The Gossip File (11 page)

As I shove my stuff into my suitcase, I keep replaying my conversation with my dad over and over in my head. So much for convincing him to give me another chance.

Maybe it's a good thing I'm going home. Coming here has made me lose my mind. I bet it's from the heat melting my brain. How else could everything have gotten so messed up?

I jump as someone knocks on the door. When I open it, I'm surprised to see Ellie standing there looking sadder than I've ever seen her. I would have thought she'd be bouncing off the walls now that I'll finally be out of her hair and she'll have my dad all to herself again.

“Can I come in for a minute?” she asks.

“It's your house,” I say with a shrug. Then I go back to packing as she perches on the bed.

“Rachel, I wanted to ask you about the notes that Caleb found.”

“I already said I was sorry,” I say. “It was stupid of me to write that stuff down.”

“But what were they for? I'm trying to understand how things went so wrong during your visit, and that's one part that just doesn't add up.”

I sigh and try to think what to say. I guess I do owe Ellie an explanation since some of the stuff I wrote was about her and her family. “It was just for this stupid book at the café,” I say. “All the new employees do it. You have to write down some resort gossip. I didn't know what to write, so I scribbled random stuff down.”

“A book at the café?” she asks.

I shrug. Since I'm leaving today, I guess it doesn't matter if I keep the Gossip File a secret anymore. “Yeah, it's just some notes shoved into a book. It's not a big deal, and it's not meant to hurt anyone. The whole point of the book is to show that even though the resort looks like this perfect place, there's a lot of imperfect stuff going on there.”

She gives me a long look. “Is the book a mystery novel?” she says, a hint of a smile on her face.

I put down the shirt I'm folding and stare at her. “How did you know that?”

She laughs. “Because I'm the one who started it when I worked at the café.”

“You what?”

“It was years ago,” she says, shaking her head like she can't believe how long it's been. “I'd just gotten almost-fired from my job answering phones, but luckily a spot opened up at the café. I hated it there, seeing all those couples and families coming in and out, laughing and talking together when I had no one. I'd just gotten divorced, and my own son didn't want to live with me. I'd left a good job as a nurse to work at a resort that didn't seem like a good fit for me. I was miserable, and I guess the only way I could make myself feel better was to write down all the not-so-flattering things I saw about those around me.”

I stare at her, speechless. I can't believe Ellie started the Gossip File. “And did it help?” I ask finally.

She thinks about that for a minute. “I suppose it did at first. It helped get some of that frustration out, even frustration at myself. I don't know if you saw the notes about me in there, the ones I wrote.”

I choke. “Wait, you're the one who wrote all of that stuff about not being perfect? Why?”

“Because it was true.” She laughs. “It still is. But I think what helped me the most was showing the Gossip File to the other people at the café and getting them interested in it. After a while the gossip wasn't the point. All that mattered was that we had something to talk and laugh about together. It helped me to start trusting people again.” She shakes her head in wonder. “I didn't realize that book was still there. I figured someone would have thrown it away long ago.”

We sit in silence for a long while, and as each second ticks by, I feel worse and worse. “I really am sorry,” I say. “I would never have written any of that stuff down if I'd known someone else would see it. I guess I was feeling pretty lonely too.”

“You know, Rachel, I never meant for you to feel like I was taking your father away from you. I wanted there to be room for both of us in his life, and I think there can be.”

She gives me a smile, and for once it seems real instead of the forced, perfect smile that she always puts on for show. I wish I'd gotten to see this side of her more often. Maybe then I wouldn't hate the idea of her being with my dad.

There's a knock on the door and Dad comes in.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “I thought you had to go back to work.”

He shakes his head. “I couldn't leave after what you said to me. It's been playing over and over in my head. And you're right. I've been so busy working and trying to make everyone happy that I've missed out on a chance to spend time with you. If you leave today, I know I'll regret it. So, will you stay?”

I blink at him. “Really? You want me here?”

“Only if you really want to be here, and if you swear that there won't be any more trouble. I promise I'll make more time for you from now on. My job can do without me for a few days. My family can't.”

I throw my arms around him and squeeze as tightly as I can. “You won't regret this!” I tell him.

When I finally pull away, he wipes tears from his eyes. “So are we still on for our Disney trip?” he says. “I took tomorrow off.”

“Yes!” I say.

“Great. And, Ellie, you can still do tomorrow, right?”

Ellie nods and squeezes his hand.

My excitement fades a little at the thought of her coming with us, but I try not to let it show on my face. My dad's giving me another chance. I'm not going to ruin it this time.

As we drive over to Disney World in the morning, determination pumps through my veins. Finally, I'm getting my trip with Dad. Okay, so I'm going to take Taylor and Carrie's advice and keep my dad and Ellie distracted all day so she doesn't have a chance to propose. But mostly, I'm going to focus on me and Dad having such a good time that he's going to remember why he asked me to come visit in the first place.

“Dad, remember my sixth birthday?” I say as we pull into the mammoth parking lot. “You said part of my present was that we'd come here one day.”

He laughs. “You'd just seen one of those Disney movies about princesses, and you wouldn't stop talking about how much you wanted to meet them in real life.”

“I'm glad we finally worked it out.”

Dad smiles back at me from the front seat. “Me too, Roo.”

“All the brochures say we should start in Tomorrowland,” Ellie chimes in.

“I don't know why Disney has to have a Future World and a Tomorrowland,” Caleb mumbles. “We get it. You want us to move on.”

I'd been hoping we'd go to Epcot first, so of course Ellie announced we'd start with the Magic Kingdom. Dad swore we'd go later this week, though, so I'm not complaining. We park Ellie's car and go a million miles toward the ticket booths. The sun is so scalding that I'm surprised the parking lot doesn't turn into melted chocolate under our feet.

As we venture into Tomorrowland, I gawk at all the retro space-agey stuff. Everything is so big and shiny and colorful that I barely notice that I'm drenched with sweat.

We head toward Space Mountain, and I'm giddy with excitement. “I've always wanted to do this!” I cry.

“A roller coaster?” says Ellie. “I don't do roller coasters, do I, Caleb?”

He rolls his eyes. “No one's forcing you.”

“In that case, I think I'll sit this one out,” Ellie announces. “But you all go ahead without me.”

I have no problem doing that, but my dad hesitates at her “poor me” routine. “I'll stay with Ellie,” he says finally. “You kids go ahead.”

“What? No!” The whole point of us coming here is to do stuff together, and now Dad is going to send us off without him? Besides, I cannot leave them alone and give Ellie a chance to pop the question. “Let's find something we can all go on.”

Dad gives me a long look but doesn't say anything. We keep wandering (and sweating to death) until we find a teacup ride in Fantasyland that Ellie's willing to try. Not exactly a thrilling adventure, but it's better than nothing.

We get in a line so long that I kind of want to cry. After waiting out in the heat for a while, though, it all starts to blur together. I'm so hot that I actually stop sweating. I wonder if that means my body is going into shock. Finally, we get to the front.

“I'll go with you, Teddy,” Ellie says, but I'm already climbing into a teacup beside him.

“Ellie, why don't you go with Caleb?” I ask. She gives me a puzzled look, but she agrees.

“What's going on, Roo?” Dad asks as we start spinning. “Since when do you want to go on little kid rides?”

“I'm just trying to make sure we all have a good time.”

Dad gives me a skeptical look, but he doesn't press. Instead, he actually starts joking around like he used to. By the time we get off the ride, I'm a little seasick but grinning like a monkey.

The rest of the morning goes great. We manage not to melt in the crazy heat as we wander from attraction to attraction. Every time Ellie tries to sit something out, I suggest another ride that she can't say no to. After a while, we check off pretty much every baby ride in the whole park.

When it's time for lunch, I order the biggest plate of garlic bread I can find and make sure Dad and Ellie both have a couple of pieces. Soon, we're all breathing garlic fire at each other, and I can tell Dad thinks I'm still suffering some long-term effects from my head injury. Surprisingly, I'm actually having a good time. Being with Ellie isn't nearly as bad when my dad is acting like his normal self.

I'm just about to suggest that we all get our faces painted when Caleb starts whining about not having done Space Mountain yet. After that, everything falls apart.

“Roo, how about you go with him,” Dad says, “and I'll sit this one out with Ellie.”

“But why don't we all go? It's really not that big of a roller coaster. Look at all the little kids going on it.”

Ellie just laughs and shakes her head. “I don't think so. You two go ahead.”

I stand there clenching my fists. What am I supposed to do now?

“Rachel, is there a problem?” Dad says.

I have to do something. I can't let her propose to him, especially not when my dad is finally starting to act like himself again. Desperate, I turn to Ellie and say, “Please, don't do it.”

“Do what?” she says.

“Don't ask him, okay? He's not ready. I'm not ready. I don't think any of us are! Just please wait.”

“Rachel, what on earth are you talking about?” Dad asks.

But before I can answer, Ellie's phone starts ringing. “It's Mark,” she says, sounding concerned. “Why is he calling me on a Sunday?” After she answers it, she listens for a long, long time, her face getting paler and paler. Then she says, “Are you sure?”

When she hangs up the phone, her face is stony.

“What is it?” Dad says. “What's wrong?”

“That was the resort,” says Ellie. “It turns out someone's been stealing from the café register again.”

I stare at her. “What? How could some random person get into the register without us noticing?”

“No.” Ellie shakes her head. “They think it was someone who works there.”

“Someone who works there?” I ask. “But who?”

Ellie looks at me. “They think it was you.”

My body really must be in shock from the heat. There's no way that what I thought I heard actually came out of Ellie's mouth.

“They said I took the money?”

Ellie nods. “It disappeared on the second day you were working there. Someone was going through the receipts and noticed it.”

“But…but…”

“Of course there's some kind of mistake,” Dad says. “But why would they blame Rachel?”

“Carrie and Taylor both said they saw it happen,” Ellie says.

Now I know I must be hallucinating. “That's impossible! They couldn't have seen anything because I didn't do anything!”

“Maybe you accidentally—” Ellie begins.

“No! I didn't accidentally do anything. I didn't even touch the register the first couple days I was there.”

My head is swimming. I stumble over to the bench and sink down next to my dad. I don't understand. Why would Carrie and Taylor lie like that? It doesn't make any sense.

“Didn't Melody get fired for stealing?” I ask. “Don't you think it's a huge coincidence that I'd be accused of doing the exact same thing a couple weeks later?”

“It is suspicious,” Ellie says, “but the resort doesn't take these kinds of accusations lightly.”

“We need to go back and straighten all this out,” my dad says. “Caleb, we'll drop you off at home first.”

As we walk back toward the car, my thoughts chase each other around like racehorses. What if the police really believe I took that money? What will happen to me? My mom will turn into a raging inferno when she hears about this. When we're in the car, I put my head in my hands, my temples throbbing.

“I don't understand how this could have happened,” Ellie says, breaking the silence. “Why would those girls blame this on you?”

“I don't know,” I say.

“Are you sure you didn't—”

“I didn't take anything!” I cry.

“Ellie,” Dad breaks in, “Rachel is not a thief.”

“It's just…considering everything that she's done since she's been here, I'm not sure we can trust her,” she says like I'm not sitting two feet away from her. “I didn't want to worry you, Teddy, but I heard from Amir that she was harassing him at work the other day, and I think she even lied about wanting to move down here. It was all part of some game.”

I can't believe she's saying this. “Do you know why I did all that stuff? Because of you, Ellie. Because of you forcing my dad to spend every free second with you. You've been suffocating him since I got here and making him miserable. No wonder he's been working so much. He probably wanted to get away from you. Today is the first day my dad's actually been himself since I got here, and it's your fault!”

“My fault?” Ellie echoes. “That's ridiculous! I've done nothing but support your father in whatever he wants to do.”

“Rachel's right, Mom,” Caleb jumps in, surprising me. “You always want to control everything and try to make things perfect. You did it to Dad and Amir, and you've been doing it to Teddy.”

Ellie looks shocked as she sits back in her seat. I guess she's never heard Caleb be so honest with her before.

“Rachel,” Dad says after a minute. “Is that why you think I've been working so much? Because of Ellie?” He lets out a sad laugh. “It has nothing to do with her!”

“Then why?”

“For you!”

“For me?”

“I already broke up our family,” he says. “And because of me, you and your mom have been working much too hard. I realized that I can't let that happen anymore. I'm your father. I'm supposed to take care of you. That's why I want to make things easier on the two of you.” He looks at Ellie. “And if I ever have another family, I want to make sure I can provide for them too. I'm never going to make the same mistakes again.”

“But you've been spending all your time with her. You can't deny it!”

“You're right. I should have made more time for you, Roo. I guess I thought that if we were all together, then we could feel like a family again.”

“But Ellie's not my family. You are, and you've been acting like you don't care about me anymore!” That's when the tears come. Big, fat tears that splash into my lap before I can stop them.

“Of course I care about you,” Dad says softly, but I don't want to listen anymore.

Instead, I wipe my eyes and wait for the car ride to be over, dreading what will happen once we actually get to the resort. On my first day, I'd been convinced that Four Palms was heaven. Now, I'm just praying I'll make it out of there alive.