The Summer I Saved the World ... in 65 Days (20 page)

Nine more to go.

E
li is at my door with the towels, folded and stacked. Dry and extremely clean.

“Although I suck at making pasta, I've gotten pretty good at laundry,” he says, and smiles. “You have any laundry questions? I'm your guy.”

I take the towels. “Thanks. For washing them. And cleaning up. I would have helped, but …”

“No problem.”

We stand there, awkward.

I so badly want to ask him what's going on
with homecoming, but then I'd be like Jorie. Pushing.

“Was it really some kids who broke in?” Eli asks. I don't answer.

“It's okay. You don't have to tell me.”

Over his shoulder, I see Mrs. Chung. Riding a bicycle. Actually, a tricycle.

I put down the towels and step outside. “Look, Mrs. Chung got her cast off.” I point. She's riding in slow circles around the cul-de-sac on this sort of adult tricycle with a metal basket in the back. Her leg looks normal again. She waves to me, and I wave back.

Eli shakes his head. “You are …”

“What?”

“I don't even know how to describe it. You're like so hopeful all the time.” He looks at my feet. “And you have some sort of anti-shoe thing going on.”

I smile. “What can I say?”

Behind Eli's back, Mrs. Chung gives me a thumbs-up.

Eli walks onto the grass and pretends he's shooting a basketball. “Well, I should go.”

Something happens. I'm suddenly seized with this urge to just … I've never done anything like this before. I run up, jump toward his face, and kiss him on the lips.

Mrs. Chung stops her tricycle and softly claps.

He leans down and kisses me back. Right there. On the warm grass. Under the bright sun.

Except.

I see a flash of hair from Jorie's window.

She saw. She knows. Oh, God. I'm dead.

W
hat have I done? My life, and the Fertile Crescent, are a mess.

Two days later, Jorie won't talk to me, Eli has disappeared again—maybe something to do with his dad—and Matt hasn't texted me back. My parents seem to have forgotten about the Dixon break-in and are working more than ever. And the Millmans haven't left their house in days.

I hear Mrs. Cantaloni telling Mrs. Chung that Mrs. Millman is now suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. The same thing Beanie has.

“I've been bringing over groceries. Poor Stan is worried sick about her. She's on medication. Apparently, they really did see a ghost in there,” Mrs. Cantaloni says.

Mrs. Chung narrows her eyes.

“That place could be haunted.” Mrs. Cantaloni rubs her stomach. “I mean, don't you think there's lots of things in this universe we know nothing about?”

Mrs. Chung nods slowly.

The Cantaloni boys are tumbling across their lawn. “Do not push your brother, Jack!” Mrs. C. shouts. “How many times have I told you that?” She marches toward them. “Jack! Jeremy! Jordan! Inside, now!”

The boys bolt into their house, Mrs. Cantaloni follows, and Mrs. Chung pedals off on her tricycle. Thomas crashes through the bushes and trots toward me.

“What's up?” I ask.

He scratches a mosquito bite on his arm. “The girl over there?” He points toward Jorie's. “She came over to my house and yelled at Eli.” His eyes get big. “She's mad at you,” he whispers. “Real mad.”

I sigh.

“But Eli was mad at her too. They were yelling so much, I had to cover up my ears!”

My heart flutters. “Why was Eli mad?”

Thomas puts his hands on his hips. “About the sign she put on our garage. I'd be mad too if somebody hanged a sign on my house and I didn't want them to.”

A white truck pulls into the cul-de-sac.

“What's that say?” he asks.

I read the letters on the side. “ ‘IPIT. Illinois Paranormal Investigative Team. For all your ghostly needs.' ”

“I can't believe this,” I say as Thomas holds up his sword.

This guy in a navy jumpsuit gets out and knocks on the Millmans' door. It opens, and he disappears inside. A few minutes later, he comes back out with the Millmans. Mrs. Millman has circles under her eyes. She's wearing a gray sweat suit, and her hair's sticking up.

They start walking around the Dixon house. The jumpsuit guy is holding a little tape recorder and talking into it. Mrs. Millman must be recounting the ghost sighting.

“This is completely crazy,” I say to Thomas. He runs over to the sidewalk and points his sword at the Dixon house. “Pow!”

Mr. and Mrs. Millman and the guy stand and talk a little more; then finally the guy gets into his truck and drives away.

Mr. Millman pats Mrs. Millman softly on her back. “They'll take care of it, Myrna,” he says. “Don't you worry. We'll get rid of that ghost.”

Thomas runs back to me. “This is the most exciting place in the world!”

Fifty-seven?

J
orie is pounding on my door.

“I am not talking to you,” she says as she storms in. “I just came over to tell you one thing. You're wasting your time. Forget about it.”

Jorie has looked better. Hair in a messy ponytail. No lip gloss. Old cutoff shorts. Puffy, red eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

“Him.” She tips her head in the direction of Eli's house. “He's asking someone else. Not you. Not me.”

Swallow. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

Take a breath. “Who's he asking?”

“I don't know. It's killing me. He wouldn't give me a name. He just said, ‘There's this other girl.' I stalked him on Facebook, but I couldn't figure it out.”

I sink into the sofa. I get it now. I get the whole thing. Eli comes off as this really sweet guy, taking care of Thomas and asking for help with pasta, but he's a player. All summer, he's been flirting with both of us, and he was planning on asking another girl. Probably someone gorgeous, in honors classes and a star athlete and on student council, amazing in a million ways.

Jorie crosses her arms. “I saw him at school with Tyler's cousin. It's probably her. We've both been completely stupid.”

She takes a tissue from her pocket and wipes her nose. “Why did you kiss him? You knew I liked him. We're
friends
. You don't do that.”

She's right. “I'm sorry, Jorie, I really am. I didn't mean for it to happen. I swear.”

“How can you not mean for it to happen when
you
were the one who kissed him?”

I look down. “He kissed me first. Last week.”

“What?” Her face crumples. “How did that
happen
?”

“He was upset, his dad came over, they were fighting—”

Jorie drops onto the floor, then starts to cry. She
covers her face. Her shoulders are shaking. I fall next to her, crying too. We're sitting cross-legged, our knees touching. But she moves away. Her mascara is running black rivers down her cheeks.

I choke back a sob. “You're a mess.”

She sniffles. “Yeah, because of you.”

I get her another tissue and she dabs her eyes, then looks at me. “I can't just forgive you. I wish I could go back to being little. It was so much easier.”

I put my arm around her. “I know.”

She shakes off my arm. “I'm still mad. I never thought you'd do something like this. Other girls, yes. Not you.”

“I'm sorry, Jorie. I really am. I didn't flirt with Eli. He and I are friends. I was just trying to help him.”

She gulps. “I thought I knew you.”

I look at her teary blue eyes. She stands, straightens her shoulders, pulls down her shirt. Then slips out the door.

Things happen when they're meant to happen. Did I mean to hurt Jorie? I wanted to kiss Eli.… 

Grandma didn't explain that there could be complications.

I
t takes this.

A change of heart. Sticking to my story. And a heat advisory.

When I wake up the next morning, Fine and Ross are home. Sitting in the kitchen in their bathrobes. Strangely quiet. An empty table. Mom staring out the window.

“What's wrong?” I ask them. “You're scaring me.”

Mom looks at me blankly, then picks up her coffee cup. “Did I finish this?”

“An hour ago.” Dad makes her a fresh cup.

“I knew this could happen—of course it's always a possibility—but in a million years, I never thought it would,” Mom says.

Dad scratches his unshaven chin. “You never know what's in people's minds.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“Melanie,” Mom says, “had a change of heart. She called us early this morning with big news. After all their arguing, hating each other … this whole legal mess … she decided to go back to her husband.”

“Really?”

“It happens. Hearts are a funny thing,” Dad says.

Mom smirks. “Hearts? He bought her a five-carat diamond ring. She said that made her realize just how much she still loves him. So. We're done. She dropped the case.”

“Wow,” I say. “Just like that?”

Dad nods. “Just like that.”

“I give them six months,” Mom says, sighing.

Matt sort of drifts into the room. “What's going on?”

For the first time in a long time, the four of us are in the same room at the same time.

“Did someone, like, die or something?” Matt says.

“Their client dropped the case,” I answer.

Matt raises his eyebrows, leans against a counter, avoids my eyes.

“Apparently it's on the news,” Dad says. “We haven't watched.”

Mom gets up and stands at the patio door. “You know there's a heat advisory today? For the next few days too. My mother used to say the heat makes people crazy.”

“Simple Truth?” I ask.

Mom looks at me, nods slowly.

“You're taking this much too hard, Erica,” Dad says. “We should go downtown. Get on with things.”