“I disappoint him a lot.”

“How?”

“You know how,” she insisted. “It’s obvious. I looked like a freak, my grades were bad, my friends were bad… I let him down. I wasn’t easy.”

“Was, was, was,” Jerry said. “What’s changed?”

“I changed my hair for one thing. You should’ve seen his face—he thought he’d won the lottery. I wear riding clothes because that’s what I have now. That sort of thing.”

Jerry’s lips moved as though he tried not to smile at her. “I bet if you dug around in the closet, you could find those old Goth clothes. If you root around in the bathroom, you’ll find the black nail polish and lipstick. Which leads me to a question—how long have you been Goth?”

“You act like you know what Goth is!” she said with derision.

“I know you think you’re a complete original,” he said with a laugh. “How long?”

“A year, I guess.”

“A reaction to your mother’s death?” he asked.

“I don’t understand the question,” she said immediately.

“Yes, you do. A reaction to your mother’s death? Did your adoption of the Goth style have something to do with your mother’s death?”

“Sort of, I guess…”

“You guess how?”

She looked down into her lap. “Everyone was ready for me to get over it, that she died, and I couldn’t.”

“Everyone?”

“Lief was getting over it—he wasn’t up prowling the house all night, wasn’t staring so hard he looked like a dead body. He laughed on the phone, went to meetings about his scripts. My friends at school didn’t want to hang out anymore—they said I was depressing. Everyone was getting over it. But me.”

“So…?”

“So I thought if I just dressed in black, in Goth, I wouldn’t have to put on some show about being all happy when I wasn’t all happy!”

“Ah!” Jerry said. “Brilliant!”

“Brilliant?”

“Absolutely brilliant! What a perfect solution! You know, Courtney, you are definitely not the weirdest kid who comes to see me, but you might be the smartest. You know exactly what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, that’s what you think…”

“At fourteen, knowing exactly what you feel and why you feel it is still a process. But you’re acting on instinct to defend and protect your feelings, and that’s a leap ahead of your peers.”

“I’d rather be five-six and stacked,” she said with a pout.

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “All in good time, Courtney. I’m confident that will come. Let me get back to something important—the disappearing thing. Have you ever wanted to disappear?”

She shrugged and thought for a second. “Back when I was living with my real dad, Stu. Yeah, I was kind of hoping I’d just die.”

“And now?”

“Oh, I don’t want to die,” she said. “I’d never do anything like that. I’m only a little crazy, you know.”

“Actually, I don’t find you crazy at all. I think you’re quite stable. Now, about dinner tonight…”

“What?” she said.

“This girlfriend of your dad’s…”

“Some woman visiting here from the Bay Area. Visiting for a long time, like she might even stay. She’s a cook of some kind. He likes her and he really wants me to like her.”

“How do you know that?”

“He said she invited us to dinner and would I please go easy on her.”

“And he said that because?”

“Because when I met her at her Halloween party a while ago, I didn’t go real easy on her. But she didn’t go real easy on me, either. When I asked her what her muffins tasted like, she asked what I like and I told her pork chops, potatoes and gravy and she said then I’d like the muffins. Trying to trick a kid—cheap shot.”

He laughed again. “Is it possible you’ve met your match? She might be almost as smart as you are.”

“Well…”

“Can you go easy on her? Give her a chance? Find out if you actually like her before you put a curse on her?”

“What do I care?” she said with an insolent grimace.

“Just put yourself in his position. It should be easy for you—think of yourself and how much it’s meant to you to have Amber as a friend, to have better grades, to have a new look that gets the attention of the most handsome guy at the stable. All that feels good, right? So if someone wanted to make enough trouble for you so you couldn’t have those things, that would be very disappointing, right?”

“I don’t get what you’re saying,” she said, because it was true.

“I’m saying that your dad—”

“Lief,” she corrected.

“I’m saying that Lief has been very lonely since his wife died and it would be a good thing for him to have friends. To have an adult relationship. Just as it’s good for you to have teenage relationships—boys and girls. It balances things out for the family.”

She leaned toward him. “I don’t have relationships with boys!”

“Maybe not yet,” Jerry said. “But you wouldn’t find it sporting if Lief did something to humiliate you in front of Gabe, the handsome one.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“I’m just saying, don’t make it impossible for Lief to have a friend,” Jerry said. “He’s earned it. It doesn’t make you any less important to him.”

She thought some more. Then she said, “And if he decides he loves her or something?”

Jerry shrugged. “So?” he asked.

“I don’t want a new mother! I’ll never have another mother!”

“Good terms,” Jerry said, tripping her up yet again by agreeing with her. “Make those your terms. You’ll be receptive and accessible and friendly—but you draw the line at having a new mother. If this woman who is having you to dinner wants to take the place of your mother, you are within your rights to tell her no, thank you. You are definitely within your rights to say you’re only interested in having friends. How does that sound?”

She grimaced. Actually, it sounded very practical.

“Chances are she doesn’t want to be your mother, but rather just be on good terms with you. Kind of like Amber wants to be on good terms with your dad so you two can enjoy your friendship. It’s not very complicated.”

After a long, thoughtful moment, Courtney said, “I think I’m being brainwashed here. I should call someone, like the police. Get deprogrammed.”

He laughed at her. “So tell me about the puppy. Spike. Do you get to bring him home pretty soon?”

Kelly knew how to slip most of the bones out of a raw Cornish game hen. It had to be done the day before roasting or baking, then refrigerated, then stuffed, then baked. She pulled out the spine and ribs, but left the leg and wing bones so there was something to hold the bird together and give it shape.

She had an amazing rosemary dressing for the little birds. Because Picky Courtney was coming to dinner, she was keeping it simple—buttered peas and baby glazed carrots rather than anything as “exotic” as brussels sprouts. She’d serve appetizers, hard rolls, chopped salad and, for dessert, chocolate pie. And if the little twerp was difficult, she’d offer her a hot dog!

“I think your talents are wasted on sweet relish and chutney,” Jillian said, observing the boneless hens being stuffed.

“It takes a good chef to do all these things. Sauces aren’t easy, canned goods are dicey, if the flavor is going to be right. Besides, as sous chef, I was more of a supervisor than anything else. Creating a special dinner for five—it’s a treat.” Then she looked at Jill and said, “Help me with Courtney. Please. Especially if she likes you.”

“Are you worried about it?”

“I’m worried about Lief being miserable. He gives her so much and I suspect he asks for very little in return.”

“Don’t worry, Kell. I have a secret weapon.”

“Oh?”

“Colin Riordan, king of the wild men!”

Kelly frowned. “Okay, I’m not sure what that means, but don’t hurt her.”

“Promise,” Jill said with a laugh.

Less than an hour later, when the sun was lowering in the sky, the table ready, Jill and Kelly on the porch with their glasses of wine, Lief pulled up. When he and Courtney got out of the truck, the sisters couldn’t keep their mouths from dropping open in shock and wonder. That little stinker was stunning! Her hair was smooth, dark auburn and swept her porcelain jaw in a sleek wedge. Her lips were pink! Her nails were not black! And though she was tiny, she did sinful justice to a pair of tight dress jeans, shiny boots and a denim jacket.

Courtney kept her eyes averted, but Lief couldn’t help smiling as he approached the ladies on the porch.

“Courtney!” Kelly said before she could stop herself. “This is a whole new you!”

Courtney merely shrugged.

“Kid, you look amazing!” Jillian said. She ran a hand over her own dark, layered locks. “Who did that? Tell me it was someone within driving distance. I have to have the name!” She looked at Kelly, smoothing her own hair along her cheek. “I could do that, couldn’t I?”

“Annie did it,” Courtney said. “My trainer. I mean, riding instructor. She’s a beautician and has a shop in Fortuna. So you like it?”

“Like it?” Kelly said. “If I didn’t have to spend an hour taming all these wild curls, I’d pay a lot of money to get that cut.”

“Well, I don’t,” Jill said. “Can you believe we weren’t adopted? One curly blue-eyed blonde and one dark horse with straight hair! I could do that cut—but I’d have to grow a lot of stuff out first!”

Remarkably, Courtney laughed. “You don’t have nearly as much to grow out as I did. I mean, come on—pink, purple, burgundy and ink-black.”

Kelly sat forward. “What made you do it?” she asked, sincerely curious.

“I scared the horses,” she said, with a smile.

And Kelly noticed—shining, straight teeth. Underneath that scowl was a beauty. “Naw,” Kelly said with a laugh. “I heard they were color-blind.” She nodded at Courtney’s feet. “I like your boots.”

“Yeah, great boots,” Jill agreed. “If I didn’t have to wear rubber in the garden, I’d copy those, too.”

There was the tooting of a horn as Colin came speeding up to the back porch in the garden mobile, basically a golf cart with a flatbed back that Jill and her assistant used to get themselves and supplies between gardens. He stopped right in front of Lief and Courtney.

“Hey,” everyone said as he got out.

“Courtney, wanna drive?”

She was stunned silent for a minute. “Seriously?” she said.

“I have to go with,” Colin said. “I mean, it’s Jilly’s buggy. But you can drive as long as you’re not too crazy.”

“You bet,” she said, jumping into the garden mobile.

Colin took a moment to show her reverse, forward, power and brakes. Then they backed away, turned around, and Courtney jerked toward the road that went between the trees to the back meadow. Then she found her comfort zone and, with a squeal, went as fast as the cart would take her.

“Can I help myself to a beer?” Lief asked.

“Of course, but what happened to her?” Kelly asked. “I almost asked where Courtney was!”

“I suspect the good-looking guy at the stable, but it could be the Hawkins family or maybe even the counselor. Who knows? Do I care? It’s the first time I haven’t lived with an alien in over a year. I’ll be right back.”

While Lief was getting his beer, Jill and Kelly watched the garden mobile disappear through the trees. Then they only heard it; they couldn’t see it. After just a moment, they heard Courtney’s high-pitched squeal and Colin’s deep laugh. Then they heard that again and again and again as the sounds got farther and farther away. Lief was back on the porch with his beer, listening along with them. “What’s his secret?” he asked Jill.

“He doesn’t really care for kids that much,” she said. “Therefore he doesn’t treat them like kids, but rather like short adults. Seems to work like a charm.”

Lief took a long pull on his beer. “Wow. I’ll try to remember that.”

Within a few minutes the garden mobile reappeared, running full speed toward the house on the road between the trees. Colin was leaning back, one big foot propped up on the dash, holding his hat on his head with a hand. Courtney, however, was leaning into the steering column, grabbing it with gusto, sailing past the house down the drive to the front.

Lief, Kelly and Jill burst out laughing when the vehicle had passed.

“Think she’ll be willing to give it up so Colin can have dinner?” Lief asked.

“Oh, sure,” Jillian said. “It won’t be long now.”

“How do you know? She looked pretty happy in control of that thing,” Lief pointed out.

Jill tilted her head. “It’s going to run out of gas. Pretty soon.”

Ten

After Courtney’s wild ride in a garden mobile, Kelly hosted her at three successful dinners, all within the space of two weeks. If she wasn’t mistaken, Courtney was actually pleased to be there. True, she was considerably friendlier and more outgoing to Jillian and Colin, but Kelly understood that. After all, they weren’t threatening her position with her father. And she was civilized, if cool, toward Kelly. She even seemed to like the meals Kelly prepared, though she had a tiny appetite.