A Friend at Midnight (18 page)

“It sounds as if everybody, including Michael, thinks Dennis shouldn't be part of the wedding.”

“It sounds as if everybody except Michael wants Dennis arrested or else assassinated,” said Freddie.

There was a round of applause. Michael put down his spoon. The ice cream didn't taste so good after all.

“In the end,” said Kells, “this isn't about punishment. It's about love.”

Reb glared. “Oh, brother!”

“Exactly. Lily knew all along that it's Michael who pays if we go after Dennis. So let me speak as a stepfather and a person very fond of everyone at this table.”

Reb had the decency to blush.

“After the wedding, Rebecca, why don't you and Freddie take at least a few days and go on a honeymoon? Surely your company will grant you that. Then, since you and Freddie like to camp, and you've gone camping twice with Dennis, let's arrange a camping trip. Rebecca and Freddie and Michael and I will go, and Dennis will come. Michael will get to be with his dad and Freddie will make sure we all have fun. But I'll be in charge. Dennis won't be in trouble with the police, but he'll always be in a certain amount of trouble with me. It was such a wrong thing to do. We can't trust Dennis, Michael, but that doesn't mean you can't love him. I have a cousin who's a heroin addict. I can't trust him, but I love him. And that way, Lily doesn't deal with Dennis at all. Maybe someday she'll want to. But not now.”

“I like it,” said Freddie.

“I don't!” said Rebecca. “I want to make Dennis admit every single disgusting thing he did. I want him punished. Somebody somewhere has to tell Dennis where to go!”

“This isn't about somebody somewhere,” said Kells. “It's about Michael.”

Michael looked desperately at Reb. His eyes were huger and sadder than Nathaniel's had ever been.

“Okay. Fine,” said Reb irritably. “If Lily can give everything she has, I guess I can give one thing I have. I promise, Michael. We'll all go camping and—Wait a minute! Not say anything? Pretend Dennis is a decent person? For what—two or three days? Kells, are you serious? That's impossible!”

“Lily did it.”

Rebecca looked at her sister. “I can't believe this is happening to me. I have to follow my little sister's example.”

“Then we can do it?” said Michael. “We can go camping with Dad?”

Lily's heart was torn to pieces all over again. She looked at her mother, who was silently trying to understand all that had happened, all that she had not seen. She looked at her future brother-in-law, engineer that he was, taking out his calendar to find honeymoon and camping dates. But mostly she looked at her sister, who was going to have to handle Dennis in person, in a tent. “We can go camping with Dad,” promised Reb. “I'll be nice.” She looked at Kells. In all these years, she had never really wasted time looking straight at Kells. She said, “At the wedding, Kells? Would you walk me down the aisle?”

“I'm giving a pool party next Saturday night, Lily,” said Amanda. “I'm inviting everybody. You first, then all our friends, my parents and your parents. I'm totally in love with Kells. I want to marry a dusty blue recliner kind of guy. Then I'm inviting all the Mahannas, because if you're not in love with Trey yet, you should be. And Dr. Bordon. If I knew their names, I'd invite the guy at the ballpark who didn't make Michael pay for the spilled drinks and the airport people who worried about him.”

“A celebrate Michael party?” said Lily. “That's so sweet.”

“No, you dope. A friend at midnight party for you.”

“Me?” said Lily.

“Of course for you.”

“Why me?”

“Because you're the friend at midnight.”

Lily stared at her.

“If you had a friend, would you go to that friend at midnight?”
Amanda said.
“Because he is your friend, he will get up and give you everything you need.
Jesus.”

“I never heard you swear before.”

“I'm not swearing. I'm calling on Jesus to make a dent in your hard head, Lily. It's Dr. Bordon's favorite text. The whole church is totally sick of it. Don't you ever listen? The friend comes downstairs anyway. Even grumpy. Even over something stupid, like they need a loaf of bread to make sandwiches. And here you are crushed and furious and betrayed by your father, your sister and your brother—and still, you came down the stairs to open the door and give.”

I'm
the friend at midnight? thought Lily. All this time I was yelling at Jesus to pitch in? And He was making sure that
I
was pitching in?

“And finally,” said Amanda, “Trey. He's always adored you, Lily. He sits behind you in church so he can watch you during the sermon. Talk about a guy who forgives seventy times seven! I'm going to shove you both in the pool at the same time, and for once in your life, be nice to the guy. And don't ask Jesus for help. Boyfriends you handle on your own.”

And friends, too, thought Lily. Friends at midnight, friends at any hour of the day—for friends, O Lord, we give you thanks.

C
aroline B. Cooney is the author of
Diamonds in the Shadow; Hit the Road; Code Orange; The Girl Who Invented Romance; Family Reunion; Goddess of Yesterday
(an ALA Notable Book);
The Ransom of Mercy Carter; Tune In Anytime; Burning Up; The Face on the Milk Carton
(an IRACBC Children's Choice Book) and its companions,
Whatever Happened to Janie?
and
The Voice on the Radio
(each of them an ALA Best Book for Young Adults), as well as
What Janie Found; What Child Is This?
(an ALA Best Book for Young Adults);
Driver's Ed
(an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a
Booklist
Editors' Choice);
Among Friends; Twenty Pageants Later;
and the Time Travel Quartet:
Both Sides of Time, Out of Time, Prisoner of Time,
and
For All Time
. Caroline B. Cooney lives in Westbrook, Connecticut, and New York City.

ALSO BY CAROLINE B. COONEY

The Janie Books

The Face on the Milk Carton

Whatever Happened to Janie?

The Voice on the Radio

What Janie Found

The Time Travel Quartet

Both Sides of Time

Out of Time

Prisoner of Time

For All Time

Other Books

Diamonds in the Shadow

Hit the Road

Code Orange

The Girl Who Invented Romance

Family Reunion

Goddess of Yesterday

The Ransom of Mercy Carter

Tune In Anytime

Burning Up

What Child Is This?

Driver's Ed

Twenty Pageants Later

Among Friends

Published by Delacorte Press an imprint of Random House Children's Books a division of Random House, Inc.

New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2006 by Caroline B. Cooney

All rights reserved.

Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows:

Cooney, Caroline B.

A friend at midnight / Caroline B. Cooney.

p. cm.

Summary: After rescuing her younger brother abandoned at a busy airport by their divorced father, fifteen-year-old Lily finds her faith in God sorely tested as she struggles to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels.

[1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Family problems—Fiction. 3. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C7834Fr 2006

[Fic]—dc22      2006004598

Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

eISBN: 978-0-375-84909-1

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