Big Girls Don’t Cry (Dundee, Idaho #6)(66)
Author: Brenda Novak

Lucky’s eyes widened as if the candidness of Reenie’s statement came as quite a surprise. But she quickly recovered. “Me, too,” she said brightly. “Now that Keith’s gone, we could use your help.”

THE NEXT DAY, Elizabeth and her children were coming out of the Arctic Flyer when they passed Reenie and her girls going in. As soon as Liz realized who it was, she averted her eyes, expecting to walk on by as though Reenie and her children didn’t exist, as usual. Their relationship had changed slightly since the talent show, but they’d been ignoring each other for so long it had become habit.

To Liz’s surprise, Reenie touched her arm and offered her a tired smile. “Hi, Liz.”

Liz hesitated for a brief moment. Dressed in a coral-colored sweater, dark denim jeans and a pair of stylish boots, Reenie looked nice. But there were dark smudges under her eyes that indicated she might not be feeling as good as she looked. Remembering what Isaac had said about her dog, Liz considered offering some words of comfort, but settled for nodding politely. “Hello.”

Simple though this exchange was, Mica, Christopher, Jennifer, Angela and Isabella gaped at each other as though fireworks had just burst across the sky. Then Isabella giggled behind her hand at a funny face Christopher made and Mica and Angela exchanged smiles.

“Why are you acting so smug?” Liz asked Mica after the door to the restaurant swung shut and they made their way to the Esplanade.

“What’s smug?” Mica asked.

“Pleased with yourself.”

“I’m not…pleased with myself.”

“What’s going on, then?”

“Nothing.”

They climbed into the SUV and Liz backed out of her parking space. As she twisted to check behind her, she saw her daughter give a little finger wave to Angela, who was still inside the restaurant. Glancing over to see how this action might be received, she watched Angela wave in return.

Reenie wasn’t around to see it. Liz guessed she was in line to order.

Stopping immediately, even though she was blocking the entrance to the drive-through, Liz studied her daughter. “Are you and Angela becoming friends?” she asked.

Mica continued to stare out the window, twirling the ends of her hair, which she often did when concentrating.

“Mica?”

Finally her eyes darted to Liz’s face, but she wouldn’t maintain eye contact. “If we were, would that make you unhappy?” she asked.

How to respond? Would it make her unhappy? Reenie was her rival. At the same time, Liz wanted to let go of the past and live again, didn’t she? To quit hovering at the edges of this community and become part of it?

She just wasn’t confident she could do that. “I don’t think so.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“Not quite,” she admitted.

“They had to put their dog to sleep,” Mica said.

“Now you’re trying to play on my sympathy?” Liz replied.

“To sleep? What does that mean?” Christopher asked.

“He was old and very sick,” Liz explained. “They had to put him out of his misery.”

“You mean kill him?” he cried.

Liz searched for a softer way to state it. “He was dying. They stopped his pain.”

“How did it go?” Mica asked.

“I have no idea,” Liz replied. “Do you?”

“Not yet.”

“Because you haven’t been to school since it happened?”

She nodded. “I feel bad for them.”

Someone turned into the parking lot, and Liz pulled up to get out of the way. “So you are friends,” she said, adjusting her rearview mirror to be able to see her daughter’s face.

“Isaac likes her, too,” Mica said defensively. “And he likes Isabella and Jennifer. Even Reenie.”

“How can you tell?” Liz asked.

She took a moment to consider. “Never mind.”

“Come on, Mica.”

She blew out an exaggerated sigh. “I saw a message on his computer.”

Liz knew she had no business delving into her brother’s personal affairs, but she couldn’t help asking. “From Reenie?”

“The address had her name in it.”

“What’d it say?”

“Thanks for the puppy.”

Liz told herself she should be upset. She’d asked Isaac not to have any contact with Reenie, and he’d gone ahead and given her a puppy.

But she wasn’t angry. She only wondered if that was a big enough breach of The Agreement to justify letting herself call Dave.

“I HEARD YOU GAVE Reenie a dog,” Liz said, putting coffee on to brew.

Isaac glanced up from the newspaper he’d been reading while eating a quick bowl of cold cereal. It had been a long weekend. Other than stopping by to check on Reenie after her visit to the vet, Isaac had managed to get back on track and keep his distance from the “other woman” in Liz’s life. But he couldn’t give himself a lot of credit for that. He’d spent much of his time replaying those few seconds when he was kissing Reenie at her doorstep—and longing to do it again. He’d lain awake at night, thinking about how she might respond if he were to kiss her again. And on Saturday, he’d gone to The Honky Tonk, then the diner, then the Arctic Flyer, and the new Dundee Inn & Steakhouse, in the hope of “accidentally” bumping into her. Liz couldn’t blame him for a random meeting, right?

Fortunately for his conscience, that hadn’t worked out. He’d made it all the way to Monday without so much as responding to Reenie’s quick note of thanks for the puppy. But maybe that was because he knew he’d be seeing her this morning, regardless. It was his first day teaching at the high school.

“Who told you that? Keith?” he asked.

“Does he know?”

“He was there. So were Celeste and Lucky. Between the three of them, I’m sure half the town has heard by now.”

“What made you get involved?” she asked.

He rattled his paper as he turned the page, hoping she’d get the hint that he really didn’t want to examine the reasons behind his actions. “It wasn’t a big deal.” He checked his watch. “Want me to wake the kids? It’s getting pretty late.”

“No, I’ll take care of that.” She moved to the table and gently pulled his paper down. “We were talking about Reenie. I want you to know that I consider puppy-giving a significant breach of our agreement.”