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April looked disappointed, which was nice. “So your engagement is officially off?”
“We were never engaged. Dean picked me up two weeks ago on the highway outside Denver.” Blue told her about Monty and the beaver costume.
April didn’t seem all that surprised. “You do live an interesting life.”
In the living room, Riley finished reading Mrs. Garrison’s horoscope. It said romance was in the picture, which made Riley so embarrassed she wanted to make something else up, but she couldn’t think of anything. Riley wished she was in the kitchen with April and Blue, but Dean said she had to stop letting people know how much they scared her. Dean said she should watch how Blue took care of herself and do the same thing, except without hitting anybody, unless she absolutely had to.
Mrs. Garrison grabbed the newspaper like she thought Riley might steal it. “That woman in the kitchen. I thought her name was Susan. That’s what I heard in town.”
Nobody except Blue knew that April was Dean’s mother. “I think April might be her middle name.”
“Are you related to her? What are you doing at the farm?”
Riley poked at the couch arm. She wished she could tell Mrs. Garrison that Dean Robillard was her brother. “April’s a friend of the family. She’s sort of like…my stepmom.”
“Humph.” Mrs. Garrison stared at her. “You look better today than you did last week.”
She meant Riley’s hair. April had taken her to get it cut, and they’d also gotten some new clothes. Even though it had only been a week, Riley’s belly didn’t seem to stick out so far, maybe because she didn’t have so much time to be bored and eat. Whenever she wanted to go to April’s cottage she had to walk, and she had to take care of Puffy. The bike riding was hard with the hills, and then Dean made her throw the football around. Sometimes she wished the two of them could just sit still and talk, but he liked to be doing stuff all the time. She’
d started to think maybe he was ADHD like Benny Phaler, or maybe it was just because he was a boy and a football player.
“I got my hair cut,” she said. “Plus, there isn’t too much junk food lying around, and I’ve been riding my bike a lot.”
Mrs. Garrison’s lips got all puckered, and Riley saw that some of her pink lipstick had run into the creases. “Blue turned nasty that day at Josie’s just because I said you were fat.”
She twisted her hands in her lap and remembered that Dean said she had to keep standing up for herself. “I know I am. But what you said kind of hurt my feelings.”
“Then you have to stop being so sensitive when it’s obvious someone’s having a bad day. Besides, you don’t look so fat now. It’s good you’re doing something about it.”
“Not on purpose.”
“It doesn’t matter. You should study dance so you can move better. I used to teach ballroom dancing.”
“I went to ballet for a while, but I wasn’t any good, so I dropped out.”
“You should have stuck with it. Ballet builds confidence.”
“The teacher told my au pair that I was hopeless.”
“And you let her get away with it? Where was your pride?”
“I don’t think I have too much.”
“It’s time you get some. Grab that book over there, put it on your head, and walk.”
Riley didn’t want to, but she crossed the room toward this gold swan table and put the book she found there on top of her head. It slid off right away. She picked it up and tried again with more success.
“Turn your thumbs so they’re pointing straight ahead,” Mrs. Garrison ordered. “It’ll open up your chest and pull your shoulders back.”
Riley tried it and decided she felt taller, more grown-up.
“There. You finally look like somebody who has a good opinion of herself. I want you to walk like this from now on, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
April poked her head in. “Time to go, Riley.”
The book slipped off Riley’s head, and she leaned down to pick it up. Mrs. Garrison’s eyes squeezed into little slits, like she was getting ready to say something really mean about Riley being fat and clumsy, but she didn’t. “Do you want a job, girl?”
