her. It was a problem —which was the reason I slathered on sunblock several times during the day.
“So tell me about your insane day,” she said. “It has to be more entertaining than my battle with dust bunnies.”
That was Mom’s way of saying she’d spent the day cleaning the house — which made me really grateful that I’d had to work. Scrubbing toilets was so not my idea of fun.
I told Mom about the birthday parties. How the afternoon had been even crazier than the morning. Someone had made a mistake and written down the wrong age of the birthday boy.
“We thought we were hosting a party for a six-year-old,” I said. “And he was sixteen!”
Mom laughed. “He must have liked being in the kiddie area.”
“Oh, yeah. With balloon animals? I don’t think so. They found an available cabana and moved the party over there, gave them discounts to the souvenir shops.”
“Sounds like someone was thinking outside the box.”
Whitney. She suggested moving them to a cabana. We rented the cabanas out to guests and they got their own personal assistant who ran around getting things for them.
“We also had a party show up that hadn’t been written down. We scrambled to make a place for them. The mom was so upset,” I said, “you’d have thought we did it on purpose.”
“People get like that,” Mom said. “I think it’s great that you’re working so young. Gives you a chance to see that there are all kinds of people in the world.”
“Speaking of all kinds of people — there’s this one girl and I can’t decide if I like her.” Mom and I hadn’t really had a chance to talk much since I started work, mostly because I was so tired when I got home that all I wanted to do was relax. Even though I was more tired tonight, I also needed to talk, so I told her about Whitney.
“Sometimes she seems nice, seems like she wants to be friends — and then other times” — I growled — “she’s so annoying.”
“Maybe she’s just not comfortable in the situation, doesn’t really know how to act. You said her father’s making her work?”
“Yeah.”
“What does that mean exactly? Why is he doing that?”
I put my elbow on the table, and my chin in my palm. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask, but it’s weird. I mean everything about her looks … well, rich. It’s hard to explain. So maybe she just needs money to buy all the stuff she buys.”
“Or maybe she is rich and he’s trying to teach her the value of a dollar.”
I twirled my fork in the middle of the noodles. I wasn’t really hungry.
“Caitlin got mad at me because I didn’t have lunch with her.”
She hadn’t said much on the ride home, which was weird because she usually talked about all the different people she’d seenat the pool — some of the craziness that goes on. She couldn’t talk about Tanner, of course, because Sean was in the car and he’d give her a hard time if she talked about a guy. Or, at least, we thought he would. I was beginning to wonder if maybe Caitlin didn’t know her brother as well as I did.
“You can’t do everything together,” Mom said.
“Yeah, but we always have. I just couldn’t get to lunch because of helping out with the parties.”
“She should understand that.”
But I wasn’t sure she had. As soon as I finished helping Mom clean up the dishes, I was going to call Caitlin. Make sure we were okay.
“Actually, I think it’s good that you do some things without the other. You two have always had only each other — you need to expand your horizons.”
I felt a lecture coming on. Mom worried that I was too shy, that I didn’t know enough people. She was always prodding me to “Getout there! Experience life!” She’d been thrilled that I wanted to work this summer. Still, I didn’t want to discuss my limited social life.
After I helped Mom clean up, I went to my bedroom and called Caitlin.
“Sorry about the mix-up at lunch. I really didn’t do it on purpose,” I
“So tell me about your insane day,” she said. “It has to be more entertaining than my battle with dust bunnies.”
That was Mom’s way of saying she’d spent the day cleaning the house — which made me really grateful that I’d had to work. Scrubbing toilets was so not my idea of fun.
I told Mom about the birthday parties. How the afternoon had been even crazier than the morning. Someone had made a mistake and written down the wrong age of the birthday boy.
“We thought we were hosting a party for a six-year-old,” I said. “And he was sixteen!”
Mom laughed. “He must have liked being in the kiddie area.”
“Oh, yeah. With balloon animals? I don’t think so. They found an available cabana and moved the party over there, gave them discounts to the souvenir shops.”
“Sounds like someone was thinking outside the box.”
Whitney. She suggested moving them to a cabana. We rented the cabanas out to guests and they got their own personal assistant who ran around getting things for them.
“We also had a party show up that hadn’t been written down. We scrambled to make a place for them. The mom was so upset,” I said, “you’d have thought we did it on purpose.”
“People get like that,” Mom said. “I think it’s great that you’re working so young. Gives you a chance to see that there are all kinds of people in the world.”
“Speaking of all kinds of people — there’s this one girl and I can’t decide if I like her.” Mom and I hadn’t really had a chance to talk much since I started work, mostly because I was so tired when I got home that all I wanted to do was relax. Even though I was more tired tonight, I also needed to talk, so I told her about Whitney.
“Sometimes she seems nice, seems like she wants to be friends — and then other times” — I growled — “she’s so annoying.”
“Maybe she’s just not comfortable in the situation, doesn’t really know how to act. You said her father’s making her work?”
“Yeah.”
“What does that mean exactly? Why is he doing that?”
I put my elbow on the table, and my chin in my palm. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask, but it’s weird. I mean everything about her looks … well, rich. It’s hard to explain. So maybe she just needs money to buy all the stuff she buys.”
“Or maybe she is rich and he’s trying to teach her the value of a dollar.”
I twirled my fork in the middle of the noodles. I wasn’t really hungry.
“Caitlin got mad at me because I didn’t have lunch with her.”
She hadn’t said much on the ride home, which was weird because she usually talked about all the different people she’d seenat the pool — some of the craziness that goes on. She couldn’t talk about Tanner, of course, because Sean was in the car and he’d give her a hard time if she talked about a guy. Or, at least, we thought he would. I was beginning to wonder if maybe Caitlin didn’t know her brother as well as I did.
“You can’t do everything together,” Mom said.
“Yeah, but we always have. I just couldn’t get to lunch because of helping out with the parties.”
“She should understand that.”
But I wasn’t sure she had. As soon as I finished helping Mom clean up the dishes, I was going to call Caitlin. Make sure we were okay.
“Actually, I think it’s good that you do some things without the other. You two have always had only each other — you need to expand your horizons.”
I felt a lecture coming on. Mom worried that I was too shy, that I didn’t know enough people. She was always prodding me to “Getout there! Experience life!” She’d been thrilled that I wanted to work this summer. Still, I didn’t want to discuss my limited social life.
After I helped Mom clean up, I went to my bedroom and called Caitlin.
“Sorry about the mix-up at lunch. I really didn’t do it on purpose,” I
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