“Stay with me, David! It’s too easy for a little kid like you to get lost in the mob.”
He wiggled his arm free but stayed right by her side until they reached Mom, who was talking to somebody in the waiting area. Christy stepped up behind Mom. Since she was several inches taller than her mother, she could see over her shoulder, but she wasn’t ready for what she saw.
“Paula?”
The Wisconsin farm girl with the baby-doll face and big, round blue eyes jumped up and shrieked, colliding with David as she wrapped her arms around Christy in an exuberant hug.
“I’m here! I’m here!” she announced to Christy and everyone in the waiting area.
Paula looped her big bag purse over her shoulder and breathlessly, dramatically said, “I was freaking out, you guys! I guess my plane came in early. About ten minutes early, they said. And I got off, and I didn’t know anybody, and oh man, I was really worried, and I just sat down and tried to be really calm and everything, and then your mom walked up, and I almost started crying, and then I saw you, and it was like it hit me that I was really here!”
Christy laughed at her friend’s enthusiastic commentary. Paula had been like that ever since Christy could remember. She seemed “more” Paula than the Paula Christy had grown up with and hadn’t seen for almost a year.
“You cut your hair!” Christy exclaimed.
Paula fingered the side of her very short hair. “I had to! You got yours cut when you came here last summer, and so I thought I should get the California look before I got here, but …”
Paula seemed to notice Christy for the first time. “You’re growing yours out! I can’t believe it’s past your shoulders already! Last time I saw you it was short!”
Then her round cheeks turned a spicy shade of pink, and in a panic she said, “Oh no! Is everybody growing their hair out this year? Am I the only one with short hair? Oh no!”
“Paula!” Christy laughed and spoke softly, hoping Paula would take the hint and lower her voice too. “You look great! This is California. You can wear your hair any way you want. Don’t worry. Relax!”
Mom suggested they pick up the luggage, and Paula kept chattering. Christy watched her and thought how really good Paula did look.
She always had been a little cutie, with her long blond hair and innocent, little girl looks. Now, except for the same big baby-doll eyes, Paula looked more like a young woman than a little girl. Her figure had turned out to be much better proportioned than Christy thought her own was, and the sophisticated hairstyle and obvious makeup made Paula look much older than her fifteen years.
It felt strange walking beside Paula, listening to her ramble on, oblivious to how loud she was and how people were turning to look at her. Christy thought of how the year they’d been apart had changed both of them and how she’d waited so long to see Paula again. Now that she was here, well, for some reason Christy felt squeamish.
“You know what I mean?” Paula said, snapping Christy back into the present.
“Oh, yeah, uh-huh.” Whatever you just said.
“I mean, who knows when I’m going to get back here again, so while I’m here I want to see and do everything we can, and I’ve been saving up my money so you won’t have to pay for me for anything, and maybe I can help pay for gas and stuff when we go places.”
Mom calmly turned and spoke solid words to Paula, which made Christy listen carefully. “We will all have a good time, Paula. Just keep in mind that you may get to see some things you didn’t expect to see and you may not get to see some things you’d hoped to.”
“Oh, I know. My mom said the same thing. I’ll be fine whatever we do, really. I don’t want to be a bother or anything.”
“You’re not a bother,” Mom said as they stood at the crowded luggage carousel. “We’re glad you’re here.”
“Oh! Look! There are my bags already. That big, ugly brown one and the two little ones next to it.”
“Looks like you brought enough stuff to stay a month!” Christy teased as the girls stepped back and let Mom and David capture the moving targets.
“Oh, don’t I wish! I had a hard enough time coming for two weeks because we have this big family reunion I have to go to right when I get back. I’m going to have the best tan of anyone there too!”
Christy laughed at Paula’s innocent comments. She sounded like such a playful little girl, yet everything in her blue eyes told Christy that Paula had become very serious about her goals.
And she had a lot of goals!
The two girls shared the backseat during the hour and a half drive to Bob and Marti’s. Paula went on about how her friend Melissa had gotten her a job at Dairy Queen and how she had saved all her money for the past seven months. She had more than three hundred dollars left, and that was after buying some new clothes and paying for half of her airfare.
“I have to buy a new bathing suit before we go to the beach. I’d just die if I had to wear my old one and people started to laugh at me like they did at you last summer.”
“They didn’t really laugh at me,” Christy said defensively.
“Yes, they did. When you wrote me, you said they made fun of your green-bean bathing suit!”
“Is that right, Christy?” Mom looked in the rearview mirror. “You never told me that.”
It was one of those embarrassing moments Christy didn’t want to repeat, especially to her mother.
“Thanks for reminding me, Paula!” Christy said, with enough sarcasm that she hoped no one could tell how much it really bothered her.
“I’m only saying that I learn from your experiences, Christy. So I wouldn’t let my mom buy me a new bathing suit before I came to California because I wanted to buy one here, like you did.”
“Is that why Marti bought you all those clothes last summer?” Mom asked.
“Well.” Christy had long struggled with the way her aunt so freely gave to her and yet also tried to control through the giving. “You know how Aunt Marti is, Mom. She likes things to be her way, and she’s very generous.” I hope that came out okay. The last thing I want is for Paula to misquote me to my aunt!
“I can’t wait to meet your sister, Mrs. Miller.” Paula leaned forward in the seat. “I’ve heard so much about Aunt Marti that I just know I’m going to like her. I can’t wait to see their house. I’ve never known anyone who lived in a house right on the beach, and at Newport Beach too! Christy, you are so lucky! Is it very far from here? Where are we?”
“We’re almost there,” Christy’s mom said and then asked Paula about how her mom and dad and all her family were. That filled the twenty minutes it took to arrive at Bob and Marti’s.
“There’s never any parking here during the summer,” Mom said with a sigh and then remembered, “Bob’s in Maui, so I’ll park in his usual spot in the driveway.”
“Your uncle is in Maui? That’s in Hawaii, isn’t it? What am I saying? Of course it’s in Hawaii … isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” David spoke up for the first time in an hour. “And Todd’s there, too! I wish I could’ve gone with them.”
Mom pulled into the driveway and said to David with an unusually perky smile, “Watch what you wish for, son. You just might get it.”
“Huh?” David said.
Mom turned off the ignition and was the first one out of the car, followed by Paula. Christy had to admit that watching Paula experience the aura of the California beach lifestyle really was fun. Paula approached everything with a fresh excitement and delight.
“Look at this house! Is it gorgeous or what? I can’t believe this house! Is that your aunt at the front door?”
Aunt Marti, a slim, sophisticated woman who only slightly resembled Christy’s mother, stepped out onto the front steps, which were decorated with painted clay pots brimming with bright summer flowers. The blooms spilled over the sides and down the front walkway.
“So, this must be Paula!” Marti greeted them. “Welcome to California, darling. How was your flight?”
/>
Marti gave each of them her usual feathery kiss on the cheek without smudging her lipstick or ruffling her short, dark hair.
“You always smell like flowers,” David said when he got his kiss.
“Why, thank you, David,” Marti said.
Before she could invite them inside, David turned to Mom. “You always smell like spaghetti sauce.”
“Like spaghetti sauce!” A quick ocean breeze caught a curly bunch of Mom’s short, dark hair and scattered it across her forehead. “What made you think of spaghetti sauce?”
Christy thought Mom looked a little hurt to be the “spaghetti sauce” next to her sister, who was the “flowers,” even if Mom had grown used to such comparisons over the years.
“It’s ’cuz Marti smells more like a garden, and you smell more like a kitchen.”
“David, that is so rude!” Christy stopped his analogy, feeling bad for Mom. In a low voice between her teeth, she said, “I can’t believe you said that!”
“Why?” David looked surprised. “I love spaghetti. It’s just different from flowers, that’s all.”
Marti took the peculiar moment in her clever grasp and concluded, “I believe we have both been given a genuine compliment. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! Now come in, everyone, please.”
They filed past Marti into the plush, modern-decor house. Paula took in everything as if this were a famous museum and responded with what Christy considered to be overly exaggerated oohs and ahhs. Paula’s exclamations continued into every room as Christy gave her the grand tour.
“Lunch is all ready and waiting in the kitchen,” Marti called up the stairs. Christy was showing Paula the guest room that had been her bedroom while she stayed with her aunt and uncle last summer. “I thought we’d be informal, so I picked up a few things at the deli.”
Marti’s “few things” turned out to be a full tray of various sliced meats, cheeses, relishes, four kinds of bread, and a choice of three salads. David set to work immediately and built a sandwich so big that Mom warned him he wouldn’t be able to eat it all. And he couldn’t.
“Can I go out on the beach?” David asked.
“Actually.” Marti placed her diet soft drink down and looked at David with a serious expression. “I need to talk over something with you before you leave the table.”
Christy thought something might be wrong, but when she looked at Mom, she was wearing that perky little smile again. As soon as she noticed Christy looking at her, Mom tried to put on a serious expression, but it didn’t work.
“As you know,” Marti began, “Bob is gone for several weeks and has left me all alone here.”
Her dramatics reminded Christy of Paula’s flair for animation. “It’s really become more than I can bear, so I’ve come to a decision.”
David jumped up and spouted, “You want us to come stay here with you!”
Paula gasped and entered in with the same enthusiasm. “Oh! Really? You’d let us all stay here with you? What a dream come true! I’ve always wanted to stay at a beach house!”
“No, no, no.” Marti held up her hand and regained the floor. “I am not inviting you to stay here.”
“Oh,” said Paula.
“Oh.” David sat back down.
Christy felt the same way inside, but she kept her reaction to herself.
“I’m not going to be here, so you can’t stay with me here,” Marti said. “But I would like you to stay with me on Maui!” This time she jumped up and opened her arms, waiting for the congratulatory hugs. Instead of trampling her, the three kids sat frozen in their seats, waiting for the punch line to what seemed like a joke.
“Didn’t they hear me, Margaret?” Marti asked her sister.
Mom smiled and tried the direct approach. “Bob and Marti have invited us all to go to Maui. We leave in two days.”
Paula screamed. She screamed so loud that Christy put her fingers in her ears and let her mind replay Mom’s words one more time. “… go to Maui. We leave in two days.”
Marti received her awaited hugs from a screeching, jumping Paula and David. As soon as Christy let herself believe the announcement, she joined in the frolic.
When the noise died down, Paula said, “You guys! This is just like winning on a TV game show or something! My mom is never going to believe this!”
“Your mom already knows,” Christy’s mom said. “I called and talked it over with her before you came out here.”
“How long did you know, Mom?” Christy asked, feeling her heart steady itself from a wild sprint back to a jog.
“Oh, I don’t know. A week or two. It was awfully hard keeping it a secret!”
“Does Dad know?” David asked.
“Yes, and that’s something I haven’t told you yet. Dad can’t arrange to get off at the dairy, so he’s not coming with us.”
“He deserves a vacation more than any of us,” Christy said.
“I know,” Mom agreed.
Marti jumped in. “He said he’d come with us next time, and he even joked with Bob that the only reason we wanted him to go was to put him to work painting. Bob assured him that’s why he took Todd along.”
Todd! He must have known all along, because he kept saying we’d have a good time. No wonder he was laughing at me. That turkey!
This wasn’t the first time Christy’s aunt had arranged a special, extravagant surprise. It wasn’t that Christy had grown accustomed to such treatment and no longer fully appreciated the special treats. She did. But the news of going to Maui didn’t shock her the way it totally unnerved Paula.
“I can’t believe this! Can you believe this? I can’t believe this!” Paula grabbed Christy and hugged her, squealing right in her ear. Then pulling herself out to arm’s length, a horrified look came over Paula’s face. “Oh no. Oh no!”
“What is it?” Marti reached over to pat Paula on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Paula turned around and moaned, “I won’t have time to get a new bathing suit!”
Then Marti did something Christy had only seen a few times before. Marti laughed out loud, a real back-on-the-farm kind of laugh. “I should’ve known! You young girls are all alike! What do you think, Margaret? Why don’t we take the rest of the afternoon and go shopping?”
“I guess we could do that.”
“Aw, do we have to?” David griped. “Can’t I just stay here on the beach?”
“In a few days you’ll be on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Today, we shall go shopping!” Whenever Marti made declarations like that, David had learned better than to try to cross her. The girls were the first ones in the backseat of Marti’s new black car, which had more room than her old Mercedes and softer upholstery than Christy had ever felt.
David wadded himself up by the left door, and when Marti started down the street, he played with the electric windows until Mom told him to stop. Paula began to talk the minute she slid into the backseat and didn’t stop until they got to South Coast Plaza.
Marti took the car around to valet parking, and Paula asked in amazement, “You mean you can hop out right here in front of the store and somebody parks your car for you way down there and you don’t have to walk or anything? That’s so cool. This is so unbelievable! Yesterday I was making cones at the Dairy Queen, and today I’m shopping in California for my trip to Maui!”
She shrieked again and clutched Christy’s arm. “When are you going to get excited about this trip and show some enthusiasm?”
“I am excited, Paula. It’s just that you’re expressing enough of it for both of us.”
“If the way you’re acting now is your idea of enthusiasm, then it’s no wonder you didn’t make cheerleading!”
What a blow! Christy stopped walking, and Paula turned around and playfully said, “Aw, come on, Christy! Lighten up! I was just kidding!”
Why would Paula say such a thing? She knows I made the team but turned down the spot so another girl could take it. Why wou
ld Paula twist it like that and make me look bad?
Mom, Marti, and David were walking ahead of them, but Christy felt sure they must have heard. It was hard not to hear Paula when she was cranked up.
Christy could feel a headache beginning to streak across her forehead. She wished she was taking a nap instead of participating in Marti’s shopping parade.
Watching Paula’s exuberance over the variety of bathing suits to choose from only made the situation worse. “Which one should I get, Christy?” Paula held up a neon green bikini on a hanger and modeled the same style in hot pink in the spacious dressing room.
“I don’t care. Either one,” Christy answered from her slouched position on the dressing room chair.
“Oh, well you’re a lot of help! Where’s your aunt? I should ask her.”
“She’s still looking at stuff for my mom.”
“I guess I’ll get the green. I’ve never owned anything this bright in my life. I think I’ll look more tan, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Paula took her eyes off her reflection and examined Christy. “Are you all right? You’ve been a total blob since we started shopping.”
“I have a headache, and I feel kind of yucky.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Paula sprang into action and dug into the bottom of her huge purse. “Do you want real aspirin or acetaminophen?” She pulled out a travel-size bottle of each.
“Look at you, Little Miss Organized!” Christy teased. “I’ll take either. Just one. And I need some water. I’ll be right back.”
Christy took the tablet and headed for where she’d seen a drinking fountain, glad for the excuse to get out of the dressing room. She knew it was a stupid little thing and it shouldn’t bother her, but the whole time she was watching Paula pick out a bathing suit, she felt waves of jealousy over Paula’s figure.
To tall, lanky Christy, Paula seemed to have the perfect body. She was just the right medium height and well-proportioned, with a much larger bust than Christy’s. Paula seemed proud of her figure too, judging by the way she didn’t hesitate to try on skimpy little bathing suits and model them without embarrassment.
I would never even try on that neon bathing suit! Christy thought as she sipped the cold water and swallowed the pill. I’d never look as good as Paula does in a suit like that, but also Mom would never let me out of the house with so little on.