Boiling Point (16 page)

Amanda and Natasha nodded.

“Way to go, Molls!” exclaimed Amanda, giving Molly a high-five.

So Molly turned and went up the stairs. She walked very quietly to listen for any footsteps inside. As she stopped to listen more closely, she suddenly thought,
Oh, what the heck, I’m just gonna ring the doorbell.
She was suddenly feeling like a meanie for putting the letter under Ms. Barlow’s door. What if Ms. Barlow really did mean to pay them, but just hadn’t gotten to it yet? She didn’t seem like a mean person...perhaps she was busy because she was a single mom, and here she’d planned this nice party for her little girl, and maybe she was on her way right now to the twins’ house to drop off the money...how horrible it would be if she came home to this letter...or perhaps she really didn’t have any extra money...maybe she’d lost her job...

“
Molly
,” called Amanda from the street.
“Hurry up!”

Molly was shaken out of her thoughts. Suddenly, she just didn’t know
what
to do.
“Ohhh,”
she moaned, quickly slipping the letter under the door. She turned and rushed down the steps.

“Let’s go,” she told the girls. “Now I feel bad about this.”

“What?” asked Natasha and Amanda.

“Maybe the letter was—too much.”

Natasha looked hurt. “But my dad wrote it,” she said. “To help us.”

“I know, and that’s, like, so great,” Molly assured her. “But maybe we should have given her more time, that’s all.”

Amanda’s toes curled inside her sneakers. She hated awkward moments like this. But maybe Molly was right. “Do you want to come back over to our house now?” she asked Natasha.

“No, I—I can’t,” replied Natasha. “I have to go somewhere with my mom.” She made a face. Natasha and her mom didn’t always get along.

“Okay,” said the twins. Natasha turned to leave.

“Sorry, Natasha,” said Molly. Now she was feeling bad about what she’d said about the letter.
Ugh! Why am I always saying the wrong thing? I’msuch a geek, she
thought.

“It’s okay,” said Natasha. She didn’t seem mad this time. She waved, and walked down the hill to Garden Street.

Molly and Amanda went home and hung out in the garden with Mom while Dad and Matthew were at soccer practice. They told her about the letter that Mr. Ross had written.

“Hmmm.
It seems a little soon for a letter like that,” said Mom.

“I wonder what’s going on over at Peichi’s,” said Amanda anxiously. “Mom, do you think something terrible will happen to Peichi’s grandparents? Like, do you think they’ll go to jail?”

“No, sweetie,” said Mom as she watered her roses. “I’m sure everything’s going to work out. Don’t worry too much, okay?”

The phone rang at the Moores’ house a lot the rest of that day, mostly for Mom. Not one of the calls was from Brenda Barlow.

Or Peichi.

That night, when the twins were supposed to be asleep, they were still worrying about everything.

“I thought Peichi would have called us by now!” exclaimed Amanda in the dark.

“Not getting paid by Ms. Barlow really doesn’t seem very important,” said Molly. “Compared to what Peichi’s feeling right now.”

“Uh-huh,” said Amanda, turning over to face Molly. “I guess money really isn’t everything.”

Early the next morning, Mr. Moore woke the twins.

“Look what someone slipped under our door this morning,” he said, waving a pale green envelope.

Molly rubbed her eyes.

“What is it?”

Amanda sat up in bed and reached for the envelope. “Look! It says, ‘Brenda Barlow’ on the return address!”

Inside was all the money she owed Dish.

“There’s even a little extra,” said Amanda. “And here’s a note...‘Dear Dish,’ ” read Amanda out loud, “ ‘thanks for cooking such a terrific meal! Our party was a huge success, thanks to you! And little Morgan loved your cupcakes. I’m sorry you had to wait for your money. All the best, Brenda Barlow.’ ”

“Let me see,” said Molly, reaching over to Amanda’s bed. The note was written on pale green paper, edged in gold. Ms. Barlow’s handwriting was large and loopy. Her signature was so fancy that it was impossible to make out her name, except for the swirly ‘
Bs
.’

“I think you should call Ms. Barlow,” said Mr. Moore.

“Why, Dad?”

“Just to say you got the money, and to say thank you. You could say that you look forward to working with her again someday.”

The twins began to laugh.

“Do we really need to thank her, Dad? I mean, we worked for her, and she
finally
paid us. After not answering the door when we came over!”

“You don’t know for certain that she was home then,” Dad reminded the girls. “It would be a nice, and professional, thing to do. You’re running a business now, and it’s good to be gracious with your clients. Give her a quick call after breakfast—which will be ready pretty soon.” He turned and went downstairs.

“Okay,” said Molly. She looked at Amanda. “Are you gonna call her? It’s your turn.”

“Okay,” said Amanda. She knew it was only fair.

“Here goes,” said Amanda later, dialing the number. Molly picked up the cordless receiver.

“Hello?” said Ms. Barlow.

“Oh, hi, Ms. Barlow. This is Amanda Moore.”

“Oh, hello, Amanda!” She sounded as happy as ever. “I slipped some money under your door this morning!”

“Yes, we got it,” said Amanda. “Thank you.”

“Thanks for being so
patient
with me,” said Ms. Barlow. “I’m
very
forgetful! So sorry you had to wait for your money.” She really was a nice lady, if maybe a little wacky, thought the twins.

“Well, call us if you ever need someone to cook,” said Amanda. “Bye.”

“I certainly
will, dear! Bye-bye!”

Amanda sighed. “That’s over with,” she said.

“I’m glad you called,” said Molly.

“Yeah, me, too. Let’s call Natasha!”

Luckily, Natasha answered the phone. Mrs. Ross usually did, and she could be a little—stiff.

“Good news!” Amanda told Natasha. “We got our money from Brenda Barlow. Come over later and we’ll give you your share!”

“Great!” said Natasha. “I guess the letter worked.”

The twins looked at each other.

“I had a feeling Ms. Barlow was going to pay us soon, anyway,” said Amanda. “She wrote us a really nice note. We’ll show it to you.”

“Oh. Maybe she’s just the forgetful type,” said Natasha. “See you later.”

After the twins hung up, Molly asked, “Should we call Peichi? Or wait for her to call us?”

The twins decided to go ahead and call, but no one answered. The twins decided not to leave a message.

“Should I call Justin and tell him we got paid?” asked Amanda.

Molly nodded. “Sure. We owe him money.”

“I sorta feel weird calling him,” said Amanda. “What if he thinks I like him?”

Molly chucked. “Hello! You do like him.”

“That’s why I shouldn’t call him.”

“Then I’ll call him,” said Molly. “
I
don’t like him.”

“No, I want to do it! Maybe later.”

“Aaagh!”
screeched the twins.

“The ringer on this phone is just too loud,” said Molly, picking up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hel-
lo
! It’s Peichi! Can I come over? Right now?”

“Okay! See ya soon.”

Twenty minutes later, Peichi was sitting in the garden with the twins. “So everything worked out okay,” she announced. “Guess what! Mr. McElroy and some police officers searched my grandparents’ store that night of our party. They found more stuff—some old Chinese coins!”