldn’t get to see her for a couple years. He said that Jack was going with her and so I would finally get the daddy time that I wanted. I remembered the day when I realized what had happened and why I hadn’t seen or even talked to my mom in so many years. After my mom and Jack left I remember watching my dad suffer. I didn’t understand then but I know that he was so upset because he had just lost his son the love of his life. I’m not sure how my parents decided that Jack was going with my mom but I remember, once I was older, crying for hours because I felt rejected. My mom had chosen Jack over me and that hurt, a lot.
“Lex?” said my mom.
“Yeah,” I said wiping tears from my eyes.
“How are you?”
“How am I?” I asked. All of my feelings started to hit me, the good and the bad, but mostly the bad.
“How am I?” I almost yelled. “Well I’m doing just great if you don’t count the fact that my mom left me and took my brother, split up my family, when I was five. And the fact that I grew up without a mother figure. And the fact that I had to watch my dad suffer so much because you left him. And the fact that the first time I saw my brother after seven years was because you were in the hospital. And the fact that dad and I had been planning a trip to Europe for a whole friggin’ year that had to be cancelled at five o’clock in the morning because the woman who had hated my dad so much that she had to move to the other side of the country and steal his son, was in the hospital. And when you finally call, you ask how I am. Like you didn’t know.” I was crying by now but I didn’t care. This woman had ruined my life and she expected me to be happy that she was alive.
“Honey, you don’t understand what I’ve been through—“ said my mom
“No, you don’t understand what I’ve been through. You made the decision and you can’t expect me to pity you. Me? I was just thrown into this situation without warning.”
“Yes, I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. Sorry doesn’t erase all those years, and there were seven which, by the way, is more than half of my life.”
“I know—“
“No you don’t. Stop pretending that your still my mom ‘cause you’re not and I wish you were dead. I wish you hadn’t gotten better. I hate you!” I screamed and then I hung up the phone.
I lay down on my bed and cried harder than I had ever cried before. After a little while someone came in and started rubbing my back. I kept crying and eventually I ran out of tears. I sniffled and turned over to see who had been comforting me. It was Jack. He smiled when he saw me.

“You okay?”

“I guess.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“D’you know why mom got better?”

“Because she had good Doctors?” I guessed.

Jack shook his head. “She got better because she wanted to apologize to you.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

“Lex. It might seem like she doesn’t love you anymore but that’s not the case. Mom loves you a lot.”

“If she loves me so much than how come I don’t know? How come she’s never told me?”

“That’s a good question and I really don’t know. But I do know that she missed you a lot. The holiday cards that you sent us are hanging all over the house, and so are your pieces of art.”

“How?” I asked. As far as I knew, my dad hadn’t wanted to have any contact with my mom after she left him so I didn’t see how my artwork and holiday cards could be hanging in her house.

“Every year Dad would send Mom a photocopy of your report card and some of your artwork and we always got your holiday card. Mom was so proud of you, she just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Right,” I said skeptically.

“Believe me,” said Jack, and he pulled me into a hug. I took a few deep breathes and then Jack released me.

“And Lex? I want you to know that I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The phone rang but I let it be, not wanting to ruin the calmness and strength that Jack had just given to me.

“Lexi?” called my Nana.

“Yeah?”

“Pick up the phone. It’s your dad.” I looked at Jack, not ready to get yelled at by my father.

“Just stay calm and remember that he loves you.” Jack stood up and left the room to give me privacy.

I nodded and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”
“Hey sweet pea. How are you?” asked my dad.
“I’m okay,” I said.
“I’m really sorry about everything.”
“It’s okay.”
“I have some news for you though. You wanna hear it?” asked my Dad.
“Sure,” I said, wondering what the news could be.
“Your mom is getting better and she’ll probably be released in a few days. This morning Steven, her boyfriend, proposed to her and they’re getting married.”
“Dad, are you okay with that?” I asked.
“For a while I was upset and hurt because of what your mom had done. Now though, I’m okay and I’m just happy for both of them. There’s another piece of news too. Your mom, Steven and Jack are moving back to Philly. They’re moving a few blocks away from us because your mom and Steven both thought that it would be better if you and Jack got to know each other better. They’re gonna be moving within the next month because they’ve already bought the house and they just need to go home and pack. Here’s our plan for the next week or so: You and Jack are going to stay with Nana and Popop until your mom gets released, then I’ll come home and pick you guys up. Jack will be staying with us until your mom and Steven move in.”
“Really?” I asked. I was so excited about Jack moving close to us and I had mixed feelings about my mom. On one hand I really didn’t want to see my mom because that would bring about some weird feelings and I would have to apologize to her and it would just be awkward. On the other hand she was my mom and I still loved her a little bit. She had given birth to me and that was a task that no one else could’ve done. Right now I didn’t have a say in this all so I would just have to live with this consequences and try to enjoy everything.
“Yes. Steven and mom can get job transfers, because Steven is a teacher and mom is still a lawyer so that part is worked out. We haven’t really worked this part out but I think it would be good if you lived with mom and Steven and Jack lived with me for the rest of the summer. I really want to get to know my son and I think you should get to know your mom and your soon to be step-dad even if you don’t want to. They will become a part of your life and you need to at least meet them. At the moment we don’t know all of the details of everything but I’ll call a few days before I’m coming to let you know so you can pack. Alright?”
I wanted to ask what was going to happen with our trip but I also wanted to seem grateful, which I most definitely was, for everything. In the deepest part of my heart though, I was still a little bit upset about the canceled trip.
“Oh and Lex?”
“Yeah?” I managed.
“Next year, when your mom and Steven have their honeymoon, I was thinking that you, me and Jack could go to Europe. I figure that even though we were gonna go by ourselves we should include Jack. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Great. See you soon sweet pea. Love ya, bye!”
“Love you too. Bye.” I hung up the phone and just sat on my bed so I could digest all of the information. I couldn’t believe what had happened. My mom was healthy now and she was going to live down the street from us. I was going to be able to spend time and even live with her and Jack. My parents weren’t getting back together but they were friends now, or at least they were friendly and my mom was getting married. I lay back on my bed with my knees sticking up, my hands on my stomach and I thought. I was probably the happiest person in the world. Even though we hadn’t gone on the trip that my dad and I had been planning for over a year, my parents were happy. Nothing in the world mattered to me except that I was almost overflowing with happiness. About ten minutes later someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah? Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Jack.”
“Come in,” I said.
Jack opened the door slightly and stuck his head through.
“So what’s happening?”
I let out a big breathe and smiled.
“We’re going home.”