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Maria frowned at me. “But he picked you.”
“What do you mean, he picked me?”
“I showed him the list. He picked your name.”
My face heated up, and I wanted to say it was all from anger, but there was also embarrassment and flattery intertwined, making it hard to think straight. Isaac wanted to see me outside of his occasional flower deliveries, and he’d found a way. Not that I was giving in without making this work in my favor, too.
“If I go out with him, I want you to take me off the list.”
Maria made a face. “Why, Carmen?”
“Because I’m not even supposed to be in there. I told you no dates. I’m doing you a favor by agreeing to this one. And Gia. I know you have plans for her once she graduates from high school. But she’s too young to go in your little book.”
She pursed her lips, and then nodded. “Okay. You go out with him, I take you both off.”
Well, that was a relief. And maybe this would be good. I’d finally get to tell Isaac exactly what I thought of him. There would be no more dancing around the way he’d once treated me. No more glaring at him while he made flower deliveries. We could examine the remains of our old friendship, and then bury it once and for all. If he had any other objectives for this date, he’d just have to shelf those.
Getting rejected at age thirteen is traumatic. But when the guy who rejects you is your long-time pen pal? That changes you.
Chapter 4 - Isaac
Dear Carmen,
I’m in Mrs Maldonos third grate class. I live in Mesa, AZ. If were going to be pen pals I have some questions for you first.
1. what would you do if a kyote attacked
2. Do you have any cool scars?
3. How tall are you?
From,
Zac Romano
Dear Zac,
My teacher says we haf to be pen pals and rite three times. No swapping alowd. I know this because Ty didn’t want to write to a girl, but my teacher said he had to. And then he cried. Just kidding. He pouted, which is perty much the same thing. So lets be pen pals.
Answers:
1. If a coyote attacked I would scream and run at his face. But coyotes dont attack. They run across the road real fast and look for chickens. Pacifically, our chickens.
2. I have a scab on my knee. I dont know if it’s a scar yet. I’ll let you know.
3. I’m not tall. My brother calls me stumpy but you can’t call me that, okay?
Your friend,
Carmen Ortega
“Isaac, there’s a call for you,” Grace hollered from up front.
“Call for you,” Piper echoed.
I didn’t like the amused lilt to their voices. It meant bad things. Sometimes customers had weird requests, and although Grace was not a bleeding heart like me, she still preferred to punt to me rather than telling them no herself. She said I was more diplomatic. Last month, it was the lady who insisted on coming in the back and making her own arrangements. After the second time we had to tell her we couldn’t allow it for liability reasons. Actually, it was for sanity reasons. Everything came to a grinding halt until she was done playing florist-for-a-day.
I came to stand next to Grace behind the front counter and reached over to tickle Piper’s nose with a strand of her hair, making her giggle. “Who is it?” I whispered to Grace. I’d been on a roll greening the vases for tomorrow’s orders before closing. Natalie and Sam had been working on it, but their shifts ended at four. This had better be important.
