“Amy, wait!”
Amy ignored her, got in, and slammed the door. Sierra bolted down the steps and ran to the curb as Amy started the car. She turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened.
“Amy, we need to talk!” Sierra pounded her fist on the closed passenger window.
Amy ignored her and tried the key again. Nothing.
Sierra noticed the lock was up on the passenger door and quickly opened it before Amy could reach over to lock it. Plopping herself inside, Sierra slammed the door shut.
Amy forced the unresponsive ignition key again, and in a voice filled with anger, she said, “I have nothing to talk to you about!”
“Amy,” Sierra said, trying to be calm, “don’t do this. Talk to me. It’s not what you think.”
“Oh, really?” Amy turned her tear-streaked face toward Sierra. “Then what is it?”
“It’s a misunderstanding, and we need to talk about it.”
“No, we don’t. Leave me alone!”
“I won’t leave you alone,” Sierra answered firmly. “I’m going to sit here until you talk to me. You can’t walk out when you’re mad. You’ll never solve anything that way. Look at your parents.” As soon as the words popped out of Sierra’s mouth, she realized that was the worst thing she could have said.
Oh, when am I ever going to learn to keep my mouth shut?
Amy burst into tears and dropped her forehead onto the steering wheel. Sierra had never heard anyone sob so uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry,” Sierra said, cautiously reaching over and placing a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “All I’m saying is that you and I need to talk this out.”
Amy cried and cried.
Sierra rolled down the window in the stuffy car and waited for Amy to calm down.
Finally, Amy lifted her head from the steering wheel and shouted, “Everyone is deserting me! Everyone I know has turned against me.”
“I’m not against you,” Sierra said in firm, even words.
“Oh please!” Amy glared at Sierra, her eyes puffy and her cheeks soaked with tears. “You steal my boyfriend and then you say you’re not against me? You’re a liar!”
“I am not a liar, Amy. And I didn’t steal your boyfriend. I’ve been trying to tell you what happened.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Amy,” Sierra said, struggling to keep calm, “don’t act like this. Listen to me. Drake took his car in to be fixed yesterday, and then he came over to Mama Bear’s right when I was getting off work. He said he was just killing time, so he went to the grocery store with me. Then I took him back to the garage, and they weren’t done with his car yet, so I invited him to my house for dinner.”
“Oh, that was convenient,” Amy said, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand.
“Listen to me, Amy. Randy was there, too. My family was having a barbecue, and afterward we all played basketball. Randy gave Drake a ride home, and that was it.”
Amy looked at her skeptically and sniffed loudly. “Randy was there, too?”
“Yes. Randy was there, too. He gave Drake a ride home. Nobody was stealing anybody’s boyfriend.”
“Why did he come to see you at work instead of me?”
“For one thing, the garage was right across the street. For another, he told me he had tried to call you the last few days, but you were never home.”
“Yes, I was. He’s lying.”
“You can’t go around accusing everyone of being a liar,” Sierra stated firmly. “Look at yourself. You’re falling apart over nothing.”
“It isn’t nothing,” Amy said, brushing back her hair and reaching in her purse for a tissue. She blew her nose and blurted through tears, “My parents are going to get a divorce.”
“DO YOU KNOW THAT FOR SURE?” Sierra asked. “I mean, have they actually said they’re getting a divorce, or are you feeling that way because things were so bad between them this morning?”
“I’m positive,” Amy said. “I heard them fighting once a few months ago, and they said they were going to wait until I graduated next year. Then they would sell the house and split everything.”
Sierra didn’t know that to say.
“The way things are going, I don’t think they’ll last until the end of the month.”
“I’m sorry you’re going through all this,” Sierra said. “I’m glad you’re telling me.”
“I probably shouldn’t be saying all this.” Amy drew in a shaky breath. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“I don’t think you can do anything. Except pray. Pray good and hard. This is something your parents have to work out.”
They were silent for a few minutes. Sierra could hear the morning birds singing their hearts out in the towering trees in the backyard. She remembered a saying she had once seen on a greeting card. “The blue bird does not sing because she has the answer. She sings because she has a song.”
“Amy, let’s put this morning behind us, okay? I don’t have any answers for you. I just want to start fresh.”
“You always do that,” Amy said, looking Sierra in the eyes for the first time since Sierra had clambered into her car. “You spring back all the time. Don’t you ever get depressed?”
“Sure. Sometimes. Everybody does.”
Amy pulled her hair away from her face and reached for a ponytail holder hanging from her rearview mirror. With her hair back and her eyes wiped, she faced Sierra with a forced smile. “Okay. Fresh start. I can deal with Drake liking you.”
“I never said he liked me.”
“Well, Drake is interested enough to call and ask you to the movies Friday night, in case you hadn’t figured that out yet. That makes it a bit awkward for us to fix dinner for the guys tonight and still assume that Drake is my date.”
“Why should it be?”
“Sierra! Think about it.”
“I never said I’d go to the movies with him. I never gave Drake any indication that I was interested in him.”
“But you are, aren’t you? I mean, if I hadn’t picked up the phone, you would have said yes to the movies, wouldn’t you?”
Sierra paused before answering, “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Sierra. You’ve always been honest with me. Why can’t you tell me the truth now? I can take it. Believe me! After all I’ve been through this morning, I can take anything.”
Sierra let out a deep breath and lifted her thick hair off her clammy neck. How should she answer?
“I don’t know how I feel, Amy. I just don’t know.” She shook her head and looked out the car window.
The front of the Jensen house looked like a picture from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The wide wraparound porch was decorated with her mom’s baskets of hanging ferns, and along the railing her flower boxes were alive with color. It all seemed so peaceful and inviting. A vivid contrast to the way Sierra felt inside.
“We can’t fix dinner tonight,” Amy said. “That’s for sure.”
“I still don’t understand why not.”
Amy gave her an incredulous look. “Do the math, girl! You would have two dates, and I would have none.”
“Why can’t we all just be a bunch of friends having dinner together and not divide up into couples?” Sierra suggested. “We’re all friends, aren’t we? Why do we have to match people up? I hate that.”
“Why should you hate that? You’re the one with all the male attention at the moment.”
“So what do you want to do?” Sierra sighed.
“Nothing. I want to cancel the dinner. I want to go home.” Amy paused. She reached for her sunglasses on the dashboard and slipped them on. “No, I don’t want to go home. I don’t know what I want right now. I just want to get out of here.”
“Don’t leave mad, Amy.”
“I’m not mad.” She turned the key in the ignition, and the car started immediately.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll talk to you later,” Amy said.
r /> “Well, call me or come by later or something. I have the whole day free now.”
“I’ll call you,” Amy said. “But you call the guys, okay?”
“Okay,” Sierra reluctantly agreed, opening the car door and getting out. “You will call me, right?”
“I told you I would.” Amy pulled Sierra’s door shut and charged away, making her tires squeal as she sped down the street.
She’s still mad, and she’s not going to call me, Sierra thought.
With her bare feet nestled in the cool grass, Sierra watched a puff of gray smoke rise from the old Volvo as it turned down the next street. Sierra felt hollow inside. There didn’t seem to be any easy answers, no snap decisions that would make everything right and peaceful again.
Why does life have to be so complicated? I should call Drake and tell him I can’t go to the movies with him. Then Amy will have nothing to be mad about, Sierra thought. No, I can’t do that. He never actually asked me. He thought he was asking me, but he really only talked to Amy. Then Sierra had an idea. What if Randy came with us? No, that’s too strange. She went back and forth. No, it isn’t Randy’s just a buddy. Or is he?
The nagging little voice inside of Sierra was beginning to make her feel as if she were going crazy, causing her to doubt herself and everyone else.
A large white delivery van rumbled down the street and pulled up where Amy’s car had been, interrupting Sierra’s thoughts. The words on the side of the van read, “Bundle of Joy—Diaper Service.” Sierra was sure the van was on the wrong block. None of their neighbors had a baby.
She turned to go inside when someone called from the van, “Hey, Sierra, wait up.”
She whirled around and then nearly burst out laughing when she saw the delivery man jump from the front seat. Tall, handsome Drake stood before her wearing shorts and a white short-sleeved shirt with a “Bundle of Joy” monogram above the pocket.
“WHAT WAS GOING ON here when I called? Is Amy still here?” Drake pulled off his sunglasses and looked past Sierra to the front porch.
“She just left. You deliver diapers?”
Drake nodded. “It’s my dad’s company.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Drake gave her a sly grin. “It’s not the kind of thing I go around broadcasting, you know. Now tell me what was going on with Amy.”
“We were trying to plan dinner for tonight, but now it’s canceled.”
“Why?”
“Amy felt uncomfortable about things.”
“Why?”
“Well,” Sierra said, “let me ask you a question. Are you interested in going out with her?”
“No.”
“She’s interested in going out with you.”
“So?”
“So?!”
“Yeah, so? Does that mean I’m obligated to go out with her?”
“Drake!” Sierra put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “You don’t get it, do you? You hurt her feelings this morning.”
“I hurt her feelings? How?”
“Because when she picked up the phone, she thought you were asking her out. Don’t you see? She started to say yes, and then you told her you wanted to talk with me. She likes you, and it hurt her to find out that you were asking someone else out.”
“And it’s my fault Amy picked up the phone and made me think I was talking to you?”
“She didn’t mean to do that. You’re acting like Amy and I planned this to confuse you.”
Running his fingers through his dark hair, Drake looked frustrated. “Well, it worked. I’m confused, all right.”
“Oh! And you think that’s our fault?”
“I’m not saying anything is anyone’s fault.” Drake raised his voice.
Sierra folded her arms and bit her tongue before she said something she would really regret.
“Look, Sierra, I have to go. Do you want to come with me while I make deliveries so we can talk about this?”
“I don’t have any shoes on.”
“So go put some shoes on.”
Sierra hesitated. She wasn’t sure she wanted to run around town with Drake. Not because of the Bundle of Joy Truck, but because of her concern that Amy would get upset again, the way she had about Drake coming to Sierra’s house for dinner. “I don’t know,” she said.
“Fine!” Drake said, exasperated. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.” He hustled to the driver’s side of the van, hopped in, and took off.
“Men!” Sierra muttered.
She turned to go inside when another truck rumbled up to the front of her house. Sierra threw up her arms in surrender when she saw that Randy’s white truck had pulled up to the curb.
“What is going on this morning?” she muttered.
Randy slid over and rolled down the passenger window. “Hi. How’s it going?”
“Don’t ask!?” Sierra spouted.
“Okay,” Randy answered agreeably. “Let’s start over again. I was on my way to my next yard job over on 52nd Street. I saw you standing out here, and I thought I’d bring you a friendly hello!” He flipped back his straight blond hair and offered her a big grin.
Sierra was not amused.
“Bad morning, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Was that Drake’s delivery truck?”
“Yes.”
Randy cautiously ventured another question. “Is everything all set for dinner tonight?”
“No. We had to cancel the dinner.”
“How come?”
“Don’t ask. It’s a mess.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Randy asked.
“No.”
Taking the hint that Sierra was not in a talkative mood, Randy smiled and said, “Well, I hope your day gets better.”
“So do I.”
“Oh, by the way,” Randy said, “I invited Drake to go on the backpacking trip.”
“You didn’t! Oh, Randy!”
“What?”
Sierra grabbed her hair with both fists and, giving a pull, said, “Why do I feel as if I’m about to go totally wacko?”
Randy shrugged. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Just forget it. Now I have to call Amy and explain everything to her.”
“Guess I’d better get going,” Randy said sheepishly. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“You and everybody else,” Sierra mumbled. She watched him drive away, following Amy and Drake’s escape route. Then, taking the steps to the front porch two at a time, Sierra decided she needed to sit down and think things through. She retreated to the porch swing and stretched out on the soft cushions. Laying her arms across her forehead and shutting her eyes, Sierra began to sort things out.
Amy was a wreck. But maybe she was overly emotional because of her parents, and Drake wasn’t really a part of the problem after all. Any other time it wouldn’t have bothered Amy that Drake called Sierra. Actually, that wasn’t true. It would have bothered Amy any time. She liked the guy. But it wasn’t Sierra’s fault.
Drake was the problem. Why was he being so nice to Sierra and giving her all this attention? She remembered the way she felt the day before when Drake’s hand had brushed the bug from her cheek. She touched the same cheek slightly, reliving the sensation. She had never felt like that before, embarrassed and warm at the same time.
I should have gone with him on his deliveries. Now he probably won’t ask me out for Friday. Sierra stopped herself. What am I thinking? Even if he did, I wouldn’t go out with him! I wouldn’t do that to Amy. Or Randy. Randy? Why am I worried about Randy? He wouldn’t care if I went out with Drake, would he?
The nagging voice that had been plaguing Sierra whispered to her again, Are you sure you know what you’re doing?
She sat up and tossed her wild curls from her shoulders, hoping to shake away both the annoying whisper and her mixed-up emotions. It was no use. The confusing feelings followed her as she got up and went inside. Heading straight for the kitchen, Sierra went se
arching for food. Actually, she wanted sugar. For the first time she understood why Tawni used to go on sugar safaris. Chocolate is the only known cure for emotional exhaustion.
The best she could come up with were some stale miniature marshmallows and a few spoonfuls of hot fudge. Sierra warmed a bowl of fudge in the microwave and then sat down with the marshmallows and a toothpick. Her “fondue” was ready.
“Sierra!” her mother said when she entered the kitchen a few moments later. “Is that your lunch?”
“Um-hmm,” Sierra answered, a gooey morsel melting in her mouth.
“Wesley said you and Amy want to have dinner here tonight.”
Sierra shook her head. “It’s been canceled.”
“Since when?”
“Since this morning when Amy was here.”
“She was here earlier?” her mom asked. “I just talked to her on the phone ten minutes ago. I told her you were out with Drake.”
Sierra dropped her marshmallow, toothpick and all, into the fudge. “You didn’t.”
Her mom nodded and tried one of the stale marshmallows. “When I got out of the shower, Gavin said you were out with Drake.”
SIERRA REALIZED her little brother must have looked out the window and seen her at the curb talking to Drake. All Sierra needed now was for Amy to think that the minute she left, Sierra had gone out with Drake.
Sierra ran into the study and punched in Amy’s number. “Amy, it’s me. Don’t hang up.” Sierra sat down in her favorite chair in the study, staring at the ceiling in exasperation.
“I thought you were out with Drake,” Amy said accusingly.
“I was out front talking to Drake. I wasn’t ‘out’ with him. I was trying to explain to him that he hurt your feelings.”
“You didn’t say that, did you?” Amy’s voice had an edge to it.
“Yes, I did. I wanted him to understand why it hurt you when you realized he was trying to ask me out.”
“Sierra, will you just keep your nose out of my business?”
“What is wrong with you today? I’m on your side.”
“No, you’re not! Not when you go around telling Drake he hurt my feelings! That is so embarrassing. He obviously isn’t interested in me. I’m not so dumb that I’m going to keep liking him.”